Why the Rise of Socialism in America?

Why the rise of socialism in America? That is the topic we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Worldview Radio program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. Christian Worldview is a nonprofit, listener-supported radio ministry. Our website is thechristianworldview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout today's program.

As always, thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer.

Socialism has become mainstream in America. Political candidates representing the Democratic Socialists of America party, the DSA, are winning elections across the country. Their website says this quote Imagine taking a day off from work in a future without capitalism. You don't really have bills any more. You have no debt.

You don't need health insurance. You don't pay a mortgage or have a landlord. Because comfortable housing is a human right. Your retirement is publicly funded. Food, education, Energy, medicine, and transportation aren't for-profit businesses.

They are common goods and utilities. It goes on to say, If we lived in a classless society and governed ourselves, we could freely build a world without war or poverty. Building this world is the guiding star of our movement, the Socialist Movement. When we labor for our common good instead of private profit, we can all have a secure and dignified life. And use our time and talents how How we wish.

Uh Did you notice the wee, we, we? just like the rebels of Babel in Genesis chapter eleven, building their city and tower in opposition to God. Our guest this weekend to discuss the rise of socialism is Cal Beissner. Founder and president of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, an organization that advocates for policies that lift people out of poverty through principles such as private property rights, entrepreneurship. Free trade, limited government, and access to abundant, affordable, and reliable energy.

Cal is also the author of two helpful booklets related to this topic that you'll be able to order from our website, thechristianworldview.org.

Social justice versus biblical justice, and is capitalism bad for the environment? Let's get straight to the first segment of the interview with Cal Beisner. Cal, it's so good as always to have you back on the Christian Worldview Radio program. I want to start out with a quote from Ann Rand, who is a Russian-born Woman who ended up immigrating to America and was a writer and philosopher, not a believer. She said, There is no difference.

between communism In socialism. Except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end. Communism proposes to enslave men by force.

Socialism by vote. It is merely the difference between murder, and suicide. First off, could you draw the distinctions? between these terms, socialism, Marxism and Communism. Marxism is far the broadest concept because it gets into many issues other than economics and the relationship between the state and the market, the functioning of the economy.

Marxism, of course, roots back to Karl Marx in the 19th century. In fact, just yesterday it was, I finished reading Paul Kenger's really amazing book called The Devil in Karl Marx. which in the early parts of it documents the extent of really serious intentional demonic Trafficking that Karl Marx and those around him did. This was most definitely an occult-rooted matter in Marx's life. Marx was filled with hatred for Any sort of authority, any sort of recognition of hierarchy of our chains of authority and so on.

He wanted to destroy all of that. But he focused basically on people's economic relationships. He saw the world as divided between oppressors and oppressed. The oppressors were in his day, he believed, The capitalists, that is, those who owned capital, tools, buildings, machinery, money. and then employed workers to use those tools in those buildings and with those machines.

to produce products to sell. And he believed that the capitalists oppressed the workers. As it actually turns out, instead, it's very, very different. Capitalists can employ workers only if they're willing to pay the workers better than competing capitalists can. And so capitalists compete By raising the wages of workers, they can do that because the capital that they provide, the tools, the machines, and so on.

increase The output of the workers.

So, capital owners and workers are natural allies. The enemies, so to speak, are different capitalists because they're competing with each other for workers and for customers. But Marx didn't see it that way. He believed that the entire value of any product in the market. Was from how much time did workers have to spend to create that product.

So, this was the labor theory of value. Of course, this forgets that if I had a power splitter, I could have split a whole bunch of firewood this morning a whole lot faster than I did with my splitting mall.

