Bernie Sanders, Socialist Democrat, spoke at Liberty University today (the largest evangelical private university in the US). I have to give him a bit of cred, given that he went to a place where Democrats or Socialists don’t ordinarily go. I’m not going post up all of his talk but I will concerning this from CBS News reporting:
The importance of the issue of abortion, for example, was made clear Monday when the crowd erupted into raucous applause as David Nasser, the senior vice president for spiritual development at Liberty who engaged Sanders in a question and answer session following his speech, asked Sanders to explain his stance on abortion.
“My view is I respect absolutely a family that says no we are not going to have an abortion,” Sanders said, recognizing that “this is an area” where his view would not match his audience’s. “I would hope that other people respect the very painful and difficult choice that many women feel they have to make and don’t want the government telling them what they have to do.”
“I respect absolutely a family that says no ” – but that isn’t the point!
What is more important?
- If one only thinks about that first part of his answer, at the surface level, one could go “ok, I can agree with that”. The answer is phrased in a way that pulls the audience in, has them evaluate it, and go “sure”. A positive leaning supposition
- The deeper, more important, was the second part – the “ask” and “the government telling them what they have to do”
The misdirection was to have those students THINK “oh, government is going to tell you to have that abortion” – a false premise. Socialism is all about government making the decisions for you – and forcing you to go along with it. In this, what was not asked was “don’t want the government telling them that they have to pay for those that do not say no”. In Bernie’s eyes, ALL MUST BE FORCED TO PAY – and in doing so, makes them complicit in that act of killing the unborn. Yes, Socialism will demand that – there is no freedom of choice or conscience even though Bernie presents “a false choice” – one that is irrelevant.
And certainly it is quite clear that the Obama Administration and Obamacare make it quite clear that medical professional have no Right of Conscience in whether they can participate in such a procedure – or not. Bernie, being a Socialist, is one with Obama on this accord – once again, with the idea that was expressed at the last Democrat Prez Convention that “Government is the one thing we all belong to” – and they do mean it. Their outlook is not at the individual level but at the societal “engine” and the Planners determine where each cog (that would be us) is to be, what role to fulfill, and then how to accomplish it. And in almost all cases, Socialism wishes to stamp out believe in anything other than itself.
And here, at a University where the roots are those of Christianity at a personal level, Bernie then tries to conflate personal responsibility with what Obama calls “collective salvation“:
Sidenote: re: …that my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country. Unfortunately, I think that recognition requires that we make sacrifices and this country has not always been willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to bring about a new day and a new age.”
Totally antithetical to orthodox Christian theology which hold that salvation is at and decided upon at the individual level and not that at a collective or group level.
Sanders went on to blame Republicans for cutting healthcare benefits for children and families. It was one of the only times he went after his Republican counterparts in his speech. Sanders earlier reprised a line he uses often about “family values” when speaking in part about the need for paid family leave. What he left out at Liberty was his attack on Republicans for asserting that women “should not be able to control their own bodies,” as he said at a town meeting in Grinnell, Iowa last week.
Family values – yes, caring for family and others is a family value. Outsourcing that responsibility to faceless, unelected, and unaccountable bureaucrats running a program that often is rather lax about metrics and costs much more than personally helping and then holding people accountable. Yet, that seems to be what has happened – if it isn’t “professionally” done by Government, well, then it isn’t done right – a mindset change from true Christian charity of the individual heart.
It remains to be seen what impact Sanders will have from the talk. But once again, what isn’t said is oft more important that what is.
