When Should One Recognize His Limits



When I was a professor, students would often drop by and chats would drift off into topics they wanted to talk about. Probably too often, I gave advice it was not qualified, trained or experienced to give. During the Vietnam War period students were experimenting with ideas that challenged the status quo. I recall a young man asking me, "I'm living with two girls, a relationship with both. I'm thinking I should not do that. What do you think?" I don't know what I answered but I should not have given any advice. Countless times I overheard professors giving advice to students about topics they knew nothing about. That is something that happens when one often stands in front of a classroom, auditorium and on TV. I have to mention I am here writing a blog so before you believe what I write do your own homework.

Clergy are people who appear in front of people and listeners may well see them as sources of help and information about many topics. I was reminded of that by a column written by Richard Land, a prominent Southern Baptist and Baptist Seminary head. His column this week was on the evils and inevitable failure of socialism. This, of course, is far afield from his area of Baptist theology.

Land quoted Karl Marx, "Each should contribute according to his ability, each take according to his needs." Land said this stifled ambition and is the reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Land did not note the insight into human behavior, to self destruction, that Marx saw. Marx saw human behavior as always wanting more, never having enough. This trait, which Marx only seemed to recognize in business owners (capitalists), was what would destroy society. Ordinary people would take over and run a successful society. Donald Trump seems like such a capitalist, never has enough and always takes more.

Marx never saw the same greed in socialism--that those who ran a system of socialism might always, themselves, want more just like the capitalists. Using democracy to work out the balance of how much government regulation and how much markets determine things is a never-ending saga. We will never find the perfect balance, but we can see we need some of both.

Rev. Land is welcome to express his views on socialism and Karl Marx. I just hope Trump does not make him head of U.S. economic policy.     

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