One Nation Under God

I was in the middle of writing something education related; it will have to wait until I gather another couple of details. And I’m anxious to write about the Supreme Court rulings; ‘tis the season. Maybe next week.

For now, I’m just trying to celebrate our country’s birthday, this coming Tuesday. Most nations don’t have birthdays to speak of. Most nations are based on land, heritage, or result of war—either separating them as conqueror or bringing them in as conquered.

A 4th of July teaching moment, enough years
ago that my granddaughter isn't little anymore.

But our nation was founded on the idea that we are all created equal, not with some created rulers and others created to be ruled. We were all endowed by our creator "with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

All of these come down to life. It is ours, our gift from God. If someone takes our liberty, they are taking our life for their purposes, not ours. If someone tries to control how we live our lives—how we pursue happiness—that is usurping control over our lives. And that is wrong.

We are free to choose how to live our lives—and in the end we offer up the result of those choices, like in the parable of the talents, when the ruler (God) comes for a reckoning, and the good and faithful servants offer the doubling of the good they were given. They made something of their lives, offering Him the result.

Our nation is founded on that idea. It requires a connection to God. Unbelievers may live here among us, but they must not be allowed to take away our founding idea, or they are taking away our very nation—along with the life, liberty, and fruits of our living that the government was established to protect and defend.

Our government hasn’t done so well, these 247 years in—that’s since the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, so, our birthday; it was 1787, 236 years ago, that the Constitution was written, and a year later ratified.

Maybe we need to take some time, with family or by ourselves, to reverence these founding documents.

Abraham Lincoln, in a note to himself[i], used the image of a golden apple in a silver frame. The golden apple is the Declaration of Independence—the declaration of our right to rule ourselves, because God has made us all equal before the law. This golden apple is framed by the Constitution—the purposes of government, to protect the life, liberty, and property of the citizens. This image works to illustrate the close connection between these two documents.

image from The Ashbrook Center article Lincoln's Apple of Gold

You might want to take time this weekend to read the Declaration of Independence—even with all the grievances; it takes five or ten minutes. It takes a bit longer to go through the Constitution, although it’s certainly readable in less than an hour, amendments and all.

Maybe it’s time to read The Federalist Papers once again as well. And while you’re at it, take a look at the Anti-Federalist Papers; those were the warning voices saying, “Don’t give that much power to a central government; it will go wrong.” They are probably saying “I told you so about now.” Although I still think we had to try the experiment. It isn’t that our Constitution wasn’t the right balance of centralized and localized power; that balance is spelled out quite clearly. It is that the Constitution has been ignored, twisted to mean something altogether other, and even denigrated as archaic or never good to begin with. And who says those things about it? People who want to control other people, petty tyrants all.

So the prevention is for a critical mass to understand, to know inside and out, the discussions our founders had in freeing us from tyranny and setting the stage for the rest of the world to try self rule.

It is likely that the founders of this nation were the best assemblage of men ever to attempt to write a government document.

A friend passed along to me a talk by Ezra Taft Benson, from 1987. I’ve heard it multiple times; I heard it live. (He was the prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during my young adult years. He was also at one time the US Secretary of Agriculture. Not to be missed is his address “The Proper Role of Government.”) This talk is called “Our Divine Constitution.”

Ezra Taft Benson, giving the talk "Our Divine Constitution"
screenshot from here

I encourage you to listen to the whole thing. There are just a few parts I want to reference. One is a reminder of what some of the signers of our Declaration of Independence sacrificed:

This Declaration was a promise that would demand terrible sacrifice on the part of its signers. Five of the signers were captured as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War; another had two sons captured. Nine died from wounds or from the hardships of the war.

Then he talks about the followup and necessary document—the Constitution:

Between the critical years of 1783 and 1787, an outsider viewing the affairs of the United States would have thought that the thirteen states, different in so many ways, could never effectively unite. The world powers were confident that this nation would not last.

Eventually, twelve of the states met in Philadelphia to address the problem.

It took four months—summer months, inside, before air conditioning. That wasn’t quite the sacrifice of war, but it must have stretched patience pretty thin. As William Gladstone said, the Constitution was “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”[ii]

Ezra Taft Benson goes on to talk about the danger our Constitution is in; this was 1987, and it did seem bad then. But now—those concerns are increased a hundred-fold. He says,

How then can we best befriend the Constitution in this critical hour and secure the blessings of liberty and ensure the protection and guidance of our Father in Heaven?

