In the United States as soon as a man has acquired some education and pecuniary resources, he either endeavors to get rich by commerce or industry, or he buys land in the bush and turns pioneer. All that he asks of the State is not to be disturbed in his toil, and to be secure of his earnings. Amongst the greater part of European nations, when a man begins to feel his strength and to extend his desires, the first thing that occurs to him is to get some public employment. These opposite effects, originating in the same cause, deserve our passing notice.

Source: Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracy in America, volume 2, chapter 20

Topics: Education

...one of the Fifth Amendment’s “basic functions ... is to protect innocent men ... ‘who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.’”. In Grunewald, we recognized that truthful responses of an innocent witness, as well as those of a wrongdoer, may provide the government with incriminating evidence from the speaker’s own mouth.

Source: US Supreme Court
Ohio v. Reiner, 532 U.S. 17.20 (2001)

Topics: Uncategorized

May the Lord bless this great work in which we are engaged, and fit and prepare us for the great events which I believe are pending in the world, and which are in progress—revolutionary changes, changes all over the world. I have no sympathy with the anti-Christian socialism of Russia, or of Europe, but the time is coming when the Latter-day Saints will have impressed upon them more and more, and we will see more clearly, the beauties of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been revealed in these the last days, and will sense the responsibility that is upon us. May we realize it.

Source: Elder James H. Moyle
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Uncategorized

All Things In Common

There are others who advocate the principle of having all things in common. That is a very fine doctrine. Any group that can subscribe to it wholeheartedly, labor unitedly, wisely and diligently for the welfare of the whole, and maintain loyalty, altruism and kindliness constantly, can doubtless succeed in developing a splendid community. But it requires all of these qualities. There needs to be entire banishment of envy and greed from the hearts of those who would undertake it. How many are able to maintain the unselfishness necessary to bring about such a desirable condition?

Then, there is the doctrine of communism, which is more extreme. Under such a system the properties of others might be forcibly taken for its adherents, and control exercised in all matters pertaining to labor, religion, and social relations. Some English writer, in a satirical mood, has given the following definition of communism in the extreme:

“What is a communist? One who has yearnings For an equal division of unequal earnings; Sluggard or scoundrel, or both, he is willing To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling.”

Such a description may not apply to many people, but it does apply to some who are selfish and covetous in their desires, and are not willing to do their part in helping to earn and to promote the welfare of the entire community.

Source: Elder Sylvester Q. Cannon
General Conference, October 1931

Topics: Uncategorized

Panaceas Suggested

Many panaceas have been suggested to avoid the recurrence of such conditions as prevail at present. Some are constructive; others are destructive. Some proposals are altruistic in nature; others are utterly selfish. There are those who would forcibly and unlawfully take the property of others in violation of the rights guaranteed to all citizens under the Constitution. Naturally, the representatives of the people in Congress can, with the approval of the President, proceed to change the laws wherever necessary to protect the citizens as a whole from improper aggrandizement of property by a few, and to promote the general welfare. You cannot legislate righteousness into people, but you can and should bring about, through the law-enforcing agencies general respect for and observance of law.

Source: Elder Sylvester Q. Cannon
General Conference, October 1931

Topics: Uncategorized

I remember hearing a story told of a brother down in St. George, when they tried, in a small way, the United Order there. Some of the people had taken care of their grapes and made a little home made wine; but this brother had not. He had been careless and negligent. When the Order came, the wine was shared out, passed around, and each one took his share; and I remember the story of him saying: “Hey! This order is a fine thing”—he was an English brother; he says, “I tell you, I could wish this were come twenty years since.” Of course he would have been drinking somebody else’s wine and living off of somebody else’s labor twenty years before that, if it had come. Salvation does not come that way. The United Order will not bring things that way. It does not mean a long table and every one eating the same kind of food, and every one living in the same kind of house. The United Order when it does come, I think, will mean individuality, personal effort, personal salvation, with you in your stewardship, me in mine, every man appointed in his place to work in his stewardship. Then the surplus will go for those who are not so well situated, and who need help. They will be taken and directed, “Here, my brother, you take this little plot of ground,” or “You take this little part of business. Here is means enough for you and you develop it, make it grow, keep it out of debt, and work at it.” And then he will develop it, don’t you see? But if, according to the idea of some of our friends, that all you need to do is to divide and to keep on dividing, why of course they could wish that kind of a thing were here a long while before.

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, April 1914

Topics: Uncategorized

I met a brother some time ago who was quite prominent in the community where he lived, and he had organized a little socialistic party, which, I suppose, from a political standpoint, he had a right to do; but he told me that all the people ought to be socialists, for the reason that socialism, he said, is the United Order, and the more we can get to join the Socialist party the easier it will be to establish the United Order when the time comes. I had to ask him if he was so blind as to believe that after God has revealed the Principles of the United Order, and the people are not prepared to carry them out, you can go to some institution of the world and find those principles and exemplify them for the benefit of mankind. I told him that no matter how near the world come to the theories of the Gospel, no matter how much they try to establish them, without the Spirit of the Gospel and the authority of the Holy Priesthood they never can carry them out, worlds without end. Humanity is too selfish to carry out these great laws of God. The disposition of the world to accept some of the theories and doctrines of the Gospel as enunciated by the Prophet Joseph Smith over 70 years ago, is designed by the adversary as a delusion more than anything else.

Source: Elder Matthias F. Cowley
General Conference, October 1903

Topics: Socialism; United Order

As we watch our government hopelessly grapple with the mighty problems of the day, perhaps we should take a look at the way the Lord would handle the problems of our day. The world in general works on the effects and results of the problem while the Lord zeroes in on the root and the causes. The Lord advocates preventive measures, while man attacks the problems after they have arisen. Man's answer to crime is better law enforcement, bigger and better locks on doors, bigger and better prisons, bigger and better rehabilitation and bigger and better arms and weapons. But the Lord's answer is to love your neighbor as yourself and do good to others as you would have them do to you.

Man's answer to poverty is public welfare through food stamps, loans, guaranteed income, publicly financed housing, and other things. The Lord's answer is to teach self-reliance, to help people help themselves. Man's answer to the problem of immorality is birth control pills, homes for unwed mothers, venereal disease clinics, sex education, and divorce counselors. The Lord's answer is to teach the virtues of chastity, love, and purity. The Lord's approach to problems and his approach to resolving them probably would not make headlines or the six o'clock news; but nevertheless, his approach would solve our nation's problems as well as the world's problems and it would revolutionize our world.

Source: Elder George P. Lee
General Conference, October 1980

Topics: Welfare

What is the real cause of this trend toward the welfare state, toward more socialism? In the last analysis, in my judgment, it is personal unrighteousness. When people do not use their freedoms responsibly and righteously, they will gradually lose these freedoms. . . .

If man will not recognize the inequalities around him and voluntarily, through the gospel plan, come to the aid of his brother, he will find that through “a democratic process” he will be forced to come to the aid of his brother. The government will take from the “haves” and give to the “have nots.” Both have last their freedom. Those who “have,” lost their freedom to give voluntarily of their own free will and in the way they desire. Those who “have not,” lost their freedom because they did not earn what they received. They got “something for nothing,” and they will neither appreciate the gift nor the giver of the gift.

Under this climate, people gradually become blind to what has happened and to the vital freedoms which they have lost.”

Source: Howard W. Hunter
“The Law of the Harvest.”
Speeches of the Year, 1965-1966, pp. 1-11, Devotional Address, Brigham Young University, 8 March 1966.

Topics: Government, Wealth Transfer; Righteousness; Socialism; Welfare

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