Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Abomination x 3

In case anyone doubts the relevance of the Old Testament thousands of years after it was written, The Wall Street Journal comments on the implementation of the (un)Affordable Care Act:
“… there have been so many unilateral executive waivers and delays that ObamaCare must be unrecognizable to its drafters, to the extent they ever knew what the law contained.”
as does Solomon, son of David:
“Unequal weights and unequal measures
    are both alike an abomination to the Lord.”
(Proverbs 20:10)
In case it’s unclear, “unilateral executive waivers” are what Solomon referred to as “unequal weights and unequal measures”. In other words, ‘people we like don’t have to comply; people we don’t … do’. In some circles it’s called making the rules up as you go along. Political expediency sets the agenda. That seems to be the state of the rule of law in the U.S. currently. Congress, the people’s elected representatives, have become irrelevant to the process and the White House rules by fiat.

I note the use of the word “abomination” in Solomon’s proverb. When that particular noun comes out, you know there will one day be consequences.

But lest we be seen to be picking on President Obama, there’s also this article about all the American presidents in the last century who used the IRS for political gain, and the details thereof. The IRS has a long tradition of being the White House’s preferred method of bringing to heel those it perceives as disagreeing with its policies. It’s not pretty, it’s not just Democrats and it’s not new. And, naturally, it’s very un-equal indeed:
“President Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS to harass newspaper publishers, including William Randolph Hearst and Moses Annenberg (publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer). He also dropped the IRS hammer on political rivals such as Huey Long and Father Coughlin, and prominent Republicans like former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.”
Why is it that Solomon bothers to repeat this statement right in the same chapter of Proverbs? I guess it may be significant, and I guess it’s advice that is seldom heeded:
“Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,
    and false scales are not good.”
(Proverbs 20:23)
So just in case Solomon’s other proverbs were unclear, I’d add this earlier gem:
“It is an abomination to kings to do evil,
    for the throne is established by righteousness.”
(Proverbs 16:12)
Counterintuitive, no? It’s certainly not the strategy of most powerful people. But Solomon says righteousness is the way to successfully implement your agenda, not coercion or manipulation — and certainly not inconsistent, unfair treatment of those individuals whose lives you are in charge of. And it applies to everyone in a position of authority: church elders, businesspeople, parents, you name it. If you’re the one making the decisions, best make them fairly and equally, in the knowledge that the Lord is watching.

To fail to do so is an abomination in the eyes of God.

There’s not much to be done about the White House. There may be one or two things we can do about our own houses.

2 comments :

  1. As an employer, Canada's Parliament is exempt from the Human Rights laws they pass for all other employers in the country.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another one! On the bright side, there is the fact that they're not throwing us to the lions.

    ReplyDelete