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"Seduced in Seattle" could be the title if it were a movie or novel, but it isn't...
It's real life.
The Socialist Party in Seattle advertised a job opening last week for an experienced web developer. The job, they said, pays $13 per hour.
They are the folks who are pressing---demanding Mayor Ed Murray raise the minimum wage in Seattle to $20 per hour.
Murray has raised it initially to $15, incrementally approaching the $20 range.
The Seattle business community has publicly said they are making adjustments, which will directly reduce the hours of some, particularly in food services, while eliminating an unknown number of jobs for others in the city.
Other businesses are simply planning to expand outside the city.
The Socialist Party not practicing what they preach regarding minimum wage is only a glimpse of the seduction that their ideology actually involves.
The Party's explanation would be humorous, except the philosophy of the socialist has become the philosophy of the secular progressive left.
The explanation of their talk not matching their walk is revealing.
And the secular progressive left have their political hands placed on the throat of freedom and free enterprise.
This is about much more than a minimum wage debate.
Socialism also stands in complete contradiction to the virtue and values of Christianity.
Doug Barnes, the Socialist Party's National Secretary, says they shouldn't be subject to their own minimum wage demands because they are a non profit.
However, Barnes says, "We're practicing what we're preaching in terms of continuing to fight for the minimum wage--but we can't pay a lot more than $13.
He says their "donor base would all be affected, and the low wage earners who support us with $5 to $6 per month wouldn't be able to give more."
Barnes says he personally supports a $22 minimum wage.
They have removed their ad after being called out on their hypocrisy, however this link saved a screen shot of the actual ad.
A glance at the Socialist Party Platform is revealing to say the least. What is even more revealing is the cultural consequences that follows this ideology.
The minimum wage issue is a grain of sand on the beach of socialism's utopia.
History reveals a trail of cultural and economic terror where socialism has prevailed. And it reveals some of the most violent attacks on Christianity and religious freedom the world has ever experienced.
A profile of secular progressivism reveals the future if socialist progressives lead.
While Ronald Reagan defeated the "Evil Empire"---and he did, the ideals that drove the Soviet Union are not dead.
Those ideologies live on, not only in the minds of secular progressives, but in the mind of the so-called "religious left," all of whom seek to redefine America and break the back of the most free and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
Socialism and Christianity are not the same, nor are they compatible.
Biblical Christianity's compassion is not the compassion social progressives advocate.
Capitalism does not "hate the poor."
Capitalism has provided a base for America to also become the most generous nation in the history of the world.
Socialist revolutions are the enemy of Christianity. History records they have created more poverty and misery than any other social system.
Communism takes socialism to its ultimate consequences. Socialism also ultimately eliminates God.
It has been said, "Communism will shoot you in the head, socialism makes you suffer a lifetime."
Whittaker Chambers who himself fled such a government and culture has written much about the seduction of socialism and the cultural consequences. And its clash with Christianity.
Some thoughts of America's progressive left and the ideology of socialism.
1. The seduction concerning the nature of man.
The true socialist begins with the premise that man is "matter"-- there is no Creator God and no eternal purposes. No hereafter. Evolution. Progressivism.
2. The seduction concerning man's relationship to the "state."
Socialism perverts the biblical model of a proper relationship between man and the state.
3. The seduction concerning private property.
Christianity defends ones right to own property, while socialism advocates government control and ownership of property. The abolition of private property under socialism violates the commandment "Thou shalt not steal." In 2008, the socialist President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, seized $29 billion of private retirement savings of Argentinean workers to use for what the London Telegraph described as "a funding kitty" for her socialist schemes.
4. The seduction concerning the proper function of government.
Socialism perverts the proper function of government. If a man is only a piece of inert matter then clearly he is not capable of entrepreneurship with his own failures and successes. Therefore the state, instead of protecting the framework in which the man and associations can flourish, the state must become a social engineer to change man and mold him into its Utopian ideals and its goals of equality and tolerance. And to do so it must use coercion by taxation, penalties and new laws designed to advance the socialist vision. Governmental power must be used to force the non compliant to comply.
5. The seduction concerning the function of law.
To the socialist, the function of law becomes not a guiding light to productivity and happiness, but a mere instrument of coercion to bend and force citizens to comply with the warped vision of those in rule.
Historian Bastiat put it this way: "Socialists desire to practice 'legal' plunder...they desire to make the law their own weapon." Judicial activism.
6. The seduction concerning Christian charity.
Secular progressive socialists separate the family structure, by indoctrinating the child in public education, while challenging the beliefs and authority of the parents. The communist socialists have historically separated families making their life work choices on the basis of what would serve the doctrines and dictates of the Party.
This is an illegitimate intrusion on the rights of parents. This stands in absolute contradiction to biblical teaching that says the parents, not the state, are the primary educators of children.
Class warfare, race warfare, gender warfare, generational warfare are all ways in which the secular progressive socialists use to erode the foundations of western civilization.
To the socialist, "envy" is a virtue, to the Christian it is a sin.
7. The seduction of "Justice for the poor" or "social justice."
The first duty of the Christian in regard to helping the poor is not good intentions or a loving heart, it's competence.
I believe good social policy for the poor begins with good economic policy. Bad policy hurts, not helps the poor.
Since Lyndon Johnson launched his "Great Society," America has created an industry of welfare, creating a culture of welfare and dependence that enslaves the people it claims to help.
There is a difference between feeding the poor and eliminating poverty. The latter requires the creation of economic wealth. Feeding the poor is an act of mercy and love and charity.
The social action of the socialist progressive left is too often a facade of benevolence calculated to win votes and create government dependence.
Caring for the poor is necessary and biblical, but intentionally creating dependence is immoral and contrary to the gospel.
True Christianity strives for the moral and economic betterment of people. Forcing people to "do good" through redistribution of wealth by taxation and entitlements is the death of the virtue of charity.
Yet the socialist progressive left claims to be the champion for the down trodden.
The big lie is that Progressive Socialism is the champion for the people and that it is the true spirit of Christianity.
It is neither.
Creating jobs and industry is a great good, and to diminish the opportunities for entrepreneurs and the private sector, then claim the facade of virtue in doing so is the ultimate attempt at seduction.
Without a job, the poor man will always be poor.
No regimes in history have produced more poverty and misery than socialism. One hundred million people were killed in the socialist revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said, "Socialists are delaying the inevitable day of reckoning---which is...running out of other people's money."
Christian charity and free market entrepreneurship are not only compatible, but are necessary to truly help the poor.
From the proclamation "six days shall you work" to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-18, the Bible promotes the virtue of honest enterprise and the joy of making a profit.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning.