Our dearest Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez is in the news for another outrageous proposal. Along with Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, and others, Cortez wants to cancel student loan debt and make college “free” for all. Cortez made no bones about, she herself has skin in the game with student loans she wants cancelled. It seems as if she is realizing the truth of the Scripture that says “the borrower is slave to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). The debt cancellation and “free” college would of course be paid for by a supposed tax on wall street to the tune of 2.2 Trillion dollars (probably more). In other words, they would steal and plunder from others because of a mass of individuals that have made poor personal finance decisions.
Cortez is right though, student loan debt is a problem in this country. She is right that it may harm the economy, since those with mountains of loans to pay back will be less likely to buy homes or put that money into other productive means. Unfortunately, Cortez’s solution of the use of government force to “solve” this problem is further evidence that her education from said government’s schools has failed her. There are so many things wrong with the current college and college loan situation in this country, but none of which Cortez seems to understand.
Government should have never been involved in the business of providing loans to college students in the first place. In many ways that itself drives up the cost of tuition. If an institution knows that a government with no free-market consequences will hand out loans to just about anyone, why not raise the price?
But let’s leave the blame game to others. The ultimate responsibility for incurring massive student loan debt is on the individual who freely chooses to incur massive student loan debt. You can’t force anyone to go to college and mortgage the rest of their financial future away for a few short years of a really terrible education. You’d think you’d have to force someone to do that, but youngsters today are running straight for it. But I guess they’re just doing what their government school education taught them to do. There are certainly degrees that are worth it and will pay themselves off, but many, if not most, aren’t and won’t. Either way, each person is responsible for the financial decisions they make. Stealing from others is never the answer. And $100K of debt in your late teens and early twenties usually isn’t the answer either.
Will all due respect, the utter lack of common sense and basic economic understanding is simply fruit of the moral depravity within Cortez and the vast population cheering her on. Though they have voluntarily put themselves in chains (the borrower is slave to the lender), it is not inherently sinful to borrow money, or to lend money. But what is sinful, is refusing to take responsibility. Psalm 37:21 says that “The wicked borrows but does not pay back…” Whatever flavor of government and economics Cortez is promoting, it is not merely a different flavor. It is wicked. Refusing to pay back what you owe is wicked because it is hatred of your neighbor. Don’t go along with her and the mob. If sinners entice you, do not consent (Proverbs 1:10).
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
15 my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
16 for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
17 For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors. – Proverbs 1:10-19
But alas, the good news of the gospel is that God saves wicked sinners through His Son Jesus Christ. If Sanders, Cortez, Omar, and the mob would repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation they too would be saved. Jesus stood in the judgment seat of sinners, for them, taking their punishment, their due. He saves the worst of us. In the gospel, Christ takes responsibility for our sin and pays for it in a way that we never could.
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