“’Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the spider to the fly;

“’tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you will spy. . . .

. . . .

Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with pearl and silver wing;

Your robes are green and purple-there’s a crest upon your head;

Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine as dull as lead.’

.. . . .

Alas, alas! How very soon this silly little fly,

Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by:

. . . .

Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast.

He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,

Within his little parlour-but she ne’er came out again!”

Mary Howitt’s 1828 poem, “The Spider and the Fly” is a cautionary tale that most everyone over fifty read as a child but apparently was missed by the younger generation.  It is a reminder that in the same way a fisherman catches no fish with an empty hook but uses some tantalizing bait, so wicked people, like socialists, (and they are truly wicked!) must offer enticements tuned to your appetites to lure you to your end.

You are naïve if you do not thoroughly investigate offers that appear too good to be true. Socialism, and its sister, communism, inevitably bring misery and slavery!

Reminds me of another ancient fable, “Hanzel and Gretel,” where the hapless children fortunately learn, in the nick of time, to beware the gingerbread and candy house! Yes, young Americans, beware the sweet promises offered you by the Left and the Democrats.

Public education and the liberal media have found a bait with which to ensnare the youth of America; and are using it with great success in drawing that generation into the suffocating morass that is socialism. With the flattery that these young people deserve something for nothing and that they have been exploited by the wealthy, the Left draws them into their scam.

They convince them that the country is unjust because some are rich while others languish in poverty. 

Propounding the lie that an egalitarian state is the only just state, it is then not difficult to lure the unsuspecting young people into their trap. These simplistic and dishonest accusations of the socialists are rarely examined by the young. Someone has well said that,

“If socialists understood economics, they would not be socialists!”

Envy has been considered a vice (one of the “Seven Deadly Sins”) with good reason. Along with its twin, covetousness, it has brought great suffering to many people. One of the saddest illustrations of this principle is that of Haman, in the book of Esther in the Bible. Haman was the second most powerful man in the Persian empire and had everything a person could ever desire. He had wealth, prestige and the ear of the king. One would think he would have been well satisfied with his life.

But there was one thing he lacked and coveted: the worship of a man named Mordecai. Mordecai refused to bow his knee to Haman, and Haman lost sight of all that he had in his frustration over one man’s refusal to bow. In the end, Haman’s bitterness and covetousness cost him his life and the lives of his family.

How dangerous envy truly is! Avoid it at all cost!

Inequality has always existed, and It always will. It exists in America as well, but along with that inequality is something that no other nation in history had: the freedom and opportunity to better oneself and move up the economic ladder. The United States has the largest middle class of any nation in history and has even provided that one who began in poverty, with hard work and discipline, may become abundantly wealthy without exploiting anyone!

Millions have done just that!

Socialists boast that they will create a classless society, but to date, what they have succeeded in creating are nations with abject poverty on one hand and super wealthy elite on the other. The elite class, of course, consists generally of the political leadership. The middle class in these countries is largely non-existent.

While Americans, for various reasons, are divided into lower, middle, and upper classes, the country is in reality the closest thing to a “classless society” the world has ever known. Those among us who view themselves as being “of better blood,” are generally scorned by the rest, and can do nothing to stop a poor but diligent man from walking right past them to an extraordinary life of accomplishment and wealth. (And even play golf at the same country club!)

All this is true because the principles upon which America was built were derived from the Bible, which declares that God is no respecter of persons. We are all equally lost in sin, and all come to God by the same path, that of the Cross of Christ! “There is none righteous, no not one,” the Scriptures state, and it is the blood of Christ that washes the sin away once one has repented of them and trusted in Christ’s offer of forgiveness.

The diabolical desire to rule over others is the ugliness of the enemy of our souls, Satan, and the heartbeat of every tyrant or would-be tyrant. We all like to govern our own piece of turf, but some people have a malignant ambition to control the lives of others.  Such is the desire of the socialist.

However, few people would voluntarily choose to be tortured and abused under the heel of evil men, therefore, tyrants have through the ages crafted arguments and devises by which they disguised their true intention to bring their fellow citizens under their control. Some, by sheer willpower, have forced tyranny on their country, but others have promised shared wealth and power with those who assisted them in overpowering their victims.

“Gifted” despots have developed eloquent and persuasive rationalizations, convincing followers of the glorious future awaiting those who join in their conquests. In more recent times, the promises have been simplified by the socialist to “You are abused and down-trodden, I will set you free and give you what is rightfully yours.” It is much the same argument that Adolph Hitler made to the German people who had been so beaten down following World War I.

The message may superficially appear moral, but the result is the same: the masses become slaves of the socialist masters.

The United States has been unique due to its founding principle of allowing every person to live as freely as possible, to pursue their own goals and to succeed or fail dependent upon their own giftedness and determination.

Americans were once taught that each of us would give an account one day to God and thus we ought to speak the truth, deal kindly and fairly with others, and work hard for what we wanted as no one owed us anything.  (We have no kings! Do you get that?  All those who now demand that they receive something for nothing are behaving like kings!) The America dream, if you recall, is that you are free to go wherever your gifts and discipline take you, and that you earn whatever you have the old-fashioned way: you work for it!

For a generation that has been coddled and taught they are owed something simply for existing, that may be a bridge too far? It does involve that four letter word, “work!”

Americans historically had no patience with slackers because such people resemble kings, living off the sweat and labor of others! Recall that we fought a war to be free from a king. Those who are genuinely unable to provide for themselves are a legitimate concern, but many Americans have been hesitant to provide for them out of government resources for a variety of reasons, which must remain a topic for another discussion. But I might note that a primary concern is that such largesse inevitably opens the flood gates of corruption.

I will never envy what another person has, though it be a Trillian dollars, because envy, like its cousin bitterness, (as Plato warned) is “an acid that eats its own vessel.” So long as a person has not achieved his financial status through theft, or by other illegal or immoral means, he ought to be free to accumulate as much money as he likes.

His wealth has taken nothing from me!

If we decide that we, as a community, determine how much a person may own, none of us are safe. There will always be those who are envious of anyone who has more than they do and will use the government to steal it, if possible.

It should go without saying that there is not now, nor has there ever been a perfect country, and we are fools if we believe that such is even remotely possible. When the smallest sub-group of society, the family, has struggles, why would we suppose that the whole country could function smoothly, meeting everyone’s desires and aspirations? Yet that is the standard set before young Americans by the Left.

Because America has not provided a utopian quality life for every citizen, (though it has vastly outperformed every other country in history) the Democrat/communists declare that it must be “burned to the ground” to be replaced with socialism, which after dozens of catastrophic failures, will succeed . . .this time!

Right! And I have an original Monet to sell you for fifty bucks!

I don’t think so!