Each of America’s two major political parties accuses the other of being the author of evil in these United States. Unfortunately, both parties seem to have lost an understanding of what civic evil actually is. Evil operates both on an individual level and on a “corporate” or group level and both parties have contributed plenty to the massive store of evil we are seeing in America today.
Evil is unleashed when things like ignorance, economic exploitation, violence, class-based superiority, dishonesty and other injurious states of mind and practices abound in a wild mixture inside the hearts and minds of individuals or in the propaganda put out by entities like business and government.
Evil lurks inside individuals and groups when human rights
and human dignity are taken away from people or when an individual or group decides they are better than others.
Evil sprouts when folks are heavily into gold-digging and glory mongering more than people building.
Evil arises from a lack of personal integrity and group ethical guardrails in place.
Evil arises when an individual or group takes another individual or group into captivity, essentially enslaving them by allowing them little rest from their labors and little freedom to obtain education, leisure, or exercise speech, press and religious pursuit.
Evil is engendered by theft, infidelity, abandonment of children, fraud, lack of community participation, and false testimony.
Strangely there was a code of ten enforceable laws in an ancient democracy that prohibited these kinds of evils from taking root without consequences meted out by the government. They were called the Ten Commandments. They were couched in religious language, or God-talk, because that is how codes of law were published in the ancient world. For example, the third commandment against using God’s name vainly was not a law against swearing, but rather a law against breaking promises, oaths, or contracts, because all those legal agreements in ancient times were commonly solemnified and “witnessed” using the name of the local or national god or goddess claiming jurisdiction in that particular part of the land.
Israel’s First Commandment called upon Israel to always remember the God that led it out of captivity in Egypt into the light of freedom in the wilderness, and thus to regularly teach and remember that laws for consensual government are written to prevent repression and to promote liberty for individuals and groups.
The second Commandment against “graven images” was a law to prevent excessive publishing of the image of politicians and other celebrities so as to manipulate the population into believing those personalities are special above all others. It was also written to prevent excessive accumulation of wealth and grants of immunity from the law. In order to prevent such a brazen swerving away from humanitarian government, the political entity had to implement study of history and law and promote citizen participation in the polity.
The Third Commandment against taking the name of God in vain provided for a branch of government, the judicial branch, to adjudicate disagreements between contracting individuals and groups when disputes arose.
The Fourth Commandment against breaking the “Sabbath” day of rest, was a commandment implementing mandatory labor laws meant to protect workers and allow them time for rest, religious or secular education, and civic participation.
The Fifth Commandment against not obeying parents was a commandment solidifying the authority of the most fundamental local unit of government in a democracy, family government. Parents were legally empowered to regulate the behavior of children until they reached the age of majority.
The Sixth Commandment against killing promised consequences for individualized murder and aggressive killing by armed forces of one nation against the citizens of other nations when that fighting is not defensive in nature.
The Seventh Commandment against adultery prohibited extramarital affairs and international treaties that diminished the power of the national legislature to regulate the domestic policies and international wars of the nation.
The Eighth Commandment against stealing prohibited common individual theft and theft of citizen and local government property by the state by such means as excessive taxation, eminent domain laws, national park-type designations and other means.
The Ninth Commandment against false swearing prohibited perjury in legal settings, the publishing of propaganda in political party and government settings, and false or misleading advertising in commercial settings.
The Tenth Commandment against expropriating the neighbor’s spouse and/or property through such means as fraud and other illegal or immoral manipulations, protected family solidarity and thus the fundamental functioning of democratic government.
Both of America’s political parties have contributed mightily and continue to contribute to these depredations against consensual government.
Robert Kimball Shinkoskey is the author of books and editorials on democracy, religion, and the American presidency.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Which political party is the real evil entity in America?
