"In the 20th century, however, a very consistent pattern has emerged at the national level in America. Whenever weaker members of our society--or in the world at large-- have been bullied by more powerful groups, if either party has gone to the aide of the oppressed, it has been the "Liberal" party, while the "Conservative" party could be counted on to do all in its power to preserve (or "conserve") the power and privileges of the rich and the powerful."
No time to go thru and point out the ridiculousness of the entire link, so let me concentrate briefly on this item. Americans are--and have always been--a very generous people, but with the Growth of the Federal Leviathan due to FDR's Collectivism and LBJ's horrid and un-Constitutional "Great Society" programs, Americans have had the Joy of Charity stripped from their Daily Lives by an over-reaching Federal Guv'ment that LIED and said it had all the answers. This guy tries to say that it is the "Liberal" Party that has gone to the aid of the oppressed, when in fact, these Collectivist Federal BureaucRATS have simply used the Lower Class to further the Left's insatiable Lust Fer Power and Money. Enslaving the Blacks and Browns and Injuns (yep...I'm part-Injun) with subsistence-level Federal Handouts while simultaneously destroying their Educational Opportunities with the BRAIN-DEAD Teacher's Unions and the Dept. Of Education is not honorable or kind...IT IS EVIL!!!!!!! Jesus was never EVIL, but the Left most assuredly is...and I won't even venture into the Abortion Question, in which Lib'rals find sooo much joy in wantonly SLAGHTERING the weakest and most defenseless amongst us!!
SHEEESH, Lefty, I know yer tryin' yer durnedest to make some sense; however, in defending Lib'ralism and the ever-expanding Federal leviathan and the Rapin', Mass-Murderin', Traitorous Bill Clinton, you are simply defending the indefensible!!!
I hope you'll eventually wake up to the futility of your arguments, buddy, I really do (for yer kids' sakes if nothing else!!)
MUD
Jefferson Davis and Abe Lincoln's views on race didn't differ all that much, Lincoln just believed we shouldn't hold people in bondage.
Over the decades, both major parties have had their share of men and women of high moral character on the one hand, and of very low moral character on the other, and they still do. In the 20th century, however, a very consistent pattern has emerged at the national level in America. Whenever weaker members of our society -- or in the world at large -- have been bullied by more powerful groups, if either party has gone to the aide of the oppressed, it has been the "Liberal" party, while the "Conservative" party could be counted on to do all in its power to preserve (or "conserve") the power and privileges of the rich and the powerful.
Wrong. It's the liberals that are picking on the poor and the week. Tobacco taxes, Alcohol taxes. These taxes hurt the poor most of all. Also when Clinton raped, sexually abused, and sexually harrassed the women around him, it was Republicans that tried to hold him accountable and protect those women and subordinates.. Democrats defended him.
If there is a just and holy God, there will never be a political party anywhere that will rate a perfect score from him or her, simply because it's impossible to make a perfect whole out of imperfect parts. So long as political parties, and other human institutions -- INCLUDING CHURCHES -- have to draw their membership and leaders from the pool of imperfect human beings, there is no way that they can even APPROACH perfection. ( Southern Baptists are convinced that Roman Catholics are deluded for believing that they are "God's one and only true church". And Roman Catholics are convinced that Southern Baptists are deluded for believing that their's is the only correct road to salvation. Everybody else knows that the Baptists and Catholics are both right. They are indeed BOTH DELUDED! ) Since Conservative "Bible-believing" Republicans have been trying to lay claim to the title of "GOD's Party", pious Jews, Muslims and Christians who know and believe in that same Bible have every right to ask where these people get that kind of gall ! Displayed below is much of the Bible's most important teaching about how God expects his followers to treat their "neighbors". Interspersed with that teaching are the many ways in which Democratic presidents and / or Democratic congresses have responded to the needs of a whole array of needy people, both in our own country and in the world at large. While the DEMOCRATIC Party was responding to the needs of all of the poor, the weak, the oppressed, and the ordinary working men and women of America just the way the Bible says that we should, more often than not, the REPUBLICAN Party OPPOSED THOSE EFFORTS.
