Every adult in the US has been exposed to the Ten Commandments, at least anyone we think of as being educated and aware enough to vote. Most of us are responsible enough to recognize that, regardless of their origin, the commandments represent a sound moral philosophy for a civilized society. They clearly instruct us to recognize our neighbor’s right to life, his right to ownership of property and his right to truth in testimony regarding him or her. We also recognize the severe breach of loyalty to our neighbor by seducing his or her spouse and the betrayal of a spouse who would submit to that seduction. Do not covet is a moral admonishment regarding a state of mind, which makes it a bit different, but we also recognize that the secret desire to own what your neighbor has leads to active deceit, fraud, theft, seduction and even murder. The commandments list the overt acts to avoid and then summarize them with the warning to avoid the mental state that brings these evil desires to life, covetousness. Even the first portion of the commandments dealing with our relationship to God are recognized by non-believers to be a summary of gratitude and thankfulness for life and liberty.
Consider a body of people who accept the Ten Commandments as a sound moral code. If they do, it is obvious to them that no human being has the capacity to obey that code 100% of the time throughout their lives. The temptations of sex, money, power and material comfort, the desire to never be exposed, warped and twisted thoughts, are part of life and we have all violated that code somewhere along the line. So those “acceptors” will gather and form a government recognizing the rights exposed in the code and limit that government, via a constitution, in its ability to infringe on those rights. Presto! The United States of America was formed.
Now consider a body of people 250 years later, after 150 years of the doctrine of naturalism and secular humanism have saturated the society, fighting for their own form of government. Socialism. This group has effectively rejected the 10 commandments as a sound moral standard. It began in earnest and openly as I was entering adulthood, the year I graduated from High school. It was a concerted and organized movement but sold to us as a revolution. Throw off those old archaic superstitious notions. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. God is dead. We evolved. Do what makes you happy and what feels good. Whoever dies with the most toys wins. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. The do-gooders are spoiling the party. Did my generation buy into that? Like a school of mackerel. Hook line and sinker. The people at the top controlling this narrative were and still are to this day, the Marxists who gained political power in Russia in 1917. McCarthy knew it. Kennedy knew it. King knew it. Bobby Knew it. Nixon knew it. Reagan knew it and Trump knows it. But look what they were and are fighting. This movement immediately infiltrated the four most powerful culture shapers in our society. The entertainment industry, the media, the universities and the government.
Once a group collectively rejects the 10 commandments and wants to form a government they have no other choice but to carry their personal philosophies into the government. And what is that philosophy? Relativism. My truth is my truth and what is right and true for me and my needs is morally acceptable. This philosophy obviously embraces rationalization. Rationalization is justifying ones behavior or the behavior of a group by the result. The ends justify the means. If it’s for the greater good it’s OK. A constitutional form of government protecting individual rights FROM the government will not survive and is not compatible with that philosophy. Socialism is, however. For the greater good the arbiter and grantor of rights becomes the government. If you become a target however, because you have more money, or property, or prettier women and more privacy than the government thinks you should have, you can throw the Ten Commandments out the window because if the government wants what you have, to redistribute to people it is pandering to at any given moment, it will come for you and what you own. Atheism is the direct path to socialism and socialism is the direct path to tyranny. A government founded on the principles of the 10 commandments is your only protection.
