Via CatholicVote:
What does concern me, however, is the large, and growing, support Bernie has from the electorate, especially Catholics. CatholicVote recently published statistics on the election showing that 52% of Catholic adults believed Sanders would be an average or better president. 52%? Seriously?
I struggled to understand the wide appeal of Bernie Sanders mainly because I know socialism, or even a government that looks a lot like socialism, will never work in this country. It is economically unsound and morally unjust. But upon a closer look, I see why Catholic support of Sanders is so high. There seems to be a confusion over what Catholicism teaches about charity and equality and what government can do to facilitate that charity and equality. While Catholic Social Teaching tells us that we as Christians have an obligation to help those less fortunate, it states that it should be done through good will by faith, not government mandated programs funded by excessive taxes.
The fundamental flaw in the perceived relationship between Bernie's social-justice mantra and Catholicism came forth while reading a piece by Josh Gelernter in National Review on cultural appropriation. Though the topic is unrelated, he states that, "young leftists who want to appear good without the hassle of doing good" are problematic and rampant in today's society. The desire of many to appear good without actually doing anything good is a line of thinking that lends itself to Sanders campaign. Pumping money into government welfare programs and education seemingly does what many people are unwilling to do themselves - assist the poor, hungry, sick, and marginalized. In an effort to reconcile Catholic Social Teaching with modern American society, numerous Catholics have eliminated individual good will and charity in favor of government-subsidized programs and insane tax plans...Also read: New Left Ideas and Their Consequences
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