Wrong. The bible says if a man will not work, let him starve.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Of course there should be help to the ones among us that are unable to work, but Democrats want to give the money of the workers to those who just lay around, get on drugs, etc. Just because a person is poor does not mean there should be charity.
And very often the conservative Democrats or "DIXIECRATS" of the so-called "Bible Belt" sided with the Republican Party. Indeed, ever since the G.O.P. has become the outright champions of native born, English speaking, male, white, upper class privilege, most of those former Dixiecrats are switching their allegiance -- thank God! -- to the new and revised Republican Party.
The G.O.P. is the champion of the producers, whether they produse $200 a week of $200,000 a week.
Was Jesus right when he said that people are best judged by their ACTIONS ? ( i.e. "By their fruits, you will know them!") If so, and if political parties should be judged by the public policies which they promote and pursue, then the record below makes it abundantly clear WHICH of America's two major parties has been acting "under the influence" of the Bible's teaching, and which party has NOT. ( If you want to study the scripture separately, go to "Without vision, the people perish.") ( If you have trouble with "mixing religion and politics", before going any further on this page, you may want to read "Religion & Politics don't mix.") Christians usually start with the "New" Testament, but that part of the Bible cannot be understood properly without the context of its foundation, what the Jews call the "Law and the Prophets". There is a very important difference in the way the Hebrew and Christian scriptures deal with one's obligations toward the needy. More often than not, the emphasis in the Gospels and Epistles is on loving those who may not have earned that love, i.e. loving OUT OF CHARITY. Although the "Law and the Prophets" occasionally call for that kind of love of neighbor as well, more often than not what they emphasize is something more basic, and in a sense more urgent, than charity, i.e. doing what is right by others FOR JUSTICE' SAKE. And that contrast is very, very significant. While the New Testament allows for the impression that we must give to the needy WHAT BELONGS TO US (i.e. out of charity), the Old Testament spells out many duties that we have to help the needy, BECAUSE THEY ARE ENTITLED TO THAT HELP, as redress for injustice they have suffered either at our hands, or those of others. The "Law and the Prophets" are full of specific obligations imposed on those who have power over the lives of others in this world (rulers, judges, legislators, employers, businessmen, landlords, and even clergymen) to be just and fair to those who are at their mercy (orphans, widows, debtors, customers, employees, homeless people, the sick, the handicapped and even foreigners and people in prison.) When there were barely a handful of people in the world, the very first book of the Bible, Genesis { 4:9 } was already teaching the necessity of being concerned about the well-being of others. An emphatic "No" is the way Cain (and many conservative Christians today) would like to answer the rhetorical question "Am I my brother's keeper?"
My brothers keeper? Sounds like communism. God didn't say we were our brother's keeper. Every able bodied, able minded person is responsible for themselves.
But from beginning to end, the answer the Bible keeps giving to that question is: "If you want God's approval, you must indeed be your brother's, and your sister's, and even your neighbor's keeper !
Where does it say this?
Here are other early admonitions of part of the bible the Jews call "the Law" : { Leviticus 25:35-36 } "If your brother becomes poor, you are responsible to help him; invite him to live with you as a guest in your home. Fear your God and let your brother live with you; and don't charge him interest on money you lend him. Remember -- no interest; and give him what he needs, at your cost: don't try to make a profit!"
Liberal lying through omission. Read on in Leviticus and you'll see that in verse 40, it's a temporary relief until the brother has a chance to get back on his feet.
The appeal of this passage to charity is rather unusual for the Hebrew bible, because more often than not the great prophets of old expressed concern for the unfortunate on the grounds of JUSTICE. In sharp contrast to the hard-hearted attitudes of "Christian Conservatives", the Bible rarely blames the victims of poverty and the like for their plight. Rather, the great prophets of the Bible blame the powerful for those ills and expect the community as a whole to redress what they perceive as INJUSTICES. { Deuteronomy 24:14 } "Never oppress a poor hired man, whether a fellow Israelite or a foreigner living in your town. Pay him his wage each day before sunset, for since he is poor he needs it right away; otherwise he may cry out to the Lord against you and it would be counted as a sin against you."
