Envy is the great invisible driver of all our modern political conflict. If there is any sin that self-deception intends to keep well out of sight, it is envy. If there is any vice that grows the more you try to placate it, it is envy. If there is a characteristic sin of our age, it is the gnawing reality of envy, the ressentiment revolution. For those who want to read more, I would recommend Herbert Schlossberg’s Idols for Destruction — a true classic.
“A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; But a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; But who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov. 27:3–4).
Nations are made up of people, and therefore nations can commit all the sins that people commit. Likewise, nations can feel the brunt of such sins comitted against them. We can experience the rule of fools, heavier than wet sand. We can feel the cruelty of wrath, and the outrageous nature of anger. But what nation, what generation, what people, can stand against envy?
This is what explains race hustlers like Sharpton and Jackson. This is why we have a crisis on our southern border — not because open and honest immigration for workers is a problem (it isn’t), but rather because the left is seeking to play sugar daddy for the aggrieved future voter. This is how the Washington Redskins have apparently hurt somebody’s feelings. This is how we have cultivated a whole host of international resentment, not with bombs, but with aid. This is why the high parody of same sex mirage was not greeted with a heteronormative horse laugh.
But follow the money. In all of these circumstances, somebody is making a pile. And somebody else, hapless sap that he is, or perhaps a sapless hap, is trying to make the whole thing go away by writing checks. But money is the fertilizer of ressentiment, not the Round-Up. And whether you keep that money or pay it out is a matter of indifference — you are still the hated and hateful one. This is because any given ransom payment only creates additional incentives for hostage taking. Haters gonna hate, which is why haters have to pay. How long will they have to pay? The question can be answered with another question. Is there any left?
Well, correction. There is one ransom payment that successfully deals with envy.
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot . . . Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings . . .” (1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:1).
The politics of penal substitution is the politics of liberty — liberty from sin means freedom from envy. The politics of anything else is therefore the politics of envy, and this is why (in Christian circles) a denial of penal substitution and a shared solidarity with various grievances will always go hand in hand. Our political walls must always reach down as far as our foundations. Political alliances are seldom random.
Helmut Schoeck noted in his book Envy that an envious man is the one who thinks that if his neighbor breaks his leg, he will be able to walk better himself. If this seems like wisdom to you, then a profitable career in American politics awaits you.
I struggle very much with this concept and could use some help. I think I have been blessed with a nature that does not go naturally toward envy for myself. I think that I honestly delight in people who are richer, smarter, funnier, and better looking than I am–and that is good, because there are a whole lot of them. But how do you know the difference, for oneself, between envy and honest indignation on behalf of the poor? For example, I live in an area of many immigrants, many of them day workers. Because I have volunteered with their… Read more »
Amen- and a heteronormative horse laugh.
Jill, you are talking about a matter of simple justice. “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth” (James 5:4). To work for justice is not envy — a wage promised and then withheld is simple injustice. A wage that is lower than some dreamer imagines that it should be is not in the same category. Conservatives ought to fight the former far more than they do, but leftists… Read more »
What about labor laws and workers comp and such things that people who hire illegals are apt to ignore.cJill is bringing up more issues than wages. Is ther not a lawful obligation for these things to be paid? If so, those who hire illegals are stealing from the states.
Simply well put.
I wonder if Doug is only looking at one side of the political conflict coin. Granted, envy drives the have-nots and those who manipulate them for their own political gain. But is there not another group of idol worshipers involved in the political process as well? If I resist any and all attempts to lower my standard of living, can I be sure I am not motivated by greed? “Arrogant, overfed and unconcerned,” was the diagnosis of Sodom’s, and later, Israel’s sin. Envy, greed: I doubt we’re immune to either disease. It’s just easier to see the one the “other… Read more »
Randy asked: “If I resist any and all attempts to lower my standard of living, can I be sure I am not motivated by greed?” I would say the answer is maybe, but not necessarily. If you are resisting other people’s attempts to take from you that which is yours lawfully and over which they have no true claim, you are simply resisting theft. However, if you are resisting God’s commands to tithe, to provide for the poor, to help the widow and orphan, feed the hungry, etc., then you are resisting the one who does have a legitimate claim… Read more »
They used to say that when America sneezed Europe caught a cold. These days, though, we are actually years ahead of you – in all of the things that we don’t wish to be. The last Labour government here in the UK opened the gates for cheap immigration in order (we learned only much later) to “rub the right’s nose in diversity.” End result: ISIS fanatics on a muderous rampage through Syria and Iraq knowing that when they get bored with all of the rape and murder stuff they have a British passport in their back pocket to come back… Read more »
Are you aware of any minority pastors who are saying this?
Jill Smith asked: “But how do you know the difference, for oneself, between envy and honest indignation on behalf of the poor?” As Doug mentioned, Jill’s examples of injustice against laborers, etc, seem like pretty straightforward cases of law that no one would debate (on either side of the political aisle). Of course we should all want to see justice for people who are being abused in this way. The law is clearly on their side. Lawyers are eager to represent such clients because they are slam dunk cases. In other words, Jill’s examples are hardly the kind of thing… Read more »
Katecho:
Do you have a blog? If so, where it is? If not, why not? I always appreciate your keen insights.
I agree with Jon re: katecho – always a post worth reading. I would however add to his / her last post that while we should not look to the state to redistribute wealth, we should look to the state to provide a relatively level field for economic endeavor. It is on this unlevel field where we see the rich of both the left and right play the strings of power like a virtuoso on a Strad. Welfare for the rich is, and has been, an abuse of power that far outweighs that for the poor.
Thank you for the kind compliments. I don’t know if other folks are like me, but I find that I can only really keep up with a handful of sources. Given that, and given that Doug is called as an actual practicing spiritual authority, speaking in and to the Church, I would prefer that more attention be directed to Doug’s blog. I even have mixed feelings about Doug allowing comments here. They can help or distract, depending on the mix. On the whole I think the comment section does give everyone a sense of the level of interest, and that… Read more »