Have we likened the scriptures to ourselves when it comes to support of government?
Have we likened the scriptures to ourselves when it comes to support of government?
This was written as a “reply to all” response mass e-mail sent to the author by a fellow Latter-Day Saint who is considering supporting Obama. Much of it was written in the passion of ‘righteous anger’ and now seems a bit preachy, but I have preserved most of my ‘utterings’ in their original form.
I don’t usually start political conversations out of the blue with people unless they bring it up first. That being said, I welcome them when they come because this gives me a chance to explain the views that I have come to hold dear.
I want to hearken your mind, Derrick, back to the time that you and I went to see Sean Hannity in Salt Lake once. I remember that both of us felt a little uncomfortable when the crowd went wild with applause at some of the things he said. I was uncertain why I felt this way even though I would still spout off ”conservative” doctrine. Sure enough in 2004 I cast my vote to re-elect Bush for President.
Since that time I’ve come to regret voting for Bush and, all recent political events and actors aside, I’ve completely changed my tune. The key to my changed outlook was a deeper look at the gospel of Jesus Christ and, especially, more intense studying of the Book of Mormon. I strove to implement Nephi’s advice that we should liken the scriptures unto ourselves. Since then, I’ve tried to do this in every way possible as it pertains to politics and I’ve discovered lots of things that may be of interest to you. I’m going to list them from the top of my head so they may not be in any particular logical order.
Righteous Nephite kings labored for their own support. They weren’t supported with taxes. Sure enough, Benjamin in his last sermon said that he didn’t seek riches from his subjects. To me this means that he didn’t tax his subjects. His son Mosiah set up the system of judges. This left an incentive for some judges and lawyers (like Zeezrom) to stir up trouble because people in the court system only got paid when there were cases to be judged. The people only paid money for services rendered (imagine that!).
King Benjamin (among others), told his subjects to give to the needy and poor. Notice that he didn’t confiscate money from them to then give to the poor after skimming 60 – 70% off the top (like American bureaucracies do). Politicians in a democracy tax people to help the poor which serves neither the taxed nor the receivers of the help. Taking money from someone without providing a service that they voluntarily agree to pay for (contract for) is stealing. Taxation is stealing. Stealing is a sin. Taxation is sinful.
Notice when King Noah taxed his subjects a onerous twenty percent(!!!!) and then ordered them to do something that they were ashamed of (like abandoning their wives and children while escaping from the Lamanites) – THEY BURNED HIM ALIVE.
Notice also that when the Lamanites later totally subjugated these same Nephites and taxed them 50%, this caused the Nephites to take up arms against their oppressors.
I’ll contend that we are taxed at or above 50% on average in this country right now. This includes inflation, (not the CPI, but the devaluation of the money by government increasing the money supply), the fact that every consumer pays corporate taxes passed on in the price of the goods you buy, federal, state and sometimes local income taxes, property taxes, gasoline taxes at the federal, state and local levels, sales taxes, excise taxes, import duties on many goods, etc. Don’t forget social security tax, the AMT, and capital gains. Do the math for yourself. You work half your life to feed this government.
The Nephites had no democracy. Yes it was said that the “affairs” of the people should be done according to the voice of the people. Certainly the people were consulted for things concerning who should fill various judgment seats and for what to do concerning issues that their law had no provision for, like the influx of tens of thousands of recently converted Lamanites who came seeking a place to live. Nevertheless, the law was codified by the last King Mosiah who based it on the laws of God. Nephites had no legislatures ( I call them law factories). Judges were elected to judge cases by the eternal law of God as written by their beloved last king who was a man of God. Laws simply were incapable of being made because they’ve already existed for eternity. Gods make laws and even gods live in accordance with eternal laws of the universe. I would like to posit that having representatives conduct a 51% vote, getting an executive signature, and calling it “law”, actually degrades the word “law”. At one point it was against the “law” to be Jewish in Germany. Once it was legal or lawful to own a black person. Additionally, it was once lawful to kill Mormons in Missouri. Someone famous once said that democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for dinner. I’m now convinced that democracy is a great way for motivated and charismatic individuals to gain power and use it to transfer money from tax victims to friends and family for their own eventual gain.
Speaking of politics and gain, Ezra Taft Benson told us to pay attention when we read about secret combinations because the Book of Mormon is telling us about OUR day. Indeed Moroni tells us that he has seen us and our doings and that the Book of Mormon is meant for US. A secret combination is when people combine in a mutual agreement to favor each other by doing whatever they can in their respective purviews to help one another gain power and position and to avoid responsibility for their respective actions when they break laws along the way. How many less than forthright organizations are there who are composed of many people who help each other gain position and do not hold their own to account when their members break laws (like the Constitution). I can think of two such combinations already. I can think of one set of laws that’s already hanging by a thread as we speak. All I have to do is turn on the TV and see it happening - congress not officially declaring wars as specified in the Constitution, an increasingly dictatorial executive branch, unconstitutional agencies springing up everywhere, and regulating US citizens in unconstitutional ways. When things go wrong and lies are discovered, the big perpetrators (politicians and bureaucrats) are rarely punished. Sounds the work of secret combinations to me. The only difference is that they can actually make their own ‘laws’ that ‘legitimize’ their otherwise illegal and immoral practices.
On warfare: the Nephites were sorry to take up arms against their brethren the Lamanites. They did it because they were actually being invaded. The first and ONLY time that the Nephites undertook a pre-emptive war was the time that they suffered a battle loss so staggering that it proved to the the turning point in their nation’s destruction. Enough said.
I can go on and on and on, but I’ll spare all of you. I’ll just say that I can understand why the church leaders very very rarely get involved in politics. If the church took a stand on every single issue of the day and told the members to vote a certain way because of such and such doctrinal reason, the church would be extremely unpopular and targeted even more than it was before and is today, the members who disagreed with the political stance could have a spiritual crisis that could affect their salvation and the work of the Lord could be slowed down as a result. Heck, the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith was not in favor of encouraging church members to vote for alcohol prohibition. We now can study the effects of prohibition to see how bad this idea was. Apparently we, as Latter-Day Saints, still haven’t learned that prohibition not only doesn’t work but is probably wrong to support. I can see why the church isn’t more political than it is and I think it’s for the better. One more thing, and I’ll spare you the rest of the issues I promise. Nephites taught prisoners of war the gospel and had them swear oaths before setting them free. Joseph Smith also said that if he were president of the US, he would do something similar in the prisons. America has the highest number of incarcerated people per capita in the entire world….and probably in terms of absolute numbers as well. These people are unproductive members of society while you labor for the money which is confiscated, through taxation, to keep them their well fed and cared for. Some of these people are in prison for ‘crimes’ that had no victim other than themselves yet you have to pay the price. Think about that.
I think that there’s a reason why the Prophet challenges everyone to read the Book of Mormon within a year like he did in 2006. I think that there’s a reason that the church tells us to study the issues, pray, and then vote accordingly. There’s a reason why Nephi says to liken the scriptures unto ourselves in every single way. People who know me well may have tired as of late from hearing me say “The discussion is wrong because the premise is wrong”. I say it to mean that when someone gets to define the premise of discussion it’s often to their advantage and they will end up winning the argument. When we turn on the news and listen to people feed us lies that these people would have us accept as fact, we should seek the spirit of discernment to lead us to what is true and to know what is not. I think that you know that there are lies in much of the propaganda thrown at you.
Real patriots question everything. Real Latter-Day Saints aren’t told to accept even purely doctrinal points, but are asked to go and pray about them to find the truth on an individual level via the spirit. Why can’t we be patriot Latter-Day Saints and approach our politics at the same spiritual level knowing that our political actions have consequences?
Why do I have to choose a Republican or a Democrat? Why must I choose between two evils? Why must I consent to stealing from one person or another depending on who I choose? Why must I have to choose between killing people in Darfur versus Iraq? Why must I choose whether the oil company or the ethanol producers get to steal money from the American taxpayer? Why should I have to choose between socialism or fascism? I do not accept this situation. I’ll take the 3rd option.
Give me a man who, at the very least, will actually stick to the Constitution and, if he doesn’t, will offer himself up for punishment if he breaks his oath. Give me truth and give me principle. Give me someone that I can vote for and know that I’ve done the world a huge favor. Think of voting in this way: when you vote for someone, you sustain what they do. You are responsible for the people who die, get thrown into prison, or get wealth confiscated away from them as a result of a system of 51% majorities, executive signatures, and judges (in the pay of the same government that makes the laws) who decide not to challenge unprincipled behavior. You are consenting. You may not be physically holding the gun, the bombs, the prison cell keys, the baton, citation booklet, eviction notice, or the money printing press in your hand. Nevertheless you are wielding, sustaining, and legitimizing how they are used via your ballots, placards, and verbal political banter with your friends. By watching the commercials that support the agendas of these people, you are funding the perpetuation of their activities.
We are responsible for how we treat our fellow man. We have been told to treat others as we would have them treat us. If we wouldn’t personally go to a man’s home and take his money to fund your favorite community program, is it less wrong to vote for someone who will do the same thing?
It’s time that we woke up. It’s time that we opened our eyes when we read the scriptures. We’ve been told that the priesthood will save the Constitution because it will be hanging by a thread. Though I think that the Constitution is flawed in multiple ways, I’m glad that it can be amended. The time to save it is NOW.
I can only expect that when you e-mail everyone telling them that you are considering a certain candidate, you are expecting some sort of feedback.
My feedback is this: I’m not responsible for your decisions, thank goodness. However, if you vote for someone who seeks to take money from me, interfere with my God-mandated responsibility to act as a father and husband, or throw me in a prison cell or shoot me when I haven’t harmed anyone else, you become my enemy. You are using the coercive power of government without my consent against me. God will hold you responsible for the lives you affect adversely and he will bless you to have joy with the people whom you help Him to bless. Be it on the one hand or the other, you will be restored to that which you have earned by your actions.
In if in a democracy, you are only as free as your neighbor thinks you should be, then the only moral thing to do is to grant your neighbor freedom. Only then can you expect him to give you yours.
Observing what I have from the Book of Mormon, I’ve come to some definite conclusions and some half-conclusions that aren’t so definite as of yet. But from what I’ve shared with you today and many more things from the scriptures that I didn’t mention to you, the one great and definite realization that has dawned on me is this: I can no longer consent to evil.
JC Bollers is a Graduate Student in Marketing at Southern New Hampshire University, a BYU graduate and a member of the Free State Project. He is married to his sweetheart from his family’s original homeland, Guyana, with whom he has three children. JC served a mission in Brazil from 1999 – 2001.
