The American Theocracy - Number Ten

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
~ Exodus 20:17, RSV ~

Application: Of all the 10 Commandments, this one is the hardest to legislate because, in many cases, our desires are internal. While the Bible teaches that committing a sin in the heart is just as bad as actually committing the sin itself, even in theocratic America, it will be more difficult to preempt bad behavior.

Consequently, I envision the new president setting up a theocratic program akin to Americorp VISTA. However, instead of recruiting Americans to work to rid our nation of poverty, discrimination, environmental degradation and the like, volunteers will serve as domestic spies to try to uncover instances of the beleaguered working class (now exceeding over 50% of the population) "coveting" the largess stolen by the wealthy elite.

Watch lists will be expanded greatly and, anyone who doesn't toe the fundamentalist Christian line, will be watched intently for ANY missteps. The worst part of this new ideology is that far too many people will unknowingly buy into it and everyone will be watching everyone else in order to report "suspicious behavior" to the proper authorities.

Exceptions: The most glaring exception to this new policy will be in terms of continued US military aggression. In almost every case, war is about coveting what someone else has. Yet, while our leaders will harangue us with the evils of desiring that which is not ours, it will be one the chief motivating factors as US military forces launch one invasion after another. Sadly, few Americans will notice the connection.

Of course, the other arena in which coveting will be a-ok is when corporate powers and the wealthy elite want something YOU have. If your home happens to be located in a place where they want to build or they've identified some resource in your possession, you're shit out of luck!

How can you defy them? It's all part of God's plan!

If you're interested in reading more from this tongue-in-cheek series, go to the The American Theocracy Index page.