Two Views of Human Nature

Keeping the Faith

When it comes to human nature, the Scriptures are blunt.  No gilding of lilies here.  Jeremiah says,

The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
    and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”
[Jeremiah 17:9-10]

At root, humanity is so bad, the deceit so deep rooted, that the truth within a man's heart cannot be discovered, let alone mined.   The intentions, the motivations, the principles, the emotions at play are all so complex and interwoven and confused that man is beyond understanding.

Thus runs the Bible's indictment of us all.

Not so, says the modern politician.  Humans are basically honest and decent folk. Oh, well, that settles that, then.

Whilst this optimistic view of mankind is everywhere, nowhere is it more dangerous than in the corridors and offices of political power.  It leads politicians to ignore the goals and motivations of human behaviour; instead, politicians they can benefit society hugely simply by passing rules (which all citizens will hasten to obey and comply with because they are honest and decent folk.)  The passing of the law is all the that is required for a righteous outcome.

Recently this has been grandly displayed in New Zealand with the left-wing Labour Party gaining power.
  We have been inundated with ill-considered, hasty legislation which ignores the complexities and the subtle perversities of human nature.  Nowhere is this foolishness on display more clearly than in the matter of education.

The new government has decided to bless us all by pouring sweet showers of money over the heads of citizens.  They are sure that no-one will misuse or abuse the blessings they are going to bestow.  People won't misuse the funds since Jeremiah is a liar, and human beings are intrinsically pure.

Tempers flared at the education select committee this morning as [Minister of Education] Hipkins crossed swords with National's education spokeswoman Nikki Kaye and tertiary education spokesman Paul Goldsmith over the policy for a year's free post-secondary education next year.  It will apply to all New Zealanders who have done less than half a fulltime year of post-school education or training, with no age restrictions. [NZ Herald]

That means that a 66 year old can enrol at a high-class, upmarket educational institution--let's say the local Fisheries Training Institute--and the Government will use taxpayers' money to pay for the year's fees.  Let's say the fees run to $10,000 per year.  So, the 66 year old nervously shows up for his first day of class, which in his case, is being held on the deck of a state-of-the-art tour fishing boat.

The "classroom" is steered out into the prime fishing grounds in the Hauraki Gulf, and a glorious days "educational" experience is enjoyed. The Government kindly stumps up the fees.

How do we know that this sort of theft is going to happen?  Because the Government is going to rely on an honesty system.  People would have to sign a statutory declaration that they were genuine students and the education they were pursuing was not a rort.

[ Opposition spokesman] Goldsmith said it was a lot of money at stake - $2.8 billion over four years - with "up to 50 per cent [of participants] based essentially on an honesty system".  Kaye went further: "It's an audit system and you're not going to audit everyone.There is a high likelihood that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars potentially spent on people who are ineligible. And you'll never know."

The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins is not the sharpest pin in the cushion.  But he is certain about one thing: the prophet Jeremiah was entirely wrong about the human heart, and that Hipkins and his ilk know better.

The adjectives "naive", "stupid", and "dumb" spring to mind.  What is on display here is typical of the Leftist blind faith in government and in the rectitude of people.  Marx and Lenin were so committed to this sort of idiocy, they believed that eventually the State would not be needed.  So intrinsically righteous were human beings, the State would eventually wither way.

Minister Hipkins is trying to keep the faith--still.  The world-view of Unbelief is a messy rotting pottage.