WWJD (with 3 trillion dollars?) July 22, 2008
Posted by Zack in Uncategorized , trackbackI’ve been mulling over an idea for a book that would be called, “What Would Jesus Do (with Democracy)?” It would deal with some of the questions that we’ve been discussing here lately. The main point would be: We do not live in ancient Rome; 2,000 years of redemptive history have changed the world; to act as though we are living under the same circumstances as Jesus’ first followers is to disregard what thousands of generations of martyrs lived and died for. Instead, we should be fully engaging — as Jesus did — with the world as we find it. In our case that means engaging our people through the democracies that our ancestors left us…. OK and more.
But maybe a more pithy title would be: What Would Jesus Do (with 3 trillion dollars)?
Three trillion is the amount of the annual federal budget. But it is also the amount the U.S. will ultimately spend on the Iraq War (according to some estimates).
Either way, the number brings up the very concrete idea that we live in a society where elected leaders (not Caesar) decide how our collective effort is channeled. Of course a lot of things are broken with our democracy. But what if the only reason is that we have variously been too intimidated, cynical or naive to really use the democracy that our ancestors left us (with their dying breath)? I just saw an ad from a Christian humanitarian org that said, “$1 will provide drinking water to an African for a year.” That ad probably brought in a few thousand dollars. Meanwhile, a dollar for 3 billion people with inadequate access to water is only 1/1000 of the money our government spends every year. One little tiny bill passed through congress could apportion that money with the stroke of a pen.
So…what would Jesus do with 3 trillion dollars? Send it back to Ceasar? But in the year 2008, in about half the world, WE are Caesar.
PS: Check out the Three Trillion Dollar Spending Spree — a great site set up by a coalition of orgs including unions and activist orgs.
Comments»
The data in this old, but the proportions make sense … and it’s fun in any case ( http://www.truemajorityaction.com/oreos/ ) My point is, it wouldn’t even take 3 trillion dollars. We could do so much and hardly even feel a pinch.
I don’t want to speak for Jesus, but I think he’s just aching to give that money to Creflo Dollar.
Jeffrey Sachs, in his new book Common Wealth (moreso in his last book The End of Poverty) shows how minimal investments now can provide comfort and hope to needy people, and how it would benefit our nation greatly in the future. It be no small feat if we could even get our government to own up to the aid they’ve promised.
Do you think it’s better for a government to tax to provide aid, or to allow its citizens more disposable income to give? Combination of both?
Ryan - I’m all for cutting taxes. If we reduced our military spending to the level of China or Russia then we’d instantly get a tax cut that would make anything Bush did look like pocket lint.
But you’re raising a different question: Is the best way to fix large-scale social problems to rely on the disconnected decisions individuals? Neo-liberal economists say Yes, the market will do better than any planned effort. Does the Bible say anything on this? If not, then how did Christians (even the radicals) get so wrapped up in neo-liberal economics?
I just started reading a book that actually goes into the history of how U.S. Christianity adopted the economics of Hayek & Co. It’s God and Money by Charles McDaniel of Baylor. It’s an amazing book. I’ll report more about it soon.
Who are Hayek & Co? I’m very interested to hear more about this book … it seems as though there was a sea change in the way our entire culture (Christian and secular) considered how the government was to operate during the 1930’s as a result of the Great Depression and WWII. This let churches/Christians off the hook for how they treated widows and orphans … not, it seems, that they were doing an especially wonderful job prior to that.
In any case, I’m looking forward to this …
Here’s Hayek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek
And he was THE big influence on the state of economic thinking in our time — the inspiration for Milton Friedman and the whole Chicago school.
Also, I talk about this stuff in a post from a couple months ago.
Thanks for that … I did my time in econ class, but never paid attention to names other than Keynes. I was naughty
Have you read any Yoder (John Howard)? The other person you’ll want to read is Walter Wink … also, the other really good single book on this subject is Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian and Sylvia Keesmaat.
Also I read through your post from several months ago and the comments … very good stuff. One point about Gandhi that is significant. While he did lead from below and did it magnificently, once he was assassinated power began to accumulate at the top in the usual fashion. And some of the things he was most passionate about are still non-existent. For instance, Pakistan split away immediately, and there is still a rigid class system in place. The India of today would cause the Mahatma enormous sadness.
Political systems and laws are not the path to effect final change and that was/is the message of Jesus Christ. The only path to really change the human condition is to change the heart. Matthew 26:6-13 Politics and laws may or may not be the first step towards acknowledging a problem, but they can never be the end solution, because those who want to will always find a way around them.
Whoops …
Colossians Remixed is by Brian WALSH and Sylvia Keesmaat.
There is also a blog out there associated with the book … if you google “empire remixed” you can find it. Or google Brian’s name as well and that will get you there. I read it from time to time.