It's The MORALITY, Stupid!

It’s NOT the “Economy Stupid”, It’s The Morality!

John R. Petrilli

Political party war rooms have historically been the birthplace for some of the most clever, catchy and influential campaign slogans ever to hit the American populace. Some slogans have become so effective that they survive and are revived in subsequent campaigns years down the road. For almost a decade Americans have been barraged with the well-worn Clinton years campaign slogan, “It’s the Economy Stupid”. The mantra worked like magic in ushering the Clintons into two consecutive terms in the White House.

It’s high time we took a critical look at the contents of this slogan. Is it really the economy that we should ultimately be concerned about, or is national failing financial health and America’s rapidly increasing loss of global market influence due to something far deeper, unrecognized and unreported? Is the economy some kind of self-generating entity that has a mind of its own, or could there be dynamics operating on a far different level that are driving conditions that have placed our nation in a dangerous position of teetering on the brink of financial collapse? Oh yes, you can point to deceptive mortgage practices, banking industry collusions, and over the top credit abuse by citizens, but could these merely be symptoms of a far greater underlying problem?

I submit to you, the reader, that there is definitely a far deeper dynamic driving this debacle. And it has absolutely NOTHING to do with economics and everything to do with morality. As a presupposition I would point out that every prosperous nation in both modern and ancient history went through a cycle that began with a strong moral base that eventually eroded into a self-serving, decadent, immoral mentality that invaded then destroyed that civilization. Rome is one case in point as a prime example of how a nation can climb to the very zenith of economic wealth, cultural sophistication and total world power, only to come crashing down from internal moral and social decay. This pattern is readily visible with world power after world power down through the annals of human history.

Consider this for a moment. What is it that causes a nation to prosper? Is it simply raw human business acumen and sheer aggressive willpower, as the American experience has demonstrated? Is it the possession of natural resources, like Japan importing theirs from other countries? Is it the installation of a governmental infrastructure that allows for capitalism to thrive, as in Vietnam or China?

The Bible teaches that “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). In other words, when an individual or society gets obsessed with money and the things it can buy, all kinds of moral corruption are set in motion. Ethics fall by the wayside as a nation’s citizens chase after the false god of material wealth and acquisition. Jesus Himself has categorically stated that once you get on the fast track of greed, you can no, longer straddle the fence and stay on the track of moral behavior. It’s a given, gobs of money can corrupt the best of us, and it’s the extremely rare individual who can handle the powers and pleasures that money and the mad dash after it deliver.

This being said, I challenge you, the reader, to hold our economic debacle up against the grid of greed, both corporate and personal. ENRON? Nothing more than corporate greed at the CEO level that covertly, coldly and systematically drained the retirement packages of thousands of its employees. The recent mortgage crisis? Greedy Wall street investors capitalizing on a scheme that they knew perfectly well would devastate millions of American home owners, but they did it anyway. Why? What on earth would drive them to stab their own society in the back like this? Greed, pure and simple! The virus then spread to America’s financial nerve center, our banking industries, which, with accountant-like prophetic foresight, saw the proverbial handwriting on the wall and opted for bankruptcy rather than crash and burn.

When God told the Israelites He would bless their morality and curse their immorality He wasn’t kidding. When they obeyed His moral laws, they enjoyed unparalleled social tranquility (peace) and economic prosperity the likes of which have not since been duplicated. Under King David’s rule, Israel enjoyed a golden era and rose to a place of world power and prominence that remains legendary. But look at what happened to the nation when she got complacent and materialistic. They became socially unjust, insensitive and unresponsive to the poor, morally deviant, politically corrupted, and spiritually incapacitated.

The handwriting’s on the wall for America folks. We’ve lived on borrowed time long enough. We can no longer cite the economy as the outstanding ailment and all powerful ‘god’ that will deliver us. It’s not going to happen. I sincerely believe that we are at a crossroads as a nation. It’s now or never. Either we really get serious with God, or we descend into moral demise and historical oblivion. I believe God is speaking loud and clear to us as a nation, “Time’s up, you haven’t repented of your immorality, your greed, your materialism, your abortive murder, or your idolatry. Repent, or I’ll bring disaster upon you!” God warned the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah that he was “fashioning a disaster against them” if they didn’t respond to His clarion call for national and individual repentance (Jeremiah 18:7-12). Imagine that! Would God destroy His own people for their rank, open and longstanding disobedience? He not only WOULD, He DID! Two thousand years of deportment and global scattering was their punishment. And our generation has lived to see them finally regathered and returned to their original homeland where their crimes against God had taken place!

One way God has judged and continues to judge nations is to remove their economic base. The Lord warned the people of Israel that foreign nations would come in and dispossess them of their land. In ancient times a nation’s land and property was equivalent to our modern-day stock market. Today a nation’s net worth is determined by its global stocks and investments. Just look at where we are as a nation! We owe billions to China, foreign investors are controlling our banking assets, and a number of our stadiums and professional sports teams are owned and operated by non-American interests! We’re rapidly losing our place as the world’s economic leader and our financial health is withering away right before our very eyes! We’re surrendering our financial folders and economic future to foreign powers! In that process we’re rapidly losing our “land”, our possessions, and even our once cherished identity as the most influential nation in the world!

So if it’s really not “the economy stupid” and really is “the morality stupid”, what should we do? We should do what other wise nations facing divine judgment have done in the past. Like the wicked and thoroughly pagan ancient city of Nineveh, who lost all moral sensibility (“they didn’t know their left hand from their right”) we must have national repentance, plain and simple. Stop looking to government or leaders to save us from the God-ordained loss of our economy and national integrity that is His discipline for our moral defection. One big thing we can do is to stop murdering our unborn children. Did you know what the one outstanding reason God judged both pagan as well as godly nations was? Infanticide! If that’s one of our underlying core sins (which it most definitely is), we’re in a heap of trouble! The church and society in general has remained virtually silent and tight-lipped as we’ve systematically exterminated 48 million little ones with governmental approval! If we think for one moment that God hasn’t heard the silent screams of those aborted babies’ blood crying out from the earth, we’re sadly mistaken! He’s heard every one of them! And He has never and will never allow the shedding of innocent blood go unpunished!

I, for one, believe unequivocally that it’s NOT the Economy stupid! It’s, without a shadow of a doubt, the Morality stupid. The sooner we get it, the better off we’ll be. And time is quickly running out!