Now, I happen to enjoy using a splitting mall, so I don't rent a splitter, but I understand that the capital of a splitter, a power splitter. Would have improved my output of firewood very considerably and reduced my fatigue, but I'm satisfied with my simple splitting mall instead. Mark's thought then of basically the oppressors or the capitalists, the oppressed or the workers, And he believed that you could bring about A reversal of that and a spread of all property to all people equally by a revolution of the proletariat, the workers, against the capitalists. And he believed that that would happen first in the most Capitalistically developed countries like the United States, Great Britain, and so on. As a matter of fact, Socialism as a step toward communism, we'll get there in a minute, didn't sell well in the highly developed capitalistic countries precisely because.

the workers in those countries already had been lifted to an economic level far beyond anything that their previous generations could even have dreamt of. Instead, the revolution took place. In Russia Which was a place that had almost zero capitalist activity. And it wasn't a revolution of the oppressed workers against the capitalists. It was a revolution of the, frankly, pretty oppressed masses against the czar and the whole nobility and royalty of Russia at the time.

Now, we all know, of course. how all of that wound up. Under Lenin and Stalin, millions and millions of Russians and Ukrainians and others were slaughtered intentionally by their government or starved intentionally by their government.

So Cal, socialism is increasing in popularity. But what about the next step you mentioned, Communism? which I still think has a negative connotation for most Americans. And what is it about Socialism and Communism that are unbiblical? Communism is for Karl Marx The goal of socialism.

Socialism is the path toward communism. Communism is the complete absence of all property rights to any individuals, to any families. All property is just common to everybody. And you fish in the morning and you make love in the afternoon and you have dinner in the evening and life is just wonderful because everybody shares everything equally in that need. The question is, who makes all of those things, right?

Who makes the meals? Who grows the grain? Who raises the beef? And so on. When you take away private property rights, you destroy the incentive to create.

And that's clear from even the scriptures teaching about human nature. We are made in God's image to be creative and productive as he is. And over and over again in the Old Testament, we have promises that hard work Wise work. brings about gain. And that gain can be a blessing.

So we see that many times.

Socialism exists kind of on a spectrum. There are things that are sort of soft socialism. The welfare state, for instance. And people in America will say: well, if you think socialism is such a problem, look at Scandinavia. They're socialist countries and they're wonderful.

They're wealthy. People live really well there.

Well, actually, they tried socialism in the 1950s and 60s, and it didn't work out very well there. They kept the welfare state, but those are highly capitalistic countries now. They have some socialism on the side mixed in, but overwhelmingly they're capitalistic, and that's why they're so wealthy.

So, socialism is. The path to communism. In socialism, you transfer ownership of productive property increasingly from private persons and corporations. to the state. And then the state determines who does what work, when, where, who uses what resources for what purposes.

Fundamentally, that's what we're asking: is the question. Who determines? What resources get used? At what costs were For what ends? Who decides the trade offs that are going to be made?

Yeah. For socialism, the answer is the state. For capitalism, the answer is free individuals. Free individuals, though, Having to act within the boundaries Of God's moral law.

So there is no room in capitalism, for example, for murder incorporated. You can't have a private firm that specializes in murder, or rather you can, but you had better get arrested and tried and convicted and punished. But capitalism says private persons should own and use private property for the purpose of serving others. to make a profit But that profit comes only to the extent that you do serve other people.

Well, that was a really great explanation of these terms, Marxism, Socialism, and Communism. And as you describe that, Cal, I'm thinking.

Well, why on earth is the idea of socialism becoming so popular in our country to Today, in recent memory, you know, Bernie Sanders. The senator from Vermont was kind of the crazy socialist right Over the last 20 years or so. He's been in power longer than that. But then it was Alexandria. Ocasio Cortez, AOC.

And then, of course, in the mayor, the new mayor of New York City, Zoram Mamdani, he had this to say just several months ago. I've just openly As mayor of New York. For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty. Many of these people have been betrayed by the established order. But in our administration Their needs will be met.

Their hopes and dreams and interests will be reflected transparently in government. They will shape our future. And if for too long these communities have existed as distinct from one another. We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.

If our We're going to replace the frigidity of rugged individualism, referring really to capitalism. with the warmth of collectivism. That's socialism or communism. But it wasn't just Mom Donnie, it was now, since he came in power, there's been a slew. Part of this party, DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America.

