Voting for Robin Hood

John 19:23-24 (23) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. (24) They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. This is one of the few places in the Scripture where gambling is mentioned. Another is found in JOEL 3:3, “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.” Whatever else may be said, pro or con, about gambling, these verses are noteworthy in that they show it to be connected with the basest of men and their desires. Gambling appeals to the inherent desire of fallen man to get something for nothing or at least with absolutely minimal work or investment. It should be no surprise that the state which has gradually advanced the fallacy of a “free lunch” (to wit, that civil government produces wealth and so largesse from public coffers costs taxpayers nothing) should at some point decide to enhance its revenues by means of a “no pain, big gain” State Lottery foisted upon a pre-conditioned public mentality. It may be observed, though, that State Lotteries are essentially a voluntary tax in which citizens may choose to participate or decline participation. And, from the standpoint of personal liberty and the curtailing of government spending, it would be nice if the vast bulk of government expenses were funded voluntarily, especially the “giveaway” programs. Instead, the funding is extracted by force (taxation) from productive laborers who would not voluntarily support the giveaways: their wealth is siphoned off and distributed to non-producers who tend to selfishly elect politicians who plunder the producers under the guise of championing the oppressed and downtrodden. There are two virtual certainties in democratic politics in a culture which rejects the Biblical work ethic (to wit, wealth is to be gotten by labor---not vanity or theft, PRO 13:11; EXO 20:15): 1) non-producers will elect politicians who plunder producers for the non-producers' benefits, and 2) politicians who cater to non-producers in order to gain and keep political power by virtue of the non-producers' choices in the ballot box. Democracy, for all of its promoted liberties, thus becomes the most efficient enslaver of any political system. In the absence of personal initiative, democracy enslaves the minds of the non-producers by encouraging their sloth while controlling them by handouts, and accomplishes this by seizing the wealth of producers under threat of fines, confiscation or imprisonment---a “framing of mischief by a law” (PSA 94:20). Not even the corrupt politician is free since he must always feed the hand that bites him at the ballot box should he ever become moral and “Just say 'No'” to the national drug called “handouts.” A very wise ruler of old seems to have identified this immoral legal plunder and labeled it appropriately: ECC 6:2 “A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and IT IS AN EVIL DISEASE.” It is bad enough for society when unbelievers promote such plunder of their fellowcitizens, but it is worse when professing Christians call plunder charity in their hearts, churches and ballot boxes. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil...” (ISA 5:20).