www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/18/opinion/main667553.shtml
My fellow Americans, I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. Who wants to bring a bunch of jer ks together with the rest of us? The media say that I won the election on the strength of moral values. If the other fellow had become president, would the media have said that h e won the election on the strength of immoral values? Post those Ten Commandments in a court house or a statehouse, in a public school or a public park, and the jerk s go crazy. Show the Ten Commandments to Hindus, B uddhists, Confucians, or to people with just good will and common sense and nobody says, "Whoa! But jerks take issue with every one of the Ten Commandments. Jerks are pa rticularly offended by the first two Commandments. Of course people of f aith, decent people, differ on interpretations of the first two Commandm ents. For example, we don't all agree about the meaning of "Thou shalt n ot make unto thee any graven image." However, we do all agree about "Tho u shalt not bow down thyself to them" when them is Freud, Marx, and Dan Rather. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." How many time s, over the last few months, have we heard, "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, I can't believe George Bush won"? We did see a lot of white, non-Hispanic Democrats in churches in 2004. I happen to know that there are churches in the white, no n-Hispanic suburbs where these Democrats live. Are telling lies about a bankrupt Soci al Security system and trying to block its privatization reform ways to do this? Why, in the opinion of jerks, is it wrong to kill a baby but all right to kill a baby that's so little he hasn't been born yet? And why do the same jerks who favor abortion oppose the death pena lty? We can imagine people so full of loving kindness that they can acce pt neither the abortionist nor the executioner. We can even imagine peop le so cold-hearted that they embrace them both. But it takes a real jerk to argue in favor of killing perfect innocents and letting Terry Nichol s live. In 2004 the United States government spent $2,318 ,800,000,000. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Especially not in return for vast wealth, abundant prizes, and lavish praise from fello w jerks. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighb or's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant , nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." The Ten Commandments are God's basic rules about how we sh ould live -- a brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precept s The first nine Commandments concern theological principles and social law . But then, right at the end, is "Don't envy your buddy's cow." Why would God, with just t en things to tell Moses, choose as one of those things jealousy about th e starter mansion with in-ground pool next door? Yet think how important the Tenth Commandment is to a community, to a nat ion, indeed to a presidential election. If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don't be a jerk and whine abou t what the people across the street have -- go get your own. The Tenth Commandment sends a message to all the jerks who want redistrib ution of wealth, higher taxes, more government programs, more government regulation, more government, less free enterprise, and less freedom. PJ O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and author, most recently, of Peace Kills (Atlantic Monthly Press). By PJ O'Rourke Copyright 2005, News Corporations, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved .
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