Political leaders and candidates. By the way, along with many leftist churches, from the mainline Protestant churches, leftist Catholic churches. Then they're winning elections. Why, Cal, do you think there is such growing support? For socialism.

In America, and has there ever been another time in our history when socialism has been so supported by voters? I'm sure you won't be surprised by my first answer to that, and that is: American schooling has been a dismal failure. How many Jun Z Certainly gen alpha. or even Gen X and millennials. How many of them?

Know the history. Of socialism and communism over the twentieth century. How many of them have ever heard of the Black Book of Communism put together by a team of French scholars, all of them former communists, just simply documenting the numbers of human beings? killed by their own governments. And those governments were communists.

And the number. They estimate runs anywhere between about 100 million and about 250 million. Probably $180 million is the most likely rounded figure. But our schools Unfortunately, even private schools, let alone our public schools, which, by the way, were shaped by socialist John Dewey, Marxist, and his disciples at the Columbia Teachers' College, our schools have utterly failed to teach basic history, just simple facts. All right.

That one I'm sure you're fully aware of. Yeah. But here's a different one that I think is important for us to understand. 150 years ago. Most children started working on the farm where they lived.

by the time they were five. And they kept working, and they saw the fruits of their labors in the families. flourishing. See you. By the time they were 14, 15, 16.

They were responsible adults. Many of them married by the time they were in their mid to late teens, and they took responsibility for their families.

So, what that means is that for about the first four to four and a half, maybe five years of their lives, Everything they received came to them without charge. From there on out. They worked. They earned their share of the family's meals and shelter and everything else. There didn't used to be a period of growth called adolescence.

The idea started in the late 19th century with a sociologist whose name I can't remember at the moment. But Adolescence has been this period between childhood and adulthood that we didn't used to even think about. Yeah. And originally, adolescence was thought to go from, okay, maybe 10 or 11 years old to 15, 16 years old. By the time you were 17 or 18, you were ready to be an adult in the real world and take responsibilities.

Now, people are thinking in terms of adolescence that runs oh to the mid to late 20s even the early 30s and through all that time Okay. You're not working for what you consume. You're receiving it all free of charge. Thanks to your parents, or thanks to government handouts, or both. But you don't understand.

by real personal experience. the connection between Hard work. and the use of capital, tools, machinery and whatnot that go into making that hard work productive, you don't understand that. You've never experienced it.

So you have essentially lived in a micro socialist economy. until your mid-20s to early 30s. And everything worked out just fine there. Your tuition got paid, or at least you got a nice loan guaranteed by the government at a very low rate, and you didn't have to start paying on it until way later. Everything worked out just great.

So what could be wrong with just spreading that to everybody else for all of life? I think that's another part of why so many young people, especially, Are turning more towards socialism today. And then, too, I think there's The laudable motive. among many young people. who say, I see people around me.

who are living in squalor. who lack basic provisions that I take for granted. I want them lifted out of poverty. I want to see them. cared for.

Well, the State promises to do that in Socialism.

So you have a laudable motive, a laudable end. Caring for those who are poor. lifting them out of poverty. But what you don't realize is that the means that you have chosen are deadly. We know they're deadly from the history that you don't know.

And we know they're deadly too because when you do not see a connection between Your work. And the risks you take on the one hand, and your rewards on the other hand. You lack incentive to work and work hard. I think that helps to explain the enormous lack of workforce participation, especially among young men in America today, that so many of them have they just don't have a desire for a job. Living in a mom and dad's basement.

They're doing all right, watching their pornography, you know, listening to their music and their podcasts. It's a very sad thing. But we do need to learn history. The great Harvard sociologist and philosopher Georges Santayana is famous for having said, Those who do not remember history. are condemned to repeated.

I sure hope that we can get our memory back before that happens.

So do I.

So well said, Cal. Cal Beisner is our guest today here on the program. He is the founder and president of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. In just a moment, we'll tell you how you can order two of Cal's booklets related to the topic of socialism. I'm David Wheaton and you are listening to the Christian World of Your Radio program.

