Much of the moral rot of today’s culture in America can be traced to one primary cause: compassion abuse. “What?” you cry, “Decent people are compassionate! Decent people want to help the less fortunate. It is the Christian thing to do. What are you? Some kind of cruel monster who wants to let people suffer?” We see this in the news on a daily basis:

• Does someone lack food? Be compassionate! Demand government gives it to them.
• Does someone lack shelter? Be compassionate! Demand government gives it to them.
• Does someone lack a cell phone? Be compassionate! Demand government gives it to them.
• Does someone lack ____________ (fill in the blank). Be compassionate! Demand government gives it to them. 

Compassion Abuse: Anything You Want, Government Will Give You

You get the pattern. For anything anyone lacks (or wants), the government will provide it, in the name of compassion. What kind and virtuous people, these government socialist politicians and bureaucrats. They can brag about how virtuous they are with other people’s money: yours! And in the process, they create a constituency of people dependent on them for food, shelter, cell phones, health care, etc. 

Christian Compassion Corrupted by Progressives

A significant reason for the moral rot is the indiscriminate abuse of compassion. We Americans have had the Christian virtue of compassion hi-jacked by Progressive Socialists for their own agenda: producing dependent drones who unthinkingly obey the “sugar daddy” socialist state which showers goodies on them indiscriminately in the name of compassion. Christians sometimes forget that St. Paul said “… if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

We are in the middle stages of this process of building dependency on government through the policy of compassion abuse. Just like a drug pusher, the government hands out “free” samples of goodies initially to get you hooked. Free housing. Free food. Free childcare. And during Covid/Wuhan, free pay to stay home. Once you are hooked on drugs, you suffer severe and violent withdrawal behaviors when you are cut off from the drugs. We see these same severe and damaging “withdrawal symptoms” whenever taxpayers want to cut back or end any of the government freebie programs: riots, cancel and fire the person suggesting cuts, threats, social shaming, and shunning.

Something for nothing = Compassion Abuse

Here is how compassion is abused in America, and the results (learned from my mentor CRG):

• When you give somebody something for nothing, you make them good for nothing.
• When you give somebody something for nothing, they are NOT grateful.
• When they figure out that you have made them good for nothing, they will stomp you. 

We see this last point in the news – the rage, resentment, and violence of “victim” groups even after they have been given special rights, privileges, and free stuff. 

If They Are a “Victim,” We Can’t Expect Them to Help Themselves

The other weasel word used by progressive socialists is “victim.” Once we label someone or some group a victim, it is a magic word that confers special rights and privileges on them:

• We can’t expect them to do anything for themselves. After all, they are victims.
• Victims have the unlimited moral right to demand anything and everything for free. After all, they are victims.
• Victims can’t be held accountable for how wisely they use the goodies and privileges we give them. Like drug addicts who overdose, they are “not responsible.” We can’t “blame the victim!”

The result of 55+ years of indiscriminate welfare state benefits is a permanent welfare class. Victims don’t work. Victims live in Section Eight Housing. Victims get Food Stamps (SNAP cards). Victims consume without producing. Now the Biden Administration is enlarging the welfare/victim class by paying people to stay home with generous “Covid Unemployment Pay.” Even after the larger unemployment pay ends, a large percentage of workers are staying home. They’ve discovered the cornucopia of welfare benefits. It’s more comfortable to stay home and play video games instead of going to work.

Even a Liberal Realizes Bad Outcomes of Victim Ideology

Virginia Allen interviewed author Michael Shellenberger on her Daily Signal podcast about his new book “San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities.” Shellenberger is a liberal activist who finally saw the bad consequences of the “victim” ideology:

What I get at the bottom line here is that this is a victim ideology, meaning that there’s an ideology here. And it’s just as dumb as it sounds, unfortunately. It’s the idea that you can classify certain groups of people as victims. 

The racist aspect of this is that progressives classify all African Americans, all people of color, except Asians, as victims. But they also classify people with mental illness as victims. They classify children. They classify women, gays, and lesbians, people suffering addiction are all classified as victims. That’s the first thing they do.

The second thing they do, which is as insidious, is that they believe that, to victims, everything should be given and nothing demanded. This is terrible for raising kids. It’s also terrible for dealing with people suffering from addiction and mental illness. 

Give Everything, Expect Nothing in Return

Shellenberger identifies this as the root cause of homeless people in cities: give them everything, expect nothing in return. As I stated above, when you give somebody something for nothing, you make them good for nothing. The psychologist Martin Seligman identified one outcome: Learned Helplessness. When everything is given to you, you don’t need to do anything. You are like a helpless baby waiting for someone else to feed you, someone else to change your diaper. You don’t do anything because you don’t need to do anything. Eat, poop and sleep. Repeat. That is the life of babies and homeless people. Both are taken care of by others.

Compassion Abuse: The Drug of Dictators

Indiscriminate compassion is not kindness. It is compassion abuse. Like drug abuse, it leads to the sickness of mind and body. Too much of anything can be fatal. We see the results of compassion abuse everywhere in our cities: homeless people living on sidewalks. Dictatorial government bureaucrats love it because it gives them another “problem” that enlarges their power over ever-increasing numbers of people.

We now see another variation: “Covid compassion abuse” – restaurants and companies closed because they cannot get workers. Empty shelves because transportation companies cannot get truck drivers to deliver goods and groceries. Factories and food processing plants reduce output because they cannot get enough workers. In the name of compassion, the Federal Government is paying workers to stay home. They can still buy groceries and heat their apartments, and turn on their televisions.

What happens when the worker shortage gets so bad that there are no groceries to buy, no natural gas to heat homes, and no electricity for televisions?

The Solution? Expect Something for Something

When you give something, expect something in return. Some states had success with “workfare.” To get welfare benefits, you had to do work. For starters:

• Replace welfare with workfare. To get welfare benefits, you have to work.
• Replace unemployment benefits with workfare. To get benefits, you have to work.
• Any benefit program whatsoever requires work to get it. 

“In all labor, there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” Proverbs 14:23