It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.

Source: H. L. Mencken

Topics: Government, Loss of Freedom; Government, Power; Government, Tyranny

Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.

Source: Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

Topics: Democracy

The concentrating [of powers] in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one.

Source: Thomas Jefferson

Topics: Government, Loss of Freedom; Government, Power; Government, Tyranny

Whether we recognize it or not, it is beliefs—the beliefs that get themselves accepted—that rule the world. Those beliefs may exalt a nation or drag it down to degeneracy and degradation depending upon their inherent quality. Ships and tanks and airplanes and guns, while necessary implements for waging physical warfare, are not the real source of a nation’s strength. Its strength lies in the basic integrity of its people and that depends upon the beliefs they cherish which fashion their lives.

Source: Albert E. Bowen
General Conference, October 1945

Topics: Morality

I reaffirm before you here today of my faith that the Lord God continues to govern the affairs of his children. His law must be the foundation on which all law is based. We must be willing to support, defend, and live in harmony with his divine law.

Source: L. Tom Perry
General Conference, October 1975

Topics: Heavenly Interest in Human Events

Man is superior to government and should remain master over it