Toward that "Healthy Mistrust"

In the post of 23 February, I tried to make the case for a "healthy mistrust" of the total "rightness" of our particular ideology. This follow-up may resonate more with those of evangelical conviction because in order to develop this healthy mistrust of our own ideology, we need to allow our theology to inform us with the reality that everything in this world is loaded with imperfection...OK...sin. Think of the illustration of philosophical differences that pit the advocates of a totally unfettered (and unregulated) free-market economy over against those devotees of a highly regulated (even socialistic) economy. My Evangelical Christian theology informs me that everything in this world is tainted to its very core by sin. Given that understanding, it isn't difficult to understand that a free market idealogue can "game the system" in such a way that enriches himself on the backs of human beings created in the image of God, but who (and their labor) become reduced to nothing more than commodities. On the other hand, the advocate of a tightly regulated, more socialistic economy must recognize that people can "game the system" by taking the path of least resistance through irresponsibility and deception in order to receive that to which they are not entitled. I guess the old saying is true...and may we never forget it...no one (and nothing) is perfect.