Socialism is on the rise in America. the Democratic Socialists of America are winning elections all across the country. Often promoted in Christian terms equality, dignity, common good, rights for all, the reality of socialism ends in human misery and rebellion against God. Kel Beisner, founder and president of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, has written two excellent booklets that refute socialism and its supposed merits. The first is social justice versus biblical justice, and the second is is capitalism bad for the environment?

To order one or both, visit our website thechristianworldview. org or call one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three or write to box four zero one Excelsior Minnesota five five three three one. That's one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three or thechristianworldview dot org dot What is the Christian Worldview Radio program really about? Fundamentally, it's about impacting people, families, churches, with the life and eternity changing truth of God's Word. We know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that saves us from God's wrath by God's grace for God's glory.

And we know the Bible is the inspired Word of God, providing the only way to think and live to the glory of God. We are a nonprofit listener supported ministry. If you would like to help us impact listeners with the biblical worldview and the gospel, consider becoming a Christian Worldview partner who regularly give a specified amount to the ministry. As a thank you, Christian Worldview Partners automatically receive many of the resources featured on the program throughout the year. To become a Christian Worldview Partner, call us toll-free 188-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org.

Welcome back to the Christian Worldview. I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit thechristianworldview.org, where you can sign up for our weekly email, the Christian Worldview Journal, monthly print publication, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Our topic today is: why the rise of socialism in America? And our guest is Cal Beisner.

President of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. Cal, I've never heard of a socialistic or communistic society that revered God. Is there something about this? That takes us back to Genesis 11. Where unregenerate mankind is always trying to get back to Babel, where they can build their society apart from God.

Karl Marx absolutely hated God. He was determined to destroy all faith in God as best he could. And so certainly the hatred of God is key to Marxian socialism.

Now, there have been socialist movements in the history of Christianity. In fact, Thomas Molnar wrote a fascinating book called The Perennial Heresy. That ran the history of various different socialist movements within. Christendom over the past roughly 1,900 years before he wrote his book. These come usually from a misreading of various passages of scripture, and that misreading has cropped up over and over again in church history and even recently.

The evangelical left is fond of pointing to, for example, the sabbatical year law that says that in the seventh year of a debt, you're supposed to. cancel all debts. In the fiftieth year, after seven sabbatical years. All property is returned to its original owner, all debts are cancelled, etc.

Now, of course, if one is thinking, as I've just said that, one already begins to see a problem there. Wait a minute. If all debts are canceled every seven years, Then that means that they're canceled in the seventh sabbatical year.

So what debt is left to be canceled in the fiftieth year, the Jubilee year?

So there must be a problem of interpretation here. And the problem is, starting with translation, the Hebrew that is sometimes translated cancel. It's a very simple verb. It just means to let drop, to let something drop.

Now, if we look at all the uses of that verb in the Hebrew Old Testament, we find that there isn't a single one that has to be permanent. Most of them have to be temporary. And specifically related to the sabbatical year, We read in Deuteronomy 15 that in the sabbatical year we are to let drop the debts that others have toward us. But the sabbatical year is a larger piece of legislative scripture. Back in Exodus 23:11, we read that also in the sabbatical year you are to let drop.

Your agricultural land. You're not to farm it. Does that mean you're never to go back and farm that land again? Certainly not.

Well, if that's the case, then to understand the term the same way in the same corpus of regulation or legislation, we have to see, ah, what we're supposed to do is in the sabbatical year, we suspend collection on debts so that all of our brothers and sisters in Israel get to enjoy the same benefit of a year off from our hard labors. And we can just enjoy what God has grown for us all. We don't have to pay debts. But you resume the collections the year after. Similarly, with the Jubilee year, we're told in Leviticus 25 that when someone purchases land, he's not really purchasing the land itself.

The text itself says it's actually the harvests.

So, the price is determined by the projected value of the harvests from the origination of this to the next Jubilee year, subtracting the value of harvests in the intervening sabbatical years. That text doesn't specify that, but that would surely have been taken into consideration. What happens is that when a buyer has supposedly bought this land, he's really buying the crops intervening. And how does he get those crops? He has to work for them.

If he doesn't, then he doesn't get some of the payback. But that's his problem, not the seller's or the borrower's problem.

So Cal, what about those passages in the early chapters of Acts? that are often used as proof texts that early Christians were Socialists. People will also misuse Acts II and Acts IV about the early church. Having all things in common. What's clear there is that the giving was voluntary, not involuntary.

That's made clear in Acts chapter 5, where Ananias comes and presents. part of the price of a piece of land that he sold and he lies to Peter and says it's the full price and Peter points out that he has lied not just to Peter but to the Holy Spirit and Ananias then falls dead but in the process Peter says to him while the land was yours wasn't it under your control after you had sold it wasn't the money under your control you didn't have to lie about this It wasn't the question of whether he was required to sell and give away. It was the question of his dishonesty about it. Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 8, people will appeal to this that says that the goal of the giving between the people in Corinth and other parts of Greece to help out the people in Jerusalem was that there might be equality. Aha, see now, equality, that's the aim here, right?

Well, if you read the text carefully, and if you compare it with a related text in Romans chapter 15 about giving, What Paul has in mind is, look, These folks in Jerusalem, they sent missionaries who gave to you to meet your spiritual poverty that you might have spiritual abundance. They're now materially poor, you're materially abundant.

So now, give to them.

So there's equality. The equality is... giving from your abundance to their need as they gave from their abundance to your need. Yeah. So there are passages that people will wrongly use to try to support socialism.

I've discussed all of those at some length in my booklet, Social Justice versus Biblical Justice. This is why we love having you on the Christian Realview Cal, just for an answer like that, to illuminate. Portions of scripture that are commonly misused and misinterpreted to support socialism and environmentalism and so forth.

So we appreciate that. Was a very interesting answer. Cal Beisner with us today here on the Christian Worldview. Speaking of those who are religious, who twist scripture, there is a perfect example of this. His name is James Tallarico.

He is running for the U. S. Senate. He's a Democrat in Texas, and he was. I can't remember what he went to seminary, some leftist seminary.

I can't think of it off the top of my head here. But he said this recently in a Zoom call with some of his supporters. I believe it was from the Sierra Club. Listen to this, James Tallarico. Multifascionist threat of a climate crisis and economic crisis and a social justice crisis, I think that kind of New Deal effort would be the only approach to start to address all three in a thoughtful and meaningful way.

And also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and capitalism in our country. And I think only. And in the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together, are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them? He started out by saying there's a multifaceted threat Of climate crisis, economic crisis, and a social justice crisis. What's your response to that?

Yeah. Well, let's see. How much time do we have here? I could really go into it. I started off by pointing out that Karl Marx saw all the world as oppressors and oppressed.

You're seeing the same approach here, only now. The oppressors include White males, especially white people, and then capitalists, and then those who are messing up our climate, right?

So now we've redefined the oppressors. The whole cultural Marxist movement redefines oppressor-oppressed in various different ways: male versus female, white versus colored, straight versus gay, hetero versus trans, and so on. All of these are new ways of trying to point to oppressors and oppressed. You know that I've done a great deal of work on the climate change issue. The good science tells us climate change is real.

Human activity has probably contributed significantly to it over the last century and a half or so, especially perhaps the last, say, 70 years. that a major part of our contribution comes from our use of fossil fuels. And there are some problems that come with climate change. But as the great economist Thomas Sowell, has frequently put it. There are no solutions.

There are only trade-offs.

So suppose that we really think that climate change is a big problem. Yeah. How are we going to Affect that? How are we going to slow, stop, or reverse the warming of the Earth's surface?

Well, we're going to have to stop using fossil fuels. What happens if we do that?

