Today's bit of scripture concerning government is 1 Samuel 8 (please click), where Israel asks for a king. God is not pleased.

Observations:

1. The Israelites want to "be like all the other nations." (v4,20) They are more concerned about adopting the political fads of their time and making a good impression on the rest of the world than about doing what is sensible or moral.

2. God points out they desire a large, centralized government which will levy high taxes (v10-17), put state interests ahead of the citizens, misuse resources (v11), and favor the elites more than the common man (v14,15).

3. Even though these arguments make complete sense, the Isaelites are unmoved by reason. Their desire to look good, their vanity, is much more important than avoiding a political policy which will hurt many people. (v19,20)

4. Their real, underlying problem is a rejection of God: "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king." (v7)

My thoughts:

Regarding 1: It's a sin to base your government policies on trying to impress other people, or follow political fads. For example, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently stated that she bases her rulings not on what our Constitution tells her, but rather on a desire to "create that all-important good impression" with other nations!

Regarding 2: God clearly didn't want the Israelites to have a large, centralized, state with authoritarian powers and high taxes. Why, again, do so many try to claim he wants one for us?

Regarding 3: I am often distressed at the illogic of the leftists with whom I speak. In this dialog, I believe I see the same pattern: The people are given perfectly good counter-arguments. Instead of engaging them, they ignore them with a huge "No!" and continue embrace a political policy which, they have now been shown full well, will result in harm and suffering for a lot of people. But it is of less interest to them than their vanity, their need to look good. I see this as an early example the exact same mechanism driving modern leftism.

Regarding 4: To generalize: the desire for a large, powerful form of government arises fundamentally from a rejection of God. In other words, modern socialism is rooted in a deep impulse to reject God's authority, and fill that space with man-made institutions, security, and glory. They attempt to put the state, psychologically, into a role God should be occupying in their lives.