You will notice this person has a job. Conservatives do not disagree that the poor should be paid for their work. This guy is an idiot.
Under the leadership of President FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, 1933 - 1945 the cries of many needy people were heard : Civilian Conservation Corps Public Works Admin. and Works Progress Administration Unemployment Relief Act National Industrial Recovery Act National Housing Act Federal Communications Act National Labor Relations Act Fair Labor Standards Act (min.wage & max. hour laws) G I "Bill of Rights" Social Security Act Tennessee Valley (Power) Authority Rural Electrification Act In his second Inaugural Address, F.D.R. said on January 20, 19937: "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
And after 11 years of Roosevelt's socialism, Americans were even worse clad, worse housed, and worse nourished. The economy was in worse shape in 1941 than when he began his programs.
As time went on in Biblical times, there arose once in a great while a preacher whose words were worth recording for future generations to hear. A few of these made predictions about the future, (mostly warnings, in effect, about the consequences of hearing or failing to hear God's teaching). But what made them great "seers" or "prophets" wasn't what they could predict about the future, but what they dared to see and say about the present, i.e. teaching that some people in high places did not want to hear, such as . . . { Micah 6: 8-12 } What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? The voice of the LORD cries to the city : . . . Can I forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the accursed scant measure? Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights? Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, with tongues of deceit in their mouths. Your rich men are wealthy through extortion and violence; your citizens are so used to lying that their tongues can't tell the truth!"
Yep, some wealthy are like this. This sounds like a good description of Hollywood and Clinton and his pals. Rape is about as bad as it gets. Just because the rich in Hollywood are like this doesn't mean the whole country is. In this verse God was speaking to a specific group at a specific time.
That's not something that the rich and powerful of any age appreciate hearing. They have been known to hurt and even kill preachers who stress such scriptures, while regularly rewarding with power, money and influence those preachers who tow the line and promote the belief that the rich have "earned" their vast economic advantage over the poor "by hard work" -- in sharp contrast to the poor, who could be rich too, if they too would only work hard. -- Under the leadership of President HARRY S.TRUMAN, 1945 - 1953 the cries of many needy people were heard : Full Employment Act Permanent School Lunch program Integration of the Armed Forces Veterans Emergency Housing Act Public Health Service Act National Housing Act Marshall Plan "I never gave them hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell." - Harry Truman "If they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." Adlai Stevenson, (who lost to Ike Eisenhower)
Oh boy, you don't actually want to bring up lying do you? Clinton set a record.
{ Amos 8:4-7 } "Listen, you merchants who rob the poor, trampling on the needy; you who long for the Sabbath to end and the religious holydays to be over so you can get out and start cheating again -- using your weighted scales and under-sized measures; you who make slaves of the poor, buying them for their debt of a piece of silver or a pair of shoes, or selling them your moldy wheat."
Those who cheat are wicked, this doesn't conflict with conservative views.
Once again, this kind of scripture doesn't make those who oppress or exploit others happy. But if you put yourself in the shoes of the men, women and children who are being oppressed, it should certainly make you happy to know that God doesn't approve of sneaky merchandisers who are constantly using dirty tricks to reduce the quantity and/or quality of their products and/or increasing the prices, and eliminating the opportunities customers have to buy such products at lower prices from competitors.
Dirty tricks such as the unrequested taking of wages from union workers and giving that money the the Democratic party.
If Amos is right, then, although businessmen may never hear a word of it from their ministers or priests, they will learn when it is too late... The Lord has sworn: "I won't forget your deeds!" { Micah 7:3 } "They go at their evil deeds with both hands, and how skilled they are in using them! The governor and judge alike [not to mention "legislators"] demand bribes [and/or "campaign contributions"]. The rich man pays them off and tells them whom to ruin. Justice is twisted between them."
