I was doing some reading a few weeks ago on the subject of Paul's Roman citizenship. Came upon this article, Was Paul a Roman?"
The article was fascinating. In the course of discussing citizenship in Paul's time, it addressed several ways in which the Roman government was collapsing from within because of socialism.
First, the Matthew 23:9 admonition to call no man on earth your "Father" was set against the Roman idea that the Emperor was one's Father (Dan Quayle was right) AND that you "prayed" to your Father (the Emperor) for "benefits" (yes, all your needs -- more and more social welfare benefits). The follower of Jesus was being instructed to look to God for provision.
The author states that "Rome's decline began as it altered this system of self governance in exchange for dependence on benefactors who exercised authority by taking from their neighbors to supply their welfare."
A second interesting point was as to the Nicolaitians (Rev. 2:6.).
He writes that the error of the Nicolaitians was the error of Balaam: that is, "The Nicolaitan were members of social systems that forced the contributions of their neighbor to provide the their welfare and security."
You make many excellent points, all of which point to one thing - human nature. Man is by nature self-centered. That is why free enterprise and “the market” work so successfully. Central planners, who think they know what is best for everyone, the “elite”, are impatient with free choice because some people make bad choices or choices that are not in sync with their plan. Some do, of course, but the consequences of individual bad choices are self-correcting. (Validating that statement will take more space than I intend to take here.) Central planners are faceless and far away so they just pass off bad choices as unintended consequences and the correction rarely takes place. The phrase unintended consequences is also a convenient way to hide their deceptions.
A strong belief in God, not a false prophet like Mohammed, is the glue which holds a free society together. That comparison is another example of why one works and the other does not. Our God, embodied in Jesus, leaves the choices up to us, as well as the consequences of those choices. Muslims are governed by earthly religious leaders who determine their course of action and exact vengeance on those who they feel are wrong.
Christianity and free enterprise are natural allies as are Islam and tyranny. Christianity and free enterprise have built the most successful, most generous, and most powerful nation ever. Islam and tyranny have frozen civilization in time, the time of Mohammed. Modern tyrannies, such as socialism and Marxism. also stifle innovation and eventually die.
The average citizen would choose free enterprise and Christianity were they to make an INFORMED choice. Unfortunately, those who would control the rest of us have for 100+ years MISinformed the average citizen and have done their best to eradicate Christianity. They will fail.
The obvious thing we must be aware of, (if it is obvious I guess we would be aware of it, huh?) is that those who want to control are also operating from self-centeredness. They want power and privilege but they don’t want to earn it fairly, they want to take it by force. They use lies and deception to accomplish their goals because us “victims” don’t want to give power to them.
During a time of monarchs I suppose the appeal of Marxism had a basis. The divide between the haves and the have-nots, the masses, was wide and there was no logical and honest way for the have-nots to improve their positions. Therefore a revolution made sense. That time and those circumstances are long past, yet, those seeking to take and keep power strive to maintain that deep divide in order to foment a revolution. They are Evil and must be stamped out!