Scott Tibbs
Elizabeth Warren and the politics of resentment
By Scott Tibbs, January 28, 2020
The father who went viral after confronting Elizabeth Warren is right that her student loan "forgiveness" plan penalizes those who sacrificed to not go into debt, but the reason why Warren's plan is wrong is because it explicitly breaks the Tenth Commandment. Christians should be very wary of such things.
Warren's plan is built on resentment for the "rich." The idea is that a "wealth tax" on the richest Americans would allow people to escape student loan debt that they willingly accrued as consenting adults in a transaction with other consenting adults. If the "rich" have so much, why shouldn't people with student loan debt be given some of that money to be free from oppressive debt?
But that is not how we are commanded to live in Scripture. We are not to covet what other people have, we are not to envy those who have more than we do, and we certainly are not to resent and be bitter against those who have more than we do. We are repeatedly told to be content with and thankful for what we have - all of which is a blessing from God. But envy and resentment is the entire basis for schemes like "forgiveness" of student loans - resentment of the "rich" and a promise to make things "fair."
When government takes from some and gives to others, it actually creates
more resentment by people who did not take on debt.
Kat Timpf illustrated this perfectly in her column. This is not just about money, of course, it is about years of toil and sacrifice which are made meaningless when others who did not sacrifice are simply given a check. Warren's plan is the worst kind of political pandering, openly bribing voters.
There are a lot of ways that most churches have failed Believers, and not preaching against envy is one of them. A nation where this sin was treated as a sin would not be clamoring for bigger government to make things "fair." We would be looking for ways to solve our problems ourselves.
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