Well, let's see. Roughly half the food grown in the world right now. Is absolutely dependent on fertilizers made with the Haberbosch process that pulls nitrogen out of the atmosphere. using natural gas. We stop using fossil fuels, we lose half the world's agricultural production.

which means half the world starves to death. Four billion people gone. The rest of the world. Depends very, very heavily on all kinds of transportation systems and concrete and steel and all sorts of other things. that absolutely rely on fossil fuels for their production.

F Get rid of fossil fuels?

Well, not as quickly as the starvation of the 4 billion, but in perhaps a few more years, you're going to lose another 2 billion or so people. This is not just my thinking on this. This is put up by several different major economic studies done on this, which I've discussed in some articles on Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation's blog.

Now let's try to compare. What have been the harms to humanity from so-called human-induced climate change?

Well, let's see. Since the year nineteen hundred, The average annual human mortality rate, that is, percentage of humans dying from Extreme weather Causes Has fallen by more than ninety-nine percent.

So what that tells us is that No matter how bad, Any effects on weather have been from climate change. They have come nowhere near offsetting the benefits to human life. that we get from Hydrocarbon fuels, fossil fuels, oil, coal, natural gas.

Now, I haven't even touched there. Another benefit from those, every time we burn coal, oil, and natural gas, we add CO2 to the atmosphere.

Now, that CO2 is what's called a greenhouse gas. It absorbs heat reflecting out from the surface of the Earth towards space, sends some of that heat back down toward the surface, that warms the surface.

Okay, that's very simple physics. What we're forgetting is the other impact of added CO2 in the atmosphere. Plants grow better. On average, for every doubling of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in which plants grow, you get a 35% increase in plant growth efficiency. They grow better in warmer and cooler temperatures, in wetter and drier soils.

They make better use of soil nutrients. They increase their fruit to fiber ratio. They resist diseases and pests better. Consequently, their ranges expand to areas that used to be too hot or too cold for them, too wet or too dry for them, soils that weren't sufficiently nutrient-rich for them. But not only do their ranges expand, their crop yields expand.

So NASA estimates that CO2 added to the atmosphere from 1960 to the present. Is responsible for an increase in leaf area indexed, that is, green cover over the earth. Equivalent to twice the vegetation on the continental United States from 1990 to about 2000, I believe it was 17. And it continues beyond that. There just hasn't been another study since then.

This is tremendous. And what that means is that this CO2 is increasing crop yields, making food cheaper for everybody around the world. The real oppressors here. The real oppressors, mister Tallerico, Are the wealthy Western Environmentalists Who want to force developing world countries where Primary energy comes from wood and dried dung. Local air pollution from which the World Health Organization estimates kills two to four million people a year.

These wealthy Western environmentalists want to tell all those people. You can't use coal, oil, and natural gas. to lift yourself out of poverty. That's oppression. A common term for it now is climate colonialism.

If Tamarico is really worried about oppression related to climate change, He needs to look at that instead. Cal Beisner, President of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, is our guest today. He is the author of two excellent booklets related to our topic of socialism, titled Social Justice versus Biblical Justice and Is Capitalism Bad for the Environment. You can order both at our website, thechristianworldview.org, or just by giving us a call. Our number will be given during this break.

Much more coming up in the final segment. I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to the Christian Worldview Radio Program.

Socialism is on the rise in America. the Democratic Socialists of America are winning elections all across the country. Often promoted in Christian terms equality, dignity, common good, rights for all, the reality of socialism ends in human misery and rebellion against God. Kel Beisner, founder and president of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, has written two excellent booklets that refute socialism and its supposed merits. The first is social justice versus biblical justice, and the second is is capitalism bad for the environment?

To order one or both, visit our website thechristianworldview. org or call one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three or write to box four zero one Excelsior Minnesota five five three three one. That's one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three or thechristianworldview dot org dot David Wheaton here. For a limited time, we are offering My Boy Ben for a donation of any amount to the Christian Worldview. The book is the true story of a yellow lab that I had back when I was competing on the professional tennis tour.