Clinton was king of the campaign contribution. He sold nuclear missile technology to the Chinese for campaign cash.
{ Amos 2:6-7 } The Lord says, "The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished any more. For they have perverted justice by accepting bribes and sold into slavery the poor who can't repay their debts; they trade them for a pair of shoes. They trample the poor in the dust and kick aside the meek.
Like the Dems do with smokers and Joe Sixpack.
At their religious feasts they lounge in clothing stolen from their debtors, and in my own Temple they offer sacrifices of wine they purchased with stolen money."
Like the Dems with union worker check confiscation.
{Amos 5:12 } "For many and great are your sins. I know them all so well. You are the enemies of everything good; you take bribes; you refuse justice to the poor." What's this? People in public office allowing themselves to be persuaded by people with money to deny justice to those with less money and prestige?
Clinton was king of this. No justice for Juanita Broadrick or the other two (at least) he raped.
Maybe God won't consider all of those "campaign contributions" and lobbying gifts given by the rich to the politicians or our day as bribes and will not hold the harm these politicians do to the poor against them. Maybe God will forgive powerful employers for taking enormous benefits for themselves and denying their employees the right to even join together in unions to demand safer working conditions and more just compensation for themselves and their families.
Most unions today force the workers to join or they lose their jobs, that's slavery. We'll see who the more righteous is.
Maybe God will smile on people who become billionaires by exploiting those laborers least protected by their governments and communities around the world. Maybe the prophets didn't know what they were talking about ! BUT WHAT IF THEY DID? Under the leadership of President JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1961 - 1963 the cries of many needy people were heard : Peace Corps Aid to Dependent Children program Small Business Investment Act Establishment of Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Consumer drug protection laws Equal Pay Act Manpower Development and Retraining Act Clean Air Act Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act { Isaiah 58:1-10 }: "Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast; tell my people of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and are so delighted to hear the reading of my laws -- just as though they would obey them -- just as though they don't despise the commandments of their God! How anxious they are to worship correctly; oh, how they love the Temple services! ; 'We have fasted before you,' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? Why don't you see our sacrifices? Why don't you hear our prayers? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!' I'll tell you why! Because you are living in evil pleasure even while you are fasting, and you keep right on oppressing your workers. Look, what good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. Is this what I want -- this doing of penance and bowing like reeds in the wind, putting on sackcloth and covering yourselves with ashes? Is this what you call fasting? The kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don't hide from relatives who need your help.
If you have evidence of worker oppression, you need to point it out. This author has been making all kinds of accusations but no specifics.
If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you. Your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors!
Be specific, Name anyone who is doing this.
"Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day." { Isaiah 1:17 } "Learn to do good, to be fair and to help the poor, the fatherless, and widows." { Proverbs 14:31 } "Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God who made them. To help the poor is to honor God."
As we've seen earlier, only the poor who can't help themselves.
{ Proverbs 19:17 } "When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord -- and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!" Under the leadership of President LYNDON B. JOHNSON, 1963 -1968 the cries of many needy people were heard : College and Vocational Education Act Civil Rights Act Voting Rights Act Mass Transportation Act Omnibus Poverty Act: { Office of Economic Opportunity, VISTA, Job Corps, and Public Assistance programs } War on Poverty Head Start (for pre-school children) Land Conservation Fund Permanent Food Stamp Program Appalachia Regional Development Act Elementary and Secondary Education Act Higher Education Act Older Americans Act { Medicare & Medicaid } Law Enforcement Assistance Act Immigration Reform Act Freedom of Information Law Fair Housing Act Housing and Urban Development { low-income housing } Clean Water Restoration Act Achievements of the NINETY-FIRST Congress, 1969-1970 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act Child Protection and Toy Safety Acts { Isaiah 3:14-16 } "First to feel his wrath will be the elders and the princes, for they have defrauded the poor. They have filled their barns with grain extorted from the helpless peasants."
