What would Jesus do? He does NOT command us to go into debt to help the poor.
My view of how it happened then is that it would have a similar outcome today, because it would be repeated by essentially the same people.
Governor Pilate pondered the fate of the two men. He knew Jesus had done nothing to warrant death, but Jesus constituted a heavy political problem. But he would let the people decide. He would offer them Barabbas or Jesus.
If they chose Jesus, the problem was cleanly solved. If they chose Barabbas, he could justify the release of him because he could prove that it was the people who chose, and he granted them their choice.
So he said to them: Who would you have me release? Barabbas, or Jesus?
One faction yelled desperately to release Jesus. The other faction screamed for the release of Barabbas. The faction screaming for Barabbas was much larger, louder, and fanatical than the faction pleading for the release of Jesus.
Thus did Pilate release Barabbas to the fanatics - the liberals. And he wept because he could not release an innocent man to the other faction - the conservatives.