Equality

As it is written, "He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack."  2 Cor. 8:15

The Patient Protection and Affordability Act (aka ObamaCare) is one of the largest wealth redistribution acts of recent memory. In short, it seeks to achieve equal access to and equal benefits from the US Health System, for all US citizens. For those with access to the best and latest, we are finding it harder to get timely and convenient appointments, caregivers have less time to give us, rules are being imposed as to when or even if we can get the professional advice we seek, or scans and labs we think we deserve. And we're paying more. For those who live life near the poverty line, our benefits and choices may have expanded, but all amidst a growing concern the delivery system we've created cannot sustain. And the "Equality for all ideology" is being brokered through an ever expanding set of rules imposed by a growing Federal Bureaucracy. Lawmakers seek money and votes for any consideration of concession - while the burden these rules place on citizens and the delivery system slowly implode. The winner, US Government? The looser, US Citizens?

Inherent to any system that aspires to create equality is a sub-system of number counters who ultimately certify, through numbers, if the system is fulfilling the equality objective. And mathematicians even back to Archimedes, in his essay The Sand Reckoner, realized the limits to counting was a function of the size of the universe defined, the then known size of 10 to the 63rd power. Years later another mathematician, Carl Gauss, introduced infinity, simply defined as not finite, and therefore not determinable by counting or measurement. To use math for all that we do, the certainty behind the numbers is within limits. Equality is therefore only achieved within limits. As we constantly adjust the math to new limits, it enables us to begin exploring the universe yet still find our return.

Ideology is a first cousin to theology, but without reference to God.  It is therefore not surprising the concept of equality as written from an ideological perspective has inherent limits when viewed through a theological lens. Let's examine: And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Mark 12:17. Later, Paul says, "at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance [the poor person] also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality." 2 Cor 8:14. Isn't it interesting that the only direct reference in scripture to equality frames the poor and rich as equally needy of one another? In both passages, the focus is on our individual responsibility, poor or rich, set within the present time period (i.e. limit).

When US Citizens elect public policy officials and empower them to function as "equality watchdogs", society is ultimately weakened rather than strengthened. The focus and objective of government is to appease the greed of the electorate through limited, measured, and funded short-term successes.  We effectively take God off the table and render policy making a finite objective that future generations may suffer greatly from and seek to change.  Even more distressing, we redistribute wealth through an ever enlarging labyrinth of channels and the money barely ever benefits the poor.

As we enter another season of elections, remember the problem is we're inviting government policy to usurp individual responsibility and making all accountability to "Caesar". Caesar wins while the citizens hope Caesar will pass on and give man another chance to finally get it right. And the cycle repeats. The only real solution is for mankind to recognize their misdirection, to dismantle the size and scope of government itself, through reconnecting our ideology to our theology.  We each need to rely on the eternal hand of God to manage much of the accountability of man toward one another, through reliance on the infinite wisdom of Him. Without an understanding of equality in the context of infinity, we are left solutions where the wealthy and the poor are never brought together in this world to meet one another directly and for equality to take root. Rather, the public policy brokers take most of the wealth transfer and leave nothing for the poor or the wealthy to mutually benefit. Equality is not achieved and new limits must be set.

I'm confident we've lost our way and God is at work in the hearts and souls of His people.  Most caregivers I've known are answering a call in their own hearts and minds - doing with what they have and the ingenuity they can muster, knowing all will soon need care from others. The work of our policymakers annoy, distract, and demoralize, making others think twice about care-giving. All government policy, social or otherwise, enriches some while disenfranchising others. Let's kick off this election season with a new attitude.  Elect all new representatives who aspire to be humble but prayerful servants of the electorate, who praise and worship God, and who promise to dismantle policy based on it's harm with no promise to substitute new policy in it's place until they share how they've been impassioned by God?  Would this be cool or what?