It's about relationships with Ben, my parents, with the childhood friend I would eventually marry, but ultimately with God, who causes all things, even the hard things, to work together for good. You can order a signed and personalized copy for yourself or for your friend who enjoys a good story, loves dogs, sports, or the outdoors, and most of all, needs to hear about God's grace and the gospel. My Boy Ben is owned by the Christian Realview. It's 264 pages, hardcover, and retails for $24.95. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 188-646-2233 or write to box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331.

Welcome back to the Christian Worldview. I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit thechristianworldview.org, where you can sign up for our weekly email, the Christian Worldview Journal, monthly print publication, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Our topic today is: why the rise of socialism in America? And our guest is Kel Beisner, President of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.

Now to follow up on an earlier comment you made about the biggest danger to the climate and to people's well being and to social justice around the world for those in poverty are Western affluent leftists. environmentalist. One of them is a man named Hassan Piker.

Now, for listeners who don't know who he is, according to Amy Mack, she has an account on Axe. She said Piker is the self-proclaimed socialist Twitch streamer. I think he was part of that program, The Young Turks. He has a background from being from Turkey. He's been banned from entering England, according to this post.

He said he would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time. Calling Hezbollah a legitimate form of militancy. And he dismissed reports of Hamas's October 7 sexual violence as rape fantasies and rape hallucinations. When he once claimed America quote deserved nine-eleven. He lives in a nearly three million dollar home.

in West Hollywood, His net worth is estimated to be thirty five million dollars. He makes an estimated $4 million per year on our capitalist system. This is according to a Wall Street Apes. Twitter feed, but pushes socialism for everyone else. And this is a guy the post says who is making $200,000 per month.

During his peak, just on subscriptions to his social media sites alone. And so Hassan Piker said this. When asked about His expensive home. At what point does your very expensive home stop being a basic human necessity and something that essentially reinforces the very system that you're critiquing? I don't think the purchases that you make necessarily I mean, if you're buying a private jet, that's a little different.

But I don't think the purchases that you make as long as you're not using it to engage in capital accumulation imply something less ethical than than whatever whatever purchase they're making in general. Um I have a house. The reason why it's so expensive is because it's in West Hollywood. You would think people notice this, but it doesn't seem to move the needle that these people are huge hypocrites amassing capital, whether through houses, properties or finance, and yet railing against the capitalistic system, Cal. Wealth redistribution for thee not for me He is the current Historical setting in America of the nomenclatura In the Soviet Union.

The nomenklatura were the high-ranking bureaucrats of the Soviet communist system. They had their dachas, their vacation homes out in beautiful places well away from Moscow. They had plenty of exotic foods on their tables. They had very comfortable homes and all this.

Meanwhile, the average Russian was standing in long lines to get moldy bread. What we're seeing here is. the identical thing going on, but Here, people like Hassan Piker. have become celebrities. And you know, I've known a lot of young people who embrace socialism In theory, anyway.

And who are very upset about very wealthy. corporation executives or stockholders and the like, but they see certain people as celebrities. And because they're celebrities, They're immune from criticism. I think it's partly because these young folks, or some of them not so young, I have a relative who very happily said to me, I feel the burn about Bernie Sanders. You know, she was very much in favor of him.

They make celebrities out of these people. And therefore, they're outside the limits of critique because somehow or other they stand for. What these people want Though they're not living that way. When Al Gore had five different homes, one of them on the beachfront in San Francisco, another one in Hawaii, his home in Nashville, all by itself, used 30 times as much energy per month as the average home in Tennessee. When Al Gore was doing all of that, the people who almost worshipped him as the prophet of climate doom couldn't say anything negative about that.

Why not? because it would undermine the credibility of the man who was there. Celebrity. Similar thing with Piker. Final question for you, Cal.

about our current economic system, where just a few massive companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Tesla, NVIDIA, AI companies are the major engine of the economy. that if one isn't invested into the stock market, it's really hard to keep up with inflation and the cost of living. And we see all over the news that the younger generation is not able to afford to buy a home and our national debt. is now over forty trillion dollars. Why isn't jettisoning capitalism and embracing socialism the answer?

