Obama's push toward the secularist state

Bradford Wilcox over at RealClearPolitics sounds a clear trumpet call on one of my pet societal issues:

One unremarked and unintended consequence of Barack Obama’s audacious plans for the expansion of government—especially in health care, education, and the environment—is that the nanny state he is seeking to build will likely crowd out religious institutions in America. In other words, if he succeeds in passing his ambitious agenda, the Obama revolution is likely to lead the United States down the secular path already trod by Europe.

I would take issue with Wilcox's suggestion that the consequences of Obama's plans are unremarked. Hugh Hewitt took special note of the limitations on tax deductions for charitable giving last week.

The broader point is spot-on.

The social safety net of government stands in direct competition with religious (and non-religious) charities. Making that safety net an entitlement both robs the the system of much of its free market efficiency and places a strong retarding effect on the support of private charity. Beneficiaries have less reason to contribute back to society in return for the assistance if it constitutes an entitlement. And the American people lose out on personal involvement in rehabilitating their own society. It has become, after all, the government's job.

The big problem, here, is that the government loves no one. Any caring shown by the government is only an extension of the love extended by individuals. Yet this system will systematically train individuals to regard caring for the weakest as a detached responsibility. We pay our taxes. Others worry about the details.

The next step is insidious. The love, albeit detached, can remain in a majority of individuals but once it erodes from those in power the jig is up. The government has been given the power and the alternative providers have closed up shop. Once the government takes down the safety net there won't be much left.

This is bad, folks.

I've been warning my liberal Christian friends about this for years. They want more government involvement to solve social problems, seeing the short term picture without the long term implications.