Tuesday, June 05, 2007

You shall not covet: Dt 5:21

"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Deuteronomy 5:21)
As individuals, we need to learn to be content with the portion that God has allotted to us. As a nation, we must not seek to pit one class against another, causing them to covet what the other has. In my country, we have started a new presidential election cycle. One of the Democratic presidential candidates. John Edwards, has talked repeatedly about "Two Americas".
"You've heard me talk about the Two Americas? One for those families who have everything they need, and then one for everybody else. Katrina showed us the Two Americas. Those images of men and women at the Superdome stranded without food, water or hope — simply because they didn't have a car or the cash to escape. Those images are something we'll never forget." (National Press Club Policy Address)
While the issues of poverty are real and should be discusses as part of our national discourse, I personally believe that many running for political office in my country are in effect trying to create class envy between the rich and the poor. For example, when candidates refer to "tax cuts for the rich" and "big oil" they are inciting covetedness in the hearts of the poor against those who are rich and powerful. It is wrong for a nation and a government to purposly try and divide its citizens along economic lines; to pit the poor against the rich. Governments should treat all its citizens equally and to govern them as a whole. When ever government tries to favor one segment of its citizens over another, it sows the seeds of division in its own people and weakens the nation.

David Robison

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