Property rights and class warfare
Ad-hoc Lecturer, the semi-Strategic Corporal speaking before the Griswald PTA:
Even though the second republic of the United States under our present constitution in 1789 was formed ostensibly to secure property rights there isn't much in the constitution about the rights of private property: The 5th Amendment states, and I paraphrase... that private property taken for public use, must be justly compensated. The 5th and 14th Amendment protect an individual from being deprived of property without due process either by federal or state government.
-- But we keep claiming to be a Christian nation; at least culturally...
Here's a richer vein of being on the wrong side of our avowed beliefs: Acts 2 verses 42, 44, and 45 and Acts 4 verses 32 through 37 describe how the Apostles lived under a communism of their own making. Acts 5 explains what happened to volunteers who didn't give up all their goods ... Luke 18:25 a rich man can't get into heaven. Matthew 6 24: you can't serve God and money. Isaiah 1:12 trampling the courts; Isaiah 1:23 'leaders' are ... companions of thieves, lovers of gifts seeking rewards: they don't look after the fatherless or the widow --and these were reasons that God would turn away from the prayers of men. Amos 2:6: selling the needy for a pair of shoes, Amos 2:7 panting after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor. And my favorite class warfare axiom: Amos 4:1: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Sama'ria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, `Bring, that we may feast! --whoa bad stuff will happen to you and your posterity. But then you say, we only believe in this on the surface, we don't have to do any of it especially if it impinges on expediency. Well, there's Jesus speaking in Luke 6:46 "And why call me, Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I say?"
"Class warfare" when there's something to fight about is as American as apple pie.
Q) So you're saying to start shooting the wealthy and confiscating...
A) -- Shooting? No. Murder is not a remedy to repair a fraying social contract. Making the rich poor will not make the poor rich either. We should be smarter than that. We need to stop thinking in this lazy solipsism. How do we re-create a society where everyone can find a job, get an education and afford health care? Where is that great balance of growth and opportunity that this country had after WW2? --And, no, I don't want to live under anybody's communism... Confidentially, my own personality is not well suited for 'Statism;' but given the complexity of life on this populous planet, trusting my well-being to luck alone seems like a fool's gambit.