Socialism Puts the American Experiment at Risk

“Put not your trust in princes,” warns the Bible. Politics is important, but it’s not everything.

To many of us prolife, pro-religious freedom conservative Christians, the midterms 2026 were a major disappointment. But, of course, nothing takes our sovereign God by surprise.

President Eisenhower once said, “Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—the most basic—expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.” 

And yet, here we are, after the Midterms 2026, and we see the rise of socialism, even communism (in some cases), both of which are anti-God and pro-big-state.

Someone might quibble and claim that socialism simply means sharing, something Christianity has excelled at. But socialism doesn’t mean sharing. It means forced redistribution of wealth. And communism means same, but will employ violence to achieve the outcome.

Ronald Reagan once observed, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Granted, many of our fellow citizens today, including the young, work hard and don’t seem to have a shot at the American dream. So the promises of the socialists may sound enticing. “Medicare for all.” “Free child care.” “Free college.” “Free housing.” “Free groceries.” Yada, yada, yada. 

But our American experiment of self-rule under God will not last if enough of the people continue to demand free stuff from the government and if enough people essentially make the state God. In effect, praying, “Our Father which art in Washington.”

The settlers and the founders of America chose a different path—one that has prospered the masses.

It began with the Pilgrims who sought to worship Jesus Christ without government interference and continued with the Puritans who sought to create the New Jerusalem as they set out to create the City upon a Hill (Boston, 1630). They worked diligently under God in this “errand into the wilderness.”

It continued as various Christian groups created settlements in British North America. These included the Quakers, the Moravians, the Dutch Reformed, the Catholic, the Baptists, the Methodists, and hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians in the mid-18th century. This was the beginning of what became the freest and most prosperous nation on earth. 

But this experiment of self-rule under God will not last if enough of the people continue to demand free stuff from the government. 

The government has no money of its own. It must forcibly seize the assets and property of the producers to give to the non-producers—and in the meantime, charge a hefty processing fee.

The bedroom communities surrounding Washington, D.C. are some of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation. These are the luscious homes of the federal bureaucrats who administer the welfare state.

The politicians who promise “free stuff” are just being generous with other people’s money. Margaret Thatcher famously observed, “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.”

Furthermore, America’s founders declared that our rights come from God. In contrast, the communists say there is no God. 

During much of the 20th century, the whole world was gripped in the struggle, sometimes hot, mostly cold, of the cold war—mainly between these two ideologies, although today’s elites on the American side are often practical atheists themselves. 

In 1952, there appeared an amazing book written by a former Communist-sympathizer who became a Christian. The book was called Witness, and it was written by Whittaker Chambers, who used to have a major position with Time magazine.

Chambers writes, “What Communist has not heard those screams? They come from husbands torn forever from their wives in midnight arrests. They come, muffled, from the execution cellars of the secret police, from the torture chambers of the Lubianka, from all the citadels of terror now stretching from Berlin to Canton” (p. 14).

He adds, “The crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which it is indifferent to God….Economics is not the central problem of this century….Faith is the central problem of this age.” P. 17

Communism stands fully against the God-given rights our framers acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence, the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Instead, the government decides how you shall then live. And if you don’t conform and obey, there can be dire consequences. See The Black Book of Communism (Harvard University Press, 1999) to learn of such consequences. 

Going forward, the contrast couldn’t be more clear: Either God is the source or our rights or the state is. The former belief has blessed the world. The latter belief has cursed it.

©2026 Jerry Newcombe, D. Min. All rights reserved.