Mormon Bloggers

We Americans have been free too long. Many of our citizens no longer value the freedom for which our ancestors fought and died, at least not enough to keep it. Many of us see nothing wrong with trading that freedom for money, inspiring a particularly unprincipled class of politicians to compete to buy the most votes with the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. That’s the money those politicians have sworn to use wisely. Apparently, “wisely” is in the eye of the beholder, or maybe just in the eye of the guy holding the key to the taxpayers’ bank account. Both that class of politicians and those citizens subscribe to the “Robin Hood” model of government, “Take from the rich and give to the poor.” Inexplicably, they consider such “taking and giving” a badge of honor. Have we truly devolved to this extent? How do we decide for whom we will vote? Let’s analyze some basic human tendencies: Most citizens who vote for the man they think will... Read the rest of this entry »

This interview with Congressman Allen West (R-FL) should give all Americans renewed hope that fiscal sanity and spending restraint can actually happen. It’s not a matter of “if” we can and must do this, it’s only a matter of “how much.” When he was running for office last year, I wished this man and others like him could be elected in every precinct in America. You’ll understand why when you listen to him articulate his positions: A new era has finally dawned. The work ahead is not going to be easy. America, however, will get this fixed. There just isn’t any other alternative if freedom for us and the rest of the world is to be preserved. Free Counter  Read More →

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called for religious groups to unite in order to protect the religious freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution during a speech delivered at Chapman University Law School on February 4th, 2011. But Elder Oaks isn’t calling for a resurrection of Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority”, which became identified with a particular religious group and political party, but for a broader principle both nonpartisan and ecumenical. Primary media story published by the Deseret News; unofficial LDS reaction on MormonWoman.org, which includes good secondary links to other addresses on religious liberty, and by Jeff Lindsay on Mormanity. – Read the complete transcript of Elder Oaks’ speech HERE.– Read the LDS Church‘s press release HERE. Interview with Elder Oaks embedded below: Elder Oaks called for a unified, broad coalition defending religious... Read the rest of this entry »

I was asked by someone last week whether God will be the source of deliverance for America, or whether He has abandoned America because of the wickedness so prevalent among us.  On its surface the question disturbed me.  Of course God will deliver America!  And America has a role in the world to help deliver other nations from tyranny and oppression.  Could there be any question? Then he posed this question:  ”I notice you write a lot about politics as though you actually believe there is anything to be gained by it.  Isn’t God the real source of our power?” It made me wonder if the heat of all the political rhetoric sometimes fails to shed the light of truth on the problems we face. It is true, I write a lot about political matters.  It is because I believe there is an imperative duty we owe to God to do the best we can based upon all He has revealed to us to advance His agenda.  We remain silent in these last days... Read the rest of this entry »

George F. Will I stumbled over this magnificent summary of where we were at America’s exceptional founding, where we are today at the commencement of the 112th Congress, and where we are headed in the future.  It comes from George Will, and you can read the whole article here: The American Revolution was a political, not a social revolution; it was about emancipating individuals for the pursuit of happiness, not about the state allocating wealth and opportunity. Hence our exceptional Constitution, which says not what government must do for Americans but what it cannot do to them. Americans are exceptionally committed to limited government because they are exceptionally confident of social mobility through personal striving. And they are exceptionally immune to a distinctively modern pessimism: It holds that individuals are powerless to assert their autonomy against society’s vast impersonal forces, so people must become wards of government, which supposedly is... Read the rest of this entry »

Herewith, a mid-term test.  How much do you know about the issues in the upcoming November 2nd mid-term election?  Consider these questions: 1.  Why is it called the “mid-term” election? 2.  Who’s running for Governor of the State of Utah? 3.  Who’s running for Senate in the State of Utah? 4.  Who’s running in the Utah 2nd Congressional District, and why does it matter? 5.  Who controls the education budget in the State of Utah? 6.  Why does my vote this year matter? 7.  Is it too late to register to vote? 8.  When does early voting begin? 9.  Why should I vote, when there’s so much voter apathy? 10.  What’s the best way to become informed on the issues? Now scroll down and view my answers: President Barack Obama 1.  The reason it’s called the “mid-term election” is we are halfway through the first term of the President of the United States.  Barack... Read the rest of this entry »

