Dr. J.'s 'He Really Said That': Huckabee: The Ten Commandments form the basis of most of our laws.

On December 24, 2007, Ed Brayton posted the following quote from the "oh so genial, oh so nice, oh so down-to-earth" Mike Huckabee: "The Ten Commandments form the basis of most of our laws and therefore, you know if you look through them does anybody find anything there that would be all that objectionable?"

Funny, but I thought that the bases of all of laws are the U.S. Constitution and those of the 50 states. Brayton pointed out that most of the Ten Commandments would be unconstitutional and the rest are really matters of personal morals and principles. But let's say that Gov. Huckabee became President and would somehow be able to put them, let's say, co-equal with the Constitution. Before we could even get to their Constitutionality, there are a series of practical questions to raise.

One would have to ask exactly which Ten are we talking about? Those in a particular English translation of a particular Latin translation of a particular Greek translation of a particular Hebrew translation of an original Aramaic text, known as the King James Version? There is an extensive set of variations of the Ten, depending upon which language one uses. That question would have to be settled first. But let's say that somehow it would be, so let's go on to the particulars, given the translation supplied.

1. Thou shall have no other Gods before me. Which "one God" are we talking about? The Jewish version (after all, "he was the original," so we are told). Or is it the Catholic version or perhaps one of a variety of Protestant versions, or even the Mormon version? Then, what does the word "before" mean? Is this one talking about others? Oh my.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. How do we define "graven"? Sculpture, painting, photo, computer image? Are all prohibited, or only some? What happens from the fifth generation on? And what is meant by "iniquity?" Apparently this God is jealous in nature. But I thought that that was one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Oh my.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. What name is that, and how is "in vain" defined?

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. What, exactly, does "keep it holy" mean? Further, right now there are at least two days of the week defined as "the Sabbath" and a wide variety of approaches to recognizing it, whichever one it is, as special.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother. How exactly are they to be honored? Gifts, speeches, flowers? And how frequently? What would count and who would do the counting?

6. Thou shalt not kill. Uh oh! There goes war, self-defense, the death penalty, and, since it doesn't say "who," possibly hunting and the use of animals for food.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Given the commonality of the practice, just how would the Gov. propose to control it, much less punish it?

8. Thou shalt not steal. Just how is "stealing" to be defined? Does it include theft of elections, and stealing by the awarding of no-bid contracts to Presidential/Vice Presidential cronies, or let's say, tax cuts for the rich that steal from everyone else's future?

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Does lying one's nation into war count? And if its intention is not quite that grand, what is the definition of "neighbour" anyway? Next door, across the street, down the block, around the world in this increasingly so-called "globalized" economy??

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. There's that troublesome definition of neighbour again. But before getting into any details, just how is "covet" to be defined and what are the proposed penalties for any violations?

Since we would presume the Gov. would not be so bold as to propose substituting The Ten for the Constitution en masse (at least not right away), I suppose that it would be up to the Supreme Court to sort things out. As for what, as presently constituted, it might do, we only have to notice that there are currently five seats held by Catholics who, one might presume, have similar ideas about how to answer all those tough questions. Yes indeed, this next election is really important, for more than one real reason.

Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY), a weekly Contributing Author for the Web zine The Political Junkies.net; a Special Contributing Editor for Cyrano's Journal Online; and an invited contributor to the Web log The Daily Scare.