"all men are created equal"

Jefferson penned this phrase in the US Declaration of Independence and has been called by many as the "immortal declaration." The phrase has grown as the mantra for contemporary progressive cultural mandate for our country. BUT,

did you see Dustin Johnson blow away the filed at the US Open at Oakmont? He and Zach Johnson didn't look like they were "created equally".  Dustin has been voted the most athletic on the PGA tour (a comparative declaration). What about Michael Phelps amazing medal run at the Olympics. He was described as having physical attributes that made him the perfect swimmer. Didn't look like he was "created equal" to all other swimmers. MY grand daughter is a fantastic dancer. At age 15 she entered a special high school for dancers, not very many others could get into the program. She has an identical twin sister (same DNA), but they were not "created equally" when it comes to dance ability and determination.

These are just a few of the millions of ways people are different, not the same. This discounts "sameness" as the meaning of equal. So what does the "immortal declaration" mean and why/how has it been hijacked by cultural progressives? When so many millennials flock to socialism, are they "hood winked" by the way the culture has distorted this declaration?

A recent survey found that a majority of the young people in the US prefer socialism because it is more compassionate. This is interesting because experts have found that the dominant concern of human beings is justice. Justice is hard. Reciprocity can be painful. Receiving in proportion with what we give puts pressure on us and restricts what we can get out of life. I would love to be a professional golfer, win a medal in the Olympics, and dance like a butterfly. BUT, I can't, no matter how hard I try. Where's the compassion in justice?

The progressive cultural agenda has redefined justice to mean "sameness" to make it more "compassionate." My granddaughter has a fellow student who claims to be a socialist. However, she is proud that she makes the grades to stay in the special dance school, She works hard to be selected to play a role in a dance program for the public. There is much about her motivation and value that comes from being special, not the same. Compassion exists because someone has provided the opportunity to succeed and grow, not because someone gave her what she has that she did not earn.

There is a lot that can be said about this, but blogs are short and to the point, so here are a few points to ponder:
1.  Socialism is NOT just. Socialism is a system, a set of rules that require a few people to determine what everyone "deserves" to receive through redistribution based on their own (subjective) idea of justice. Justice (equity) is a system where performance rules are determined by a group of people and rewards are distributed objectively based on reciprocity or adherence to performance standards.
2.  Because of how motivation works, objective justice produces more total goods and services for everybody than socialism. Justice is more compassionate in that more is made available.
3.   In the secular mindset, "created equal" applies to the notion that justice provides everyone the same opportunity to acquire goods and services, not that everyone receives the same amount of goods and services. Differences in people's abilities and motivation influence who gets what, but everyone is intrinsically valued equally. From a Biblical view, "created equal" refers to every humans' fallen nature in need of grace. God makes no distinctions.
4.  Justice, not socialism, offers the opportunity for individuals to be compassionate. When someone decides to give from what they earned through just practices, then unmerited favor is expressed in acts of compassion. It is not compassion for me to give you what someone else earned. Systematic, expected unmerited sense of deserving as a perversion of justice is entitlement.

Those who cry out, "socialism is best" usually means they do not personally win in reward/punishment systems or they themselves are not prone to compassion, but want everyone else to be. Had The US Open Championship rewarded Andrew Landry the same as Dustin Johnson because Andrew tried hard and had less to start with, then the quality of golf would have suffered and there would have been little enjoyment in viewing the event. Why? Because the human soul yearns for justice, not entitlement. We all want to ultimately influence what we receive. Reciprocity is our human nature.

Its hard to see some win and some lose, but if we cannot fail, then we cannot succeed. How unloving is that? Justice is what has made America great over the last 200 plus years, not socialism. This is the way the world works best.

BUT, if we are in the world and not of the world, then there is more to our story. When we come to The Kingdom of Grace, we see compassion from the One who satisfied all the requirements of justice. This is unmerited favor we do not deserve because we have no way to earn the reward. Its from this gratitude to God that we share compassion.

It is so easy to get all of this confused ... That's why I blog and we ponder ...