About Christians and Conservatives: some Christians today are perhaps off the traditional path. The church has a long history of decrying the exploitation of the poor and supporting union movements. (See Rerum Novarm)
G.K. Chesterton’s writing about the rich often hits Occupy Wall Street levels -- “The rich man is bribed… that is why he is rich.”
Conservatives today, however, insist that poverty be explained as a moral failure.Success as the product of moral superiority is the so-called Protestant ethic, but it is also, as Nietzsche noted, the “ethic of the hangman.” The poor are considered culpable so that they can be punished - like today’s inadequate minimum wage or the public shaming of those on welfare.
Jesus was neither conservative nor capitalist, interestingly, and the story of Lazarus and the rich man is a horror story appropriate for today's discussions.
There's a much better way. Of course. That's the good news part.