Monday, December 2, 2013

Pope Francis Attacks Capitalism

Each day, it becomes clearer that Pope Francis I is no John Paul II.   As a Roman Catholic, this Blogger was saddened to hear Pope Francis refer to Capitalism as the "new tyranny".  What is this man talking about.  Free Market Capitalism has created more wealth for more people than any other system in human history.  And in fact, the poor all over the world would be far worse off than they are today if not for Free Market Capitalism.  John Paul II understood real tyranny because he lived under evil Communism, which no doubt was the reason John Paul II worked with President Ronald Reagan to bring down the "evil empire".  

Further, Pope John Paul II lectured Priests in Latin America to stop preaching Liberation Theology that was nothing more than a Communist plot to foment revolution to establish Communist dictatorships.  It appears that Pope Francis is a well intentioned Socialist who advocates Social Justice, which is just another term for redistribution of income.  Francis apparently believes that only government can deal with poverty by taking from the rich and giving to the poor.   The fact is that poor are not poor because the rich are rich.  The poor are poor because they often lack the ambition, self discipline and education to better themselves, particularly in the United States.  Further, if government was the answer to alleviating poverty, it should be gone in the US since we have spent trillions of dollars on the war on poverty and the poverty rate is higher today under Socialist Obama than it was thirty years ago. 

Even so, the poor in America live better than the most people in more than 130 countries.  This is possible because the 50% of us that work hard in our Capitalist system and pay taxes confiscated by local, state and federal governments provide the poor with Welfare, Food Stamps, Subsidized Housing, Medical Care, Public Schooling, Child Care and Cell Phones.  In fact, thanks to Capitalism, many of the poor in America live in air conditioned apartments, or homes.  They own flat screen TV's and cars and suffer from obesity at the same rates as other Americans. 

So Bless Us Father, for we have NOT sinned in Capitalist America.  The poor in America are so well off, as a result of our tax dollars and generosity that many of them have no incentive to work.  And sadly, our nanny state has destroyed the Black family as more than 7 out of 10 Black babies are born out of wedlock into the Welfare System.  The few hundred thousand homeless people living on our big city streets are there because of substance abuse or mental illness.  They refuse to go to shelters because they cannot, or will not, live by the rules.  The reality is that anyone who wants food in America has access to it, one way or another and for free.    

Pope Francis, who is not infallible, simply does not understand the facts, at least in America and perhaps other Western countries.  Most important, Catholics in the United States donate more money to the Catholic Church than any other country on earth.  Where does Pope Francis think that money comes from.  It is our Free Market Capitalist system, despite Socialist President Obama's attempts to destroy it, that provides American Catholics with the resources to not only donate to the Catholic Church; but to all sort of charities in the US and abroad to help the poor, like no other country, or people in the world.  

Pope Francis needs to understand that this Catholic will now limit our donations to the Catholic Church as a result of his statements.  Instead, we will continue to donate to worthwhile charities that change lives by encouraging the poor to help themselves because history teaches us that Socialism does not work.   Apparently, Pope Francis may know his Catechism; but he has not learned the lessons of history.    

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