Why Is Communism Raising Its Ugly Head in America–Again?

November 11 is a trifecta date for celebrating courage. It’s  Veterans Day in the USA, (honoring vets), Armistice Day (end of WWI), and St. Martin’s Day. Martin of Tours was a 4th century bishop who famously became a “soldier for Christ.”

Thirty-six years ago today I was attending a YWAM leaders conference in Niagara Falls, New York, where we watched the fall of the Iron Curtain. Communism failed in Russia and part of the world was liberated–some nations for the first time. 

Past generations understood the horrors of communism–100 million people cruelly killed in the 20th century. Today’s younger generations are largely ignorant.  

Communism is raising its ugly head–again–and we must courageously defeat it.  

Why Is Communism Raising Its Ugly Head in America–Again?

The newly elected mayor of New York City is a Muslim communist who believes that governments should “seize the means of production” to promote equity in society.

Supportive pundits pooh-pooh Mamdani’s remarks. But don’t be fooled. Progressivism, socialism, and communism are kissing cousins of the same world view. They’re a matter of degrees, not differing philosophies. Actually, they’re more like dominoes that topple in one direction only.

Tyranny.

Here’s the simple truth:

• Progressivism is communism with a smile (false promises).
• Socialism is communism with a pen (through law).
• Communism is progressivism/socialism with a gun (force).

To dig a bit deeper, here’s a current online definition of modern-day communism:

Communism is a political and economic ideology advocating for a classless society where all property is publicly owned and controlled. In theory, resources are distributed based on need (“from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”), while in practice, it is often characterized by a single-party authoritarian state that controls both the economy and political system.

Some of that sounds nice, but note the key words:

1. “Classless society” – no individual liberty or incentives, nor upward mobility. In reality, everyone is reduced to poverty except for a small ruling elite.
2. “Publicly owned” –  (“common,” hence the word “communism”). The government controls the wealth (means of production). There are no individual rights.
3. “Authoritarian state” –  communism always produces dictators.
4. “Controls” – there is little or no freedom.

Communism is an anti-God form of government where dictators, in varying degrees, control both business and people. It’s been a major form of evil governance for 6000 years. 

My friend Bill Burtness has written the clearest book on government I’ve ever read. It’s called The Third Alternative: Christian Self Self Government–Freedom Without Anarchy, Order Without Tyranny, Peace and Prosperity.

Here are some key principles:

1. Government refers to “the flow of power which controls the actions of the individual. To govern is simply to control or regulate.”
2. Government is necessary because of our fallen world. It is a needed constant for maintaining order.
3. There are two forms of governing: internal (we control ourselves–character), or external (the civil sphere controls us via punishments).
4. The more we control ourselves (Christian self government), the smaller civil government can be. The less we behave, the bigger the civil sphere grows (including tyrants). 
5. Three major types (possibilities) of government exist: 1) The Individual is sovereign (producing anarchy), 2) The State is sovereign (producing tyranny), and God is sovereign (producing character in faithful people and peace in society). 

Burtness quotes John Wycliffe, “The Morning Star of the Reformation,” on the best form of government in a sinful world:

“The Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, for the people” (sound familiar?). He adds, “The source of liberty in society is widespread individual Christian character.”

Before the advent of Christianity (which brought Christian self government, human dignity, liberty, and prosperity to the Western World and beyond), most peoples lived in captive misery. City-states and national empires were ruled by despots, and personal freedoms did not exist.

You obeyed the ruler or you were punished or killed.

Even the American Pilgrims tried an economic form of communism (common gardens) that wreaked havoc on the colony. Governor Bradford lamented:

“They had given in to “the conceit of Platos and other ancients, applauded by some in later times, that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing–as if they were wiser than God…”

When  the Pilgrims chucked communist agriculture, the colony flourished. Over the next 250 years, the biblical principles of faith in God, hard work, free enterprise, individual rights, and limited government caused the United States to become the most free, godly, and prosperous nation in world history.

Then in 1867, Karl Marx, the father of Marxism, wrote his famous treatise Das Capital, a newly minted form of totalitarianism, meant to stir up class struggle between workers and their leaders. Soon after, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin used Marx’s intellectual theory to birth the Bolshevik Revolution (Russian communism) which reached its zenith under the ruthless tyrant, Joseph Stalin.

The “Red Scare” also reared its head in America among some American entertainers and politicians but was rejected overall in society.

Now it’s back–again.

Intercessors for America shares the more recent resurrection of communism in the U.S. Democratic Party:

In 1982, the newly formed Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) emerged as the latest vehicle for their Marxist ideologies, packaged for new times. It’s not your father’s communist party. Green. Hip. And with new mouthpieces now carrying water for their repackaged red ideologies.

When Bernie Sanders 2016 Presidential bid put DSA on the map with everyday Americans, membership surged from 6,000 members to nearly 100,000 in just a few short years. It made Democratic Socialist a palatable handle for the actual socialism behind it.

The DSA began quickly muscling its policies and candidates through the Democrat Party, and has helped elect over 250 officials nationwide with help from socialist darlings such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). 
The momentum and growing influence of the DSA in the Democrat Party has been likened to a hostile takeover. Leaked documents revealed the Democratic Party as just a “vehicle” for socialism with some DSA officials stating “we hate the Democratic Party” and are navigating “toward insurrection.”

Communist principles (The State is sovereign) have marched  quietly through the American institutions in the past three generations. At the same time, the Church disengaged from being “salt and light” of the culture.

We, the people of God, have “turned out the lights” on encouraging godly character and laws in society. Darkness is now filling the void with a rebirth of communist vigor.

Rod Martin reminds us on Veterans Day:

Let us remember all those who’ve served, from Tours to Ticonderoga, from Midway to Mosul.

Let us resolve to be the kind of people deserving of such men and women. To raise our children to honor courage rather than mock it; to love their country rather than despise it; to cherish the liberty others bought with their lives rather than trade it for the false security of socialist tyranny.

We must do so for our children’s children. But we must also ensure “that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Abraham Lincoln).

We need spiritual awakening in the United States that’s greater than communism’s march through the institutions. We need to pray for Zohran Mamdani’s conversion and for his policies in the Big Apple to be a miserable failure.

America needs to awaken, pray, renew the American Dream, and fight for our civilization–with the courage of our noble ancestors.