When critics of socialism point to the failure of socialism in socialist countries all over the world, and that's the entire record, right? The defenders always say, Well, it wasn't really proper socialism.

Socialism hasn't failed. It hasn't been tried. I mean, that's historical nonsense, but that's the way they answer. It's very tempting to give a similar answer here on this. And the reality is.

The national debt, these problems with inflation and so on, that's not capitalism. That is government interference in the free market. People think of inflation as rising Prices. of all the different goods that we buy, right? Technically, that's not inflation.

Inflation is an expansion of the money supply, right? And that expansion of the money supply. causes the rise in prices. We're told by the Fed its aim, its target is Long-term 2% inflation. That is.

Every year, dollar is worth 2% less than it was the year before. That's the target. As if somehow or other that should be comforting. At 2% annual inflation, The money in your wallet loses half its value every 36 years.

Now why am I supposed to be grateful to the Fed for achieving that? I don't understand that. That's theft. It's called counterfeiting. When the Fed does it, it's legal.

It's not right, it's still theft. Right? If I go out and counterfeit money, I'm expanding the money supply, which means I'm increasing demand, which means I'm increasing demand for labor. Increasing employment, right? Isn't that good?

But I go to prison for it. No, we need to get back to sound money policy. I've discussed this at length in my book, Prosperity and Poverty: The Compassionate Use of Resources in a World of Scarcity, a basic intro to economics. We need to get back to that. The problem is, when you run up, uh national debt of over 40 trillion dollars The only way.

We're going to pay off that debt. is by more inflation. Which means that it will impoverish people. It will take away at 2% inflation. It will reduce the value of the money in your wallet.

to half every 36 years. At 4%, It'll do it every 18 years. Yeah. Nine percent?

Well, what's seventy two divided by nine? Every eight years, your money loses half its value. We had nine percent inflation for a while under Biden. I mean, this is craziness. Christians who care about not seeing government steal.

From Everybody. In the population, except those who get to benefit from the inflation. Meaning The bankers, the people employed in government who get to use the money early on before it loses its value, before the public becomes aware that there are so many more dollars out there, right? They get to benefit, but everybody else loses. Christians.

Who care about the command not to steal need to be firmly opposed to that kind of policy.

Well, I really am appreciative for your being able to explain that in understandable terms, Cal. And there's a lot in this country that we need to be better informed about so we can influence those around us in the right way to offset the lack of education they're getting in the educational system, especially the government system. And we can vote the right way as well, too, and not be deceived by these people pushing socialism today as if it's a great high moral calling.

So thank you, Cal, for what you do at Cornwall Alliance for the stewardship of creation. But not only that, but just for who you are as a fellow believer. And we just wish all of God's best and grace to you.

Well, thank you very much, David. It's been a pleasure being with you. I am so grateful. for your ministry of helping people to think Based on a biblical worldview, we need that desperately. And so I just thank the Lord for your ministry.

To God be the glory. Thank you, Cal. Again, our guest today has been Cal Beisner, President of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and the author of two booklets related to our topic of socialism, social justice versus biblical justice and is capitalism bad for the environment. You can order both at our website, by phone, or by mail. All our contact information will be given in just a moment.

Capitalism certainly needs restraints because of sinful human nature. But socialism is far more dangerous and unbiblical because it makes the state God, it takes away the incentive to work, which God designed for man even before the fall of man Because it takes away private property, which God intended for man to own, it infringes on individual liberties as it forces its definition of equality on everyone. And because it has never led to human flourishing or worship of God, but rather the opposite. Human misery. and rebellion against God.

So be not deceived about socialism. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian World of View and for your support of this non-profit radio ministry. Until next time. Think biblically. Live accordingly.

and stand firm. The mission of the Christian worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out what must I do to be saved, go to thechristianworldview.org or call toll-free 188-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported, non-profit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation.

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