From: Steve Peterson (peterson.steve@verizon.net)
Date: Mon Jun 07 2004 - 01:43:20 BST
Platt,
I don't have a lot of time to participate in this thread, but I'd like
to add that it is my understanding that it was not Karl Marx's writings
but rather the Gospels that inspired the rhetoric of the liberation
theologians in Latin America who were often condemned as communists.
They sought to create a society like that of the early Christians as
described in Acts 4:
" 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that
any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they
had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those
who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as
he had need. "
(Reagan was a Christian and Bush likes to read the Bible, too, as I
understand. Acts is toward the end. Maybe W. didn't get this far, but
I bet Reagan did.)
It is my view that land redistribution is appropriate in some societies
and that it was wrong for us to stand in the way of the evolution of
Latin America's attempts to break down the oppressive social
hierarchies based on the land ownership of a very small minority. It
was the sort of system that was collapsing naturally in the pre-civil
war south. The Union states sped the decline in those days and was on
the more moral side. In the 70's and 80's in Latin America, we did the
equivalent of moving in to protect the property rights of the the
southern slave owners to uphold a failing economic system and employed
some pretty hideous tactics to do so.
I think that we agree that the MOQ favors reducing oppression based on
social hierarchies. Thanks in part to us, Latin America is still
nothing close to the "land of opportunity" that the US is (not to say
that we don't also have room to improve.)
On Jun 6, 2004, at 4:05 PM, Platt Holden wrote:
> Hi MSH:
>
> MSH writes:
>> "When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask
>> why the poor have no food, they call you a communist."
>> - Archbishop Helder Camara, Brazilian liberation theologist
>>
>> Interesting, isn't it? Any time the citizens of a country attempt to
>> reorganize their country's resources in a more equitable way, they are
>> called "Communists" and the full weight of the US is brought to bear
>> in
>> crushing their progress.
>
> Wonder why? Because forced redistribution of wealth is straight from
> Karl
> Mark, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his
> needs." -- an idea that led to millions of Soviet citizens being
> murdered
> by their own leaders, not to mention the slaughters of dissidents that
> took place in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, etc.,etc. Strange that
> you
> would see such bloodbaths as being related to "progress."
>
> Thanks largely to Ronald Reagan, the Marxist-Leninist scourge that
> afflicted the 20th century has been defeated. Free thought, the
> essence of
> the intellectual level, has been saved from social and biological level
> forces which, once again, are on the march with the rise of global
> terrorism. And once again, the U.S. is in the forefront of the fight to
> preserve freedom from germ-like carriers of evil.
>
> Regards,
> Platt
>
>
>
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