Be specific. Show examples.
Maybe stockholders whose profits are the result of oppressive labor practices in far away countries will escape God's attention, the way they escape the attention of most preachers; but MAYBE NOT!
Be specific, name examples.
. . . "How dare you grind my people in the dust like that?" the Lord Almighty will demand of them. Next he will judge the haughty women, who mince along, noses in the air, tinkling bracelets on their ankles, with wanton eyes that rove among the crowds to catch the glances of the men."
Like Hillary?
"In those days the ungodly, the atheists, will not be heroes!
Most atheists are Democrats.
Wealthy cheaters will not be spoken of as generous, outstanding men! Everyone will recognize an evil man when he sees him, and hypocrites will fool no one at all. Their lies about God and their cheating of the hungry will be plain for all to see. The smooth tricks of evil men will be exposed, as will all the lies they use to oppress the poor in the courts. But good men will be generous to others and will be blessed of God for all they do." What a contrast there is between the "Christian Coalition" of today and the Bible!
How so?
This Coalition promulgates the view of their coalition partner, the Republican Party, that the well-to-do friends and supporters of this politico-religious coalition have only honest labor to thank for their wealth, while the poor have only themselves to blame for their misery.
There are more wealthy Democrats than Republicans. They're called limosuine liberals.
But the Bible constantly blames the woes of the poor on those merchants, landlords, judges, legislators, princes,and even on clerics and "haughty women", for depriving the poor and the weak of that to which they are entitled!
Not true, as in my example above, it's clear that some are poor bacause of laziness. Here's more:
Pro 26:14 [As] the door turneth upon his hinges, so [doth] the slothful upon his bed.
1Sa 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
Job 34:19 [How much less to him] that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all [are] the work of his hands.
Pro 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth [with] a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Pro 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD [is] the maker of them all.
Pro 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender.
It's not a sin to be blessed with riches.
And it expects the well-to-do oppressors of the poor, not their helpless victims to stop and to repair these injustices.
Point out these injustices, be specific.
{ Zechariah 7:10 } "Tell them to stop oppressing widows and orphans, foreigners and poor people, and to stop plotting evil against each other." Once preachers have translated the Bible from the ancient languages into modern ones, their job isn't over. Good preachers owe it to us to show the relevance of the Bible to our own time and today's world, by applying what was said of ancient circumstances to the HERE and NOW. If Zechariah were preaching in America today, I believe he would he would be saying "Stop oppressing welfare mothers and children; stop oppressing minorities, immigrants, the unemployed, the uninsured and the underpaid (poor)"?
Instead of putting words in the prophets mouth, why not just be truthful?
Under the leadership of President JIMMY CARTER, 1977 - 1981 the cries of many needy people were heard : Federal Ethics Code Civil Service Reform Creation of Superfund { for cleanup of toxic waste } Secretary of Health Joseph Califano { fights tobacco health threat } Achievements of the Ninety-Seventh through the One Hundred First Congresses {1984 through 1992} Voting Rights Act extension Highway and Mass Transit Funding bill Civil Rights Restoration Act Head Start expanded Americans with Disabilities Act { Isaiah 10:1-3 } "Woe to unjust judges and legislators," says the Lord, "so that there is no justice for the poor, the widows, and orphans. Yes, it is true that they even rob the widows and fatherless children. "Oh, what will you do when I visit you in that day when I send desolation upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn then for your help? Where will your treasures be safe? I will not help you; you will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the slain." Maybe these scriptures have nothing to do with the many decisions which mayors, governors, presidents, judges, and legislators make which pile even more misery on the already difficult lives of people on welfare through no fault of their own. Maybe "welfare mothers" aren't the same as the bible "widows", because the men who are not supporting them are still alive. And maybe the children of these welfare mothers are not the same as "fatherless children" of the bible, since their fathers are still alive. But maybe they ARE the same in God's eyes, in which case the warnings of the great prophets like Isaiah and Zechariah DO APPLY in our day -- and not only to those in power who mistreat these poor women and children, -- but even to those who support such public officials by voting them into office! When JUSTICE is concerned, that is the community's business. For society as a whole has the duty to redress wrongs, to make various parties do their jobs correctly, and to redistribute wealth back to those from whom it was unjustly taken,...