I recently forwarded an article to a conservative colleague that argued for America to lift it's restrictions on trade with and travel to Cuba. The conclusion contained a small argument against the belief that the government is here to allow us to do certain things: Contrast statism with libertarianism. Libertarians, unlike statists, hold that man has been endowed by nature and God with fundamental, inherent rights that exist independently of government. Since such rights do not come from government, people don’t need to get governmental permission to exercise them. What are such rights? Not only the right to publish or read whatever you want or to peaceably assemble with others, but also the right to sustain your life through labor, to engage in economic activity, to engage in any occupation or trade, to trade with others, to accumulate the fruits of your earnings, to travel wherever you want, and to do what you want with your own money. And all without governmental... Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been reading Prince and Wright’s book David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, and Chapter 12 makes pretty clear that during the strong anti-communist period of the mid-twentieth century, rhetoric in the church, and even from President McKay certainly did equate free agency with some level of political freedom, which seems to contradict my latest post on agency. In General Conference after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President McKay (then a counselor in the First Presidency) said, “To deprive an intelligent human being of his free agency is to commit the crime of the ages…. So fundamental in man’s eternal progress is his inherent right to choose, that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war” (Conference Report, April 1942, 71-73, quoted in Prince, 280). That said, I still believe the scriptural reference to agency has little to do with political freedom and more to do with man’s innate ability to choose, as in this report about President... Read the rest of this entry »

Oil painting by Auguste Millière (1880) The more things change, it seems, the more they remain the same.  There is one man who was perhaps the most unsung hero of the Revolutionary War.  His name is Thomas “Tom” Paine (born January 29, 1737, other sources suggest different dates).  He was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in Thetford (just north of Cambridge), in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. Two men are regarded as having contributed equally to the successful outcome of the American War of Independence. George Washington in directing the movement of the soldiers and another man, Thomas Paine, whose words in a time of crisis inspired those soldiers. This man’s first Crisis pamphlet, which Washington ordered to be read to the troops, begins... Read the rest of this entry »

This is the season of the year when we remember our America heritage, but only if we are aware of it. Pilgrims Detail of Edgar Parker’s Embarkation of the Pilgrims “They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country.” — William Bradford The Pilgrim saga began with a group of religious dissidents who believed it was necessary to separate from the Church of England. Persecuted in England, these “Separatists” moved to Holland in 1607/1608. The group, joined by other colonists recruited by the venture’s financial backers, began the move to America in 1620. Bacon’s Landing of the Pilgrims Early Plymouth records refer to all passengers from the first four ships as “First Comers.” These ships were the Mayflower (1620), the Fortune (1621), the Anne and the Little James (1623). The term “Pilgrim” was not generally used until the early... Read the rest of this entry »

We are taught in holy writ that “when we undertake…to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves”. Also, that “it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” That is because to control or dominate over another unrighteously is evil, and where evil is, God is not. It is my belief that political anarchy is the absence of this "unrighteous dominion". I am completely aware of the objections that such a statement of belief as this may create. As I will show, these objections are misdirected, the word anarchy has been misused in contemporary thought, and a state of political anarchy is actually desirable for a righteous people. Anarchy and Tyranny From politicians to religious leaders, anarchy has been... Read the rest of this entry »

We are taught in holy writ that “when we undertake…to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves”. Also, that “it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” That is because to control or dominate over another unrighteously is evil, and where evil is, God is not. It is my belief that political anarchy is the absence of this "unrighteous dominion". I am completely aware of the objections that such a statement of belief as this may create. As I will show, these objections are misdirected, the word anarchy has been misused in contemporary thought, and a state of political anarchy is actually desirable for a righteous people. Anarchy and Tyranny From politicians to religious leaders, anarchy has been... Read the rest of this entry »