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Last Wednesday we had a local politics election. Here in
Holland, as in most western countries, it's a choice between
left-wing, based on socialism, and right-wing, based on liberalism.
As a christian I believe that I have an obligation to vote left. As
a matter of fact I can't believe that there are Christians that
vote right-wing based on their believes.
On liberalism
Liberalism is based on the vision that every person has a free
choice in his or her life This choice is to make the best of your
life as you believe it to be. The government should interfere as
little as possible, but facilitate this free choice as much as
possible. With this freedom to choose comes the absolute
responsibility for this choice.
This sounds great. Every person is equal, because they have an
equal choice. But in reality not every person has the same
preconditions to make the same choices. When a person is born she
or he inherits biological genes. While growing up she or he
receives social genes, for example how she or he is raised, where
she or he lives and which education she or he receives. This gives
different persons different starting positions. It is also possible
that someone gets ill or has an illness at birth. Basically
liberalism ignores the fact that people have differences. Besides
that if someone makes a bad choice, it's their responsibility to
correct it. If the choice turns out really bad, it's their problem.
I believe this isn't right, people should be forgiven for their
mistakes and always given more changes than one.
Liberalism has another problem. If someone chooses not to be free,
or chooses not to believe that people should have a free choice,
liberalism can't deal with it. The solution is to tell these people
that their choice is wrong, or they can't choose that. In this case
the liberalist feels threatened, but it is by her or his own view
on life.
On socialism
Socialism is based on the vision that people are equal and should
be given equal possibilities. Besides that, it believes that
stronger people, for example people with more money, should help
weaker people, for example people with less money. In these
examples the richer people should pay more taxes, which they can
afford. Besides equality between men, left-wing politics is
generally more caring for the environment.
Biblical view
One of the most inspiring Biblical texts for me is Luke 10: 25-42
(yes, in my opinion both stories should be combined). This is the
parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of Martha and Mary.
What these text tell me is that we should care for other people and
not care who these people are. If we care this much for others, we
tend to forget ourselves. This is what happens to Martha. Jesus
tells us that we should care for ourselves and for others. This is
why I can't vote right-wing. Left-wing politics let us care for
each other and let the strongest people bare the most. This gives
us the opportunity to live from a perspective of respect and love
for other people and the environment around us.
Don't get me wrong. Liberalism did give us some good points of
view, like human rights. I just don't completely share the vision
on humans and the future.
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