Ten Thousand Commandments

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"First rehearsed on the business page of the Christian Science monitor ... summer ... 1949." Bibliography: p. 197-206.

Now includes discussion questions and contemplation exercises for individual study and reading groups. Ana Levy-Lyons, a public theologian who is equally at home in secular and religious worlds, offers a deeply perceptive reinterpretation of the Ten Commandments for our modern lives. The Ten Commandments are a spiritual resource for social justice. A politically and spiritually brazen prescription for living, the Ten Commandments would turn our world upside down if we actually followed them. Far from being only ethical norms on which everyone already agrees or a remnant of a bygone oppressive era, the Commandments are actually countercultural practices. Today the Ten Commandments are a divisive part of American culture. Religious conservatives champion them, even if they don't always practice them. Religious liberals and the nonreligious may bristle at what they perceive as antiquated moral restrictions. But, this ancient code still has vital contemporary relevance. Rev. Levy-Lyons explores ways the Commandments bring us meaning, illuminate our values, and help us navigate through the turbulent waters of social injustice, environmental crises, and societal inequity. No Other Gods looks at each Commandment in new ways, moving beyond interpersonal morality to the global economy and our hyper-connected age. From the first, You Shall Have No Other Gods Besides Me (Dethrone the Modern Deities of Political, Social, and Corporate Power), to the tenth Do Not Covet (Practice Your Liberation-You Have Enough, You Are Enough)-and all those in between-she underscores how the Commandments can produce a bold spiritual consciousness. Whether you are deeply religious or spiritual-but-not-religious, learn how the Ten Commandments can guide you to resist injustice, heal our earth, and find personal dignity amid the free-for-alls of modern life. "We don't have to invent a bunch of new practices for a meaningful way to live out our spirituality and social justice politics," says Levy-Lyons. "There is a perfectly good set of ten of them, all ready to go, with as much progressive firepower as any of us can handle, that has existed for some three thousand years."

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It has been long recognized by members of both major political parties that federal regulatory burdens can operate as a hidden tax. President Donald Trump has echoed that view. In response, his administration has issued a “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” Memorandum to executive branch agencies. (That is a typical step by new presidents wishing to review their predecessor's pending actions and prioritize their own. ) The president has also issued a series of executive actions related to reforming the regulatory process, which would require congressional action to be given permanence. Over decades, the federal regulatory state has continued to grow, as rules accumulate year after year. While regulatory rollbacks have been rare, President Trump's emphasis on regulatory reform may turn out to be the most aggressive since President Ronald Reagan formalized the White House Office of Management and Budget's oversight of regulation (and brought Federal Register pages and rule counts both down by over a third). But for this to be a turning point will require action by Congress. The national debt now stands at $19.95 trillion. Yet, the federal government's reach extends far beyond its taxes, deficits, and borrowing. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations affect the economy by hundreds of billions--even trillions--of dollars annually. Like federal spending, regulatory costs should be closely tracked and disclosed annually and periodic housecleaning should be performed. The limited cost-benefit analysis currently undertaken at the agency level covers only a fraction of rules. Precise regulatory costs are not fully known because, unlike taxes, they are unbudgeted and often indirect. But scattered government and private data exist about the number of regulations issued, their costs and effects, and the agencies that issue them. Compiling some of that information can shed some light on the scale of the federal state.