The Parable of the Talents Redux

The current United States government can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, “Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.”

The master was full of concern. “Surely you exploited the poor while increasing your wealth. You have been greedy in handling this money and only concerned about yourself. Because you now have more money than you need, I will take your money and give it to those you exploited. You really should do a better job of spreading the wealth around.”

The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.”

The master said, “Not bad, my middle class friend. I’m glad you have all you need. Because you don’t make more than $250,000 per year, I will try very hard to let you keep what you have earned. These are tough economic times, however, and I may need your help going forward. We all need to tighten our belt, you know.”

Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”

But the master replied, “You poor and unfortunate servant! Life has treated you so unfairly. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you get everything you need as long as you vote for me in November.”

Then he ordered, “Take the money from the servant with ten bags of silver, and give to the one with the one bag of silver. To those who use well what they are given, we will take away their abundance. But for those who do nothing, we will make sure to give them enough to keep them depending on us. Now tell the greedy servant to stop complaining and get back to work. We have a country to fix.”