Voluntary versus Involuntary Socialism

Since my conversion to a conservative perspective on political economy over the past few years, I have thought a lot about why so many theologians and Christian academics in general are so head over heels in love with the ideas of Karl Marx and the continual expansion of the welfare state. Here is the beginning of an answer.

I think they are guilty of a simply mistake in logic that goes unnoticed most of the time. It is the confusion of voluntary with involuntary socialism. As a system socialism purports to be about sharing, equality and concern for the downtrodden. Now, who could possibly object those ideals? Surely, only a hard-bitten, selfish, rich person could do so. Notice that the entire emphasis is on the willingness of the virtuous person voluntarily to do something to help the poor. It is easy to argue that the Bible commands us to be willing personally to help the poor because it does so over and over again.

But socialism, when it is implemented in a given country, is not about voluntary sharing. That is called charity and it exists already as a vehicle for anyone who is honestly willing to share his goods with those in need. And many of us conservatives do just that. Socialists are not really into charity, however.

Socialism is not about charity, but rather about what is called "justice." Socialists actually tend to despise charity as an impediment to justice. Now, justice in a socialist worldview is not what it has traditionally been in past centuries. Justice for socialists means the rightness of the state taking from the rich(er) and giving to the poor(er). In other words, justice does not mean respecting private property and forbidding stealing (as the Bible does), but rather no respect for private property and the institutionalization of stealing as government policy.

If you ask the average Christian if it is important, biblical, and right to help the less fortunate among us, he will, of course, say yes. If you ask if it is imperative for us to support a socialist program, he will likely be led to say yes again because otherwise it sounds (in a superficial sense) like he is not wanting to do his bit to help after just having admitted that helping the less fortunate is a biblical mandate. But he has not noticed the subtle shift from a voluntary obedience to biblical commands to an endorsement of an involuntary imposition of an oppressive, top-down, statist political regime upon the nation.

Monastic orders and various types of radical Christian communities are examples of voluntary socialist communities. Some Christians think that if we admire such communities, why not apply the principle to society as a whole? But there is a great deal of difference between a voluntary socialist community and an involuntary one: the voluntary one is one that you can leave.

Many socialists refuse to take responsibility for all the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the great socialist regimes of the 20th century, such as Nazism, the USSR, Chinese Communism and a host of smaller ones, because they style themselves as "Democratic Socialists," as if the mere fact that a majority voted for the socialist government makes its immoral actions moral. Hitler was voted in democratically but that does not legitimize his rule. Governments that set themselves against the natural law and the moral law of God and institutionalize injustice and immorality render themselves illegitimate no matter how many votes they can accumulate from the population. Popular majority rule is not capable of making evil into good.

Socialism always involves the use of coercion by government to interfere with the natural freedom and dignity of persons made in the image of God. That is what is wrong with it. If you feel called to help the poor, by all means do so but not by imposing tyrannical government on your fellowman. If you feel strongly that a socialist lifestyle is Christian, then set up a Christian community modeled on socialist principles such as a co-op or even a full-blown socialist commune like the Hutterites have. Or you can enter a monastic lifestyle. But do not vote or agitate for a statist, top-down, tyrannical and inefficient bureaucratic monstrosity.