Thursday, November 15, 2007

A Nation of Covetous Thieves?

When I teach I sometimes ask people how many would like a smaller government and less taxes. Virtually all the people reply they would like that. I then tell them this could be accomplished if everyone obeyed the Ten Commandments.

Look how much havoc violating just one commandment--“Thou Shalt not Covet”--brings. If a group of people wanted better public schools, police, parks, and other public refinements, and they hired a gang to steal from people in surrounding states to finance these public refinements, they could be arrested and tried for conspiracy, convicted and put in jail.

But if that same group of people went to their Congressional delegation and had them designate tax money taken from people in other states to finance those public refinements, that would be legal. In fact, if the people in the other states didn’t give the federal government their tax dollars for redistribution, they would be put in jail. This example applies to all political jurisdictions. In fact, counties and towns take money confiscated through taxation by the state from citizens in neighboring counties and towns to “improve” what they are unwilling to pay for themselves.

Our disregard for the Ten Commandments requires larger government to control the excesses of men. Larger government requires a lot of money and government control. It appears that we are a nation of covetous thieves, and that is why we keep electing ethically-challenged political leaders.

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