·       First and foremost, we must be righteous….

·       Second, we must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers….

·       Third, we must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented….

·        Fourth, we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice.

Ezra Taft Benson mentions a prophecy of Joseph Smith[iii], from July 1840, that there would come a day when the Constitution is in grave danger. But Benson says,

I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. It will be saved by the righteous citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by enlightened members of this Church—among others—men and women who understand and abide the principles of the Constitution.

I reverence the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document. To me its words are akin to the revelations of God, for God has placed His stamp of approval upon it.

Prayers are more urgent this year, as we celebrate our beloved nation’s birthday—with concern and hope that it will not be the last such celebration. May we be the righteous men and women who understand and abide by the principles of the Constitution. May each of us do our part—and, with God’s help, may it be enough.

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[i] See “Lincoln’s Apple of Gold,” January 25, 2023, on the Ashbrook Institute website. 

[ii] William Gladstone, North American Review, Sept.–Oct. 1878, p. 185.

[iii] Benson gives the whole quote in the talk: “Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.” The citation is 19 July 1840, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; ms. in Church Historian’s Office, Salt Lake City.

Resistance Is Necessary

“See, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom. But what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they’re going to welcome us back with open arms.”—from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7

That’s what the Empire official says to the Mandalorian and his companion, who are disguised as delivery drivers among the guy’s troops. This is what he says just before getting blasted, which felt rather satisfying—because it’s what the enemy says. To us today.

Characters in The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7
The officer I quoted in on the left.
image found here

Here are a couple more quotes for the day:

“There’s no such thing as party anymore. There’s just insanity and patriots.”—Tommy Vext, vocalist of Bad Wolves, talking with Glenn Beck on radio/podcast, Dec. 18, 2020. 

 

“You have political partisanship….This isn’t them saying fraud didn’t take place; this is them saying they don’t care that fraud took place.”—Joshua Philipp, Crossroads, December 21, 2020. 

 

What We Should Do

Ezra Taft Benson, giving the address
"Our Divine Constitution," Oct. 1987
screenshot from here

This week I reread an old talk by Ezra Taft Benson, from October 1987, called “Our Divine Constitution,” which I thought might be good advice for our day. For those who need a reminder, Ezra Taft Benson was once the US Secretary of Agriculture, during the Eisenhower administration. And I quote him here fairly often  for his address “The Proper Role of Government,” and also his “The Case for the Free Market.” He also was the president and prophet of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during my early adulthood, 1985 to 1994.

There is an older prophecy he mentions in this 1987 talk that members of my Church are familiar with, and probably thinking about these days, quoting our Church founder, Joseph Smith:

Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.[i]

Later in the talk, President Benson mentions more broadly who “this people” who save the day will be:

I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. It will be saved by the righteous citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by enlightened members of this Church—among others—men and women who understand and abide the principles of the Constitution.

Today, while we are on the precipice, this is encouraging. I see many Constitution-loving people around me. Last week, at the county GOP leadership meeting, where we chose a new chair, we met in a church (a big one where we could spread out), and prayed at the beginning and end of the meeting. On Saturday, at the first local Tea Party meeting we’ve held since the pandemic shut down last spring, the room was full of people searching for what action to take, to preserve our freedoms. It is heartening.

President Benson, back in 1987, mentioned four things we ought to be doing:

“First and foremost, we must be righteous.” He quotes John Adams:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”[ii]

“Second, we must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers.” He asks:

Have we read The Federalist papers? Are we reading the Constitution and pondering it? Are we aware of its principles? Are we abiding by these principles and teaching them to others? Could we defend the Constitution? Can we recognize when a law is constitutionally unsound? Do we know what the prophets have said about the Constitution and the threats to it?

And he quotes Thomas Jefferson:

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be”[iii]

“Third, we must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented.” Here he reminds us that we should seek representatives who are good, wise, and honest.

“Fourth, we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice.” He says it is both our right and our duty to speak up and make our influence felt.