But there must be evidence of wrongdoing and there has been no evidence presented, just false accusations.
...whether the rich and the powerful cooperate willingly out of charity, or unwillingly for justice sake. This being the case, caring about the needy is not just the church's business, not the concern of people as individuals. It is wonderful for individuals to be paragons of charity. But it is the community's business to establish and to protect justice. { Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 } " He who loves money shall never have enough. The foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness! The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income. So what is the advantage of wealth -- except perhaps to watch it as it runs through your fingers! The man who works hard sleeps well whether he eats little or much, but the rich must worry and suffer insomnia."
That's why the rich earn their keep. It's much easier to be poor.
Under the leadership of President William J. CLINTON, 1993 - 2000 the cries of many needy people were heard : Major tax increase on the wealthy to fight tremendous deficits left by the 12 Reagan and Bush years. Family Medical Leave Act Attempt to extend and/or improve health insurance coverage for millions of Americans Restoration of democracy to Haiti Restoration of peace to Bosnia Promotion of peace in South Africa Promotion of peace in Northern Ireland Promotion of peace in Israel & Palestine Increase in minimum wage Promotion of spending on inner-city schools Opposition to abolition of safety net for the poor Protection of Social Security & Medicare Promotion of justice for victims of racism Protection of children from tobacco industry Constantly frustrated efforts to enact thorough campaign finance Appointment of many minorities and women to major cabinet positions, Federal judgeships, etc., etc., Resolution of long-standing black farmers' discrimination issues Leadership Role in NATO's campaign to stop the "ethnic cleansing" of the people of Kosovo. Major efforts to challenge the dangerous proliferation of guns in America Notes: Although the Democratic Party has been moved by the "Democratic Leadership Conference" to emphasize popular rather than courageous stands, the Democrats are still the party most likely to espouse the positions recommended by the Bible, such as promoting fairer wages and better working conditions for workers, promoting the earned income tax credit for workers, promoting family leave, protecting the environment upon which all of us depend, promoting public education, protecting racial, religious and other minorities, opposing excessive reliance on military weaponry, controlling harmful industries such as the tobacco and gun industries, etc., etc.
Tobacco and guns. Oppression of the poor by the Democratic party.
A lot of people think that the famous and beloved mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia was a typical New Deal Democrat. This man who governed the country's largest city during the same years that F.D.R. governed the country, once said: "This country is blessed with a rich supply of coal. It is not the invention of any one man. It is God's gift to (all) the people of America. It requires human labor to dig the coal, bring it back from the bowels of the earth so it may be used for the benefit of mankind . . . The government should (take) such actions as eventually will put the government in possession of the gift of God that surely was intended to be used for the benefit of all American people." So spoke one of the best loved of all Republicans in the 20th century!
I wouldn't have voted for him. This aricle is nothing but false accusations. Notice that in allthese instances, God qualified his statements by saying those rich that have done wicked things to obtain their riches or tend to them. There's no sin in receiving God's blessings to the point of being rich. The bible specifically says that those of able body and mind must work for themselves or starve. The government is the latter day rich that oppresses the poor for it's liberal agenda. Rich liberals use the rich government to steal from the oppressed workers in this country to fund their pet projects and luxuries such as art museums and the like. They steal up to around 80% of the workers pay to spend as they like. Mostly so they can have their high offices. The rules liberals make for others they don't apply to themselves, such as wage garnishment, tobacco taxes, etc. They are for wealth redistribution, all right, redistributed to themselves so they can have their high places in universities, politics, art, etc. What did God say about those in high places?