All of this gave me a boost. So often I, and people like me, feel small and inconsequential, with these big things happening around us—happening to us. How can our small efforts have any effect? But I do try to live a righteous life—keeping the Ten Commandments, to honor God, life, family, truth, and private property. And to be just and kind and live a life of integrity. And I have made a study of the Constitution an integral part of my life. (Read my recent series of posts on the Constitution, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.) I am involved in civic affairs. And I am doing what I can see to do to persuade others to truth, to help them value our Constitution as well. As small as all of these things are, President Benson’s words make me feel powerful enough—when added to all the others doing the same, and multiplied by God’s power.

When God rescues us, after all we can do, it often feels like the last possible moment. It requires faith. This may be the case right now. Our country is facing an attempted coup, through election fraud, by people who do not value the rule of law or the Constitution, but value only their own power over us.

I had thought once the fraud came out, the perpetrators would be held accountable, and the actual election outcome would be known. We’re seeing overwhelming evidence, but the courts are refusing to see it. Hearings in various states have revealed much of the fraud to the public, despite media censorship, but the state legislatures did not hold sessions to change out electors. They did, however, encourage dueling electors. That puts the burden on Congress, when they meet for the reading of the Elector College votes on January 6^th. They can object to the certified Electors in those states with challenges, which should not have been certified.

But will the legislators do their duty? I don’t know. It may take our voices to get them to do that.

Rep. Mo Brooks, Alabama, plans to protest Electors
Washington Examiner photo found here

Letter to Legislators

I’m going to suggest a letter meant to influence, and you can use it as a pattern if you like. This is concerning the January 6th certification of electors, to influence our legislators to stand up in protest against the Democratic electors in those states where we know the voter fraud was so rampant that it changed the outcome.

Here’s the body of my letter to Senator Ted Cruz, which I’ll adapt for Senator John Cornyn and Representative Dan Crenshaw. Feel free to use it as a template for your own:

The evidence is overwhelming that there was rampant voter fraud this election, particularly in the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada, where we know the outcome was changed by this fraud.

I know that you’re aware of the evidence—despite the refusal of courts to do their duty and view the evidence, and despite the censorship of mainstream and social media. You were aware of the Texas case, which laid out many of the instances of fraud and procedural lawbreaking. And I expect you’ve also read the Navarro report, which details much of it.

This lawlessness is far beyond what the American people can accept. We cannot let this blatant disregard for law and for the will of the American people, be met with a shrug and an “Oh, Well. We’ll just work harder next time.” If there is no accountability for these illegal acts now, we will not have a next time for a free and fair election.

In addition, those who have conspired and acted to thwart the will of the American people will act unconstitutionally in the future. They do not regard our Constitution as law. They plan to implement tyranny over us. The censorship we’ve already experienced is just a taste. This is an attempted coup. Many of the wrongdoers are guilty of treason, not just some slap-on-the-wrist type of technical illegality.

Fortunately, our founders provided a process for handling an illegal election, and this will not be the first time it must be used. Since we are without recourse through the courts, and state legislatures have not met to replace their electors—but since the six states listed, plus New Mexico, have put forward alternative slates of electors, it is now your constitutional duty, on January 6^th, to prevent the presidency from being stolen: protest the Democrat electors—each elector individually, and/or each state slate, whichever will be most advantageous to our cause—for those seven states with dueling electors.

Know that the American people, in great numbers and I believe a vast majority, voted to retain our freedoms. This is much more than a contest between two presidential candidates; it is a contest between our Constitutional Republic and imposed tyranny by a corrupt minority.

The people chose our Constitutional Republic, but we need you to represent us in that choice. We will cheer you on that day and all subsequent days that we are able to keep our country.

 

This looks ever more like the last minute. But if not, there will be more. There is talk of appointing a Special Counsel, which would not be subject to courts granting standing or not at their whim. And at any point that wrongdoing is found, it can be acted on—if the people will it—up to and even after inauguration day. 

When Obama won in what we assumed was a reasonably fair election, we accepted him as our president. When Trump won in 2016 by enough votes that any attempts to steal the election failed, the enemies of our Constitution did not accept the result. They worked continuously to oust him. This election is an ultimate attempt; it is a coup. They may claim that it is Trump they hate, but what they really hate is the US Constitution; the American people who support the Constitution; and the freedom, prosperity, and civilization that result from following its principles.

This is a battle between good and evil. And we have to keep fighting that battle, in whatever way we can, up until God returns to decisively win that war.

 

Sources for Your Further Research

·         “Our Divine Constitution” by Ezra Taft Benson, October General Conference 1987, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

·         “Trump: ‘We’re Getting Closer and Closer’ to Successful Challenge to Election Results” by Zachary Stieber for The Epoch Times, Dec. 21, 2020. 

·         “Live Q&A: Trump Says Gaining Ground to Challenge 2020 Election Results” Crossroads with Joshua Philipp, Dec. 21, 2020. 

·         “'This Country's Fabric Is Being Torn Apart'—Exclusive Interview With L. Lin Wood” Crossroads with Joshua Philipp, Dec. 21, 2020. 

·         “Mo Brooks and 18 Republicans send letter to Congress demanding election fraud hearings before electoral vote count” by Andrew Mark Miller for The Washington Examiner, Dec. 17, 2020. 

·         “Rep.-elect Cawthorn Joins Group Planning to Contest Election on Jan. 6” by Zachary Stieber for The Epoch Times, Dec. 21, 2020. 

·         “SolarWinds Cyber Attack, Peter Navarro Election Irregularity Report, Congress' Election Objections” Robert F. Gruler for R&R Law Group, Dec. 18, 2020. 

·         “YouTube Removes Trump Lawyer’s Opening Statement from Senate Committee Hearing” by Jack Phillips for The Epoch Times, Dec. 20, 2020. 

·         “WATCH: Sen. Judiciary Cmte. Hears Testimony about IG report on FBI, DOJ and email probe” PBS News Hour, Dec.18, 2020. 

·         “Biden: The Manchurian President” by Michael P. Tremoglie for The Houston Courant, Dec. 17, 2020. 

·         “Tommy Vext Breaks Down BLM Ownership & Says Racism Is Manufactured” June 15, 2020. 

·         “Why I Will Not Accept Joe Biden as President” by Newt Gingrich for The Washington Times, Dec. 21, 2020. 

·         “IMF Proposes Punishing Dissidents by Lowering Their Credit Score if They Go to Bad Websites” by Shane Trejo for Big League Economics, Dec. 18, 2020. 

·         “DOCUMENT: Forget the War on Christmas, YOU Are the Next Target” Glenn Beck staff, Dec. 17, 2020. 

o   “Restoring Constitutional Secularism and Patriotic Pluralism in the White House” document from Secular Democrats of America, Nov. 2020.     

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[i] Quoting Joseph Smith, July 19, 1840, as recorded by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray; ms. in Church Historian’s Office, Salt Lake City.

[ii] The Works of John Adams, ed. C. F. Adams, Boston: Little, Brown Co., 1851, 4:31.

[iii] Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, 6 Jan. 1816.

Freedom and Religion Are Connected

We worked an election on Saturday. The only thing on our ballot was a school district bond election (an astounding $1.76 billion). It won, of course, with 70% of the votes. But only 4.6% of registered voters voted (10,499 for and 4,544 against). So I could talk about education, or property taxes, but I think I'll forego.

This was our first countywide election on a voting day (early voting has always been countywide). Several voting places were combined, and our alternate judge was an experienced judge and very good to work with. He was an older black man, a retired police officer, and a faithful Catholic. We had pleasant conversations with him.

It’s not surprising that a he’s part of the 90% of blacks who vote Democrat. But, getting to know him, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be happy voting for any of the pro-socialism candidates for President in their primary.

We have so much in common with other religious people. I hope at some point that translates into voting to protect our Constitution. The Blexit movement is underway, but so far aiming mostly at younger voters.

Neal A. Maxwell
image from here

Anyway, I’m thinking about religion and freedom, and how they interrelate, as I share some nuggets from my quote file today. This first one is from Neal A. Maxwell, whose language is something I have always admired. I’m currently reading his biography. Anyway, this is from a talk in 1978.

We are now entering a period of incredible ironies. Let us cite but one of these ironies which is yet in its subtle stages: we shall see in our time a maximum if indirect effort made to establish irreligion as the state religion. It is actually a new form of paganism that uses the carefully preserved and cultivated freedoms of Western civilization to shrink freedom even as it rejects the value essence of our rich Judeo-Christian heritage.

Brothers and sisters, irreligion as the state religion would be the worst of all combinations. Its orthodoxy would be insistent and its inquisitors inevitable. Its paid ministry would be numerous beyond belief. Its Caesars would be insufferably condescending. Its majorities—when faced with clear alternatives—would make the Barabbas choice, as did a mob centuries ago when Pilate confronted them with the need to decide.

Your discipleship may see the time come when religious convictions are heavily discounted. M. J. Sobran also observed, “A religious conviction is now a second-class conviction, expected to step deferentially to the back of the secular bus, and not to get uppity about it” (Human Life Review, Summer 1978, p. 58). This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain of people’s opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will soon be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.—Neal A. Maxwell, “Meeting the Challenges of Today,” October 1978 

Religion and Liberty are the two great objects of defensive war. Conjoined, they unite all the feelings, and call forth all the energies, of man…. Religion and liberty are the meat and the drink of the body politic. Withdraw one of them, and it languishes, consumes, and dies. If indifference to either at any time becomes the prevailing character of a people, one half of their motives to vigorous defense is lost, and the hopes of their enemies are proportionally increased. Here, eminently, they are inseparable. Without religion we may possibly retain the freedom of savages, bears, and wolves; but not the freedom of New-England. If our religion were gone, our state of society would perish with it; and nothing would be left, which would be worth defending. —Timothy Dwight, President of Yale University, “The Duty of Americans, at the Present Crisis,” July 4, 1798

No compact among men… can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.—George Washington, draft of First Inaugural Address, April 1798

Heaven knows the proper price to attach to something so celestial as freedom.— Thomas Payne

It was through and by the power of God, that the fathers of this country framed the Declaration of Independence, and also that great palladium of human rights, the Constitution of the United States. There is nothing of a bigoted, narrow-contracted feeling about that instrument; it is broad and comprehensive.—John Taylor, The Constitution Is an Inspired Document, p. 644

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.—John Adams[i], 1770

David O. McKay
image from here

If I speak plainly, and in condemnation lay bare reprehensible practices and aims of certain organizations, please do not think that I harbor ill-will or enmity in my heart towards other United States citizens whose views on political policies do not coincide with mine. But when acts and schemes are manifestly contrary to the revealed word of the Lord, we feel justified in warning people against them. We may be charitable and forbearing to the sinner, but must condemn the sin.—David O. McKay, “Jesus’ Prayer for Unity,” General Conference, October 1939

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.—Thomas Jefferson

The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from its government.—Thomas Payne

It has been fundamental to our way of life that charity must be voluntary if it is to be charity. Compulsory benevolence is not charity. Today’s egalitarians are using the federal government to redistribute wealth in our society, not as a matter of voluntary charity, but as a matter of right.—Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure, p. 91

You cannot stop a decades-long march toward a socialist and authoritarian state if the family breaks down. Those who say we need to maintain a laser focus on government spending miss the forest for the trees, or refuse to accept what the Founders embraced. If we balance the budget and rein in government but do not rebuild and protect families, then the popular will for government intervention will irresistibly grow over time.—Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski, Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America

Freedom and religion endure together or perish alone.—Mitt Romney, “Faith in America” speech, December 6, 2007

‎The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet” and “Thou shalt not steal” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.—John Adams, “Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States,” 1787

Basing state policy on relative measures devolves into covetousness.

—Bill Flax, “Don’t Like Handouts? Neither Does the Bible,” December 12, 2011 

And as ’tis folly to suppose that princes will always be wise, just and good, when we know that few have been able alone to bear the weight of a government, or to resist the temptations to ill, that accompany an unlimited power, it would be madness to presume they will for the future be free from infirmities and vices....

If the public safety be provided, liberty and propriety secured, justice administered, virtue encouraged, vice suppressed, and the true interest of the nation advanced, the ends of government are accomplished;--Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government, pp. 319-320

Thus, the central problem of government, is a religious one, and anyone who assumes he can form his political beliefs without consulting his ethics, which have their basis in religious conviction, is deceiving himself either about the true nature of government, or his moral responsibility for its actions.—Elder H. Verlan Andersen, Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen

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[i] John Adams said this, in defense of British soldiers following the Boston Massacre. However, it is also credited to Tobias George Smollett, who in turn was translating a work, Gil Blas, from French author Alain-René Lesage. The phrase may predate all of these. 

Words on Liberty

I was looking through the quote file, to see what I’d been adding lately. There were quite a number of quotes about freedom, the Constitution, and how those are both gifts from God. I get quotes from all over, but these I'm going to share, with a few exceptions, are from leaders of my religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s a worldwide church, with more members living outside the US than in it. But the words apply to all people anywhere in the world who wish to live free and happy lives. Religion has to speak up, because it takes a good people to choose to live freely. And the evidence is that God wants us all to move away from tyranny, poverty, and savagery, so we can enjoy freedom, prosperity,and civilization.

[Satan] plans to destroy liberty and freedom—economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods.—Heber J. Grant, General Conference, October 1942

There has been a tendency among some Latter-day Saints, even when the Constitution is mentioned, to say, “There he goes talking politics.” I am not talking politics. I am quoting the words of the Lord. Certainly, it is not meet that we should bring politics into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but just as certainly, it is meet that every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints take the doctrine of Christ into his politics, and that he evaluate every candidate and every platform under any and every political banner in the terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ. —Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, April 1946

If we are content to let others do the work of replenishing and defending liberty while we consume the benefits, we will someday run out of other people’s willingness to sacrifice—or even out of courageous people willing to make the sacrifice.—Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas

The building of public sentiment begins with a few earnest voices. I am not one to advocate shouting defiantly or shaking fists and issuing threats in the faces of legislators. But I am one who believes that we should earnestly and sincerely and positively express our convictions to those given the heavy responsibility of making and enforcing our laws. The sad fact is that the minority who call for greater liberalization, who peddle and devour pornography, who encourage and feed on licentious display make their voices heard until those in our legislatures may come to believe that what they say represents the will of the majority. We are not likely to get that which we do not speak up for.—Gordon B. Hinckley, “In Opposition to Evil,” Ensign, September 2004

What goes unappreciated is just why America's leftists' movement attacks the Founders. If they can delegitimize the Founders themselves, it goes a long way toward their agenda of delegitimizing the founding principles of our nation. If the leftists can convince the nation that men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were good-for-nothing slave-owning racists, then their ideas can be more easily trashed.—Walter Williams, 10-28-2017, “Undermining America”

The Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments.—George Albert Smith, General Conference, April 1948.

Unless we members of the Church do all we can to preserve the freedoms we have, within the bounds of the laws of God, we will be held accountable.—Joseph Smith, Principles of the Gospel, pp. 135-136, pp. 146-147, published 1991

Unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God of losing our exaltation.—Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference, April 1976

The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.—Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.—Anne Frank, Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl

Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.—Alexis de Tocqueville

If we are content to let others do the work of replenishing and defending liberty while we consume the benefits, we will someday run out of other people’s willingness to sacrifice—or even out of courageous people willing to make the sacrifice.—Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas

Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.—C. S. Lewis

Quote File Sampling

The Spherical Model quote file keeps growing. The Fourth of July got me thinking, even more than usual, about how the political, economic, and social spheres all interrelate. So, with that in mind, here’s another sampling from the quote file:

"Declaration of Independence"
painting by John Trumbull

You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration [of Independence], and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.—John Adams, July 3, 1776

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

—Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776

Happiness, whether in despotism or democracy, whether in slavery or liberty, can never be found without virtue.—John Adams

All the principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make or invent or contrive principles. He can only discover them, and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.—Thomas Paine

Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life.—Dwight D. Eisenhower

No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.—Samuel Adams

This is still God’s world. The forces of evil, working through some mortals, have made a mess of a good part of it. But it is still God’s world. In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove ourselves—including whether or not we are going to stand up for freedom—God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency.

And then shall those complacent people on the sidelines, and those who took the wrong but temporarily popular course, lament their decisions.

To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look.

Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul—and maybe your country.—Ezra Taft Benson

Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but that same Christ will rise up and split history into A.D. and B.C., so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name. Yes, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”—Martin Luther King, Jr. (quoting 19th Century abolitionist Theodore Parker)

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." — G.K. Chesterton

No enactment of man can be considered law, unless it conforms to the law of God.—William Blackstone

The only way we can keep our freedom is to work at it. Not some of us. All of us. Not some of the time, but all of the time. So if you value your citizenship and you want to keep it for yourself and your children and their children, give it your faith, your belief, and give it your active support in civic affairs.—Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 405; from an address given at the Rotary Club, SLC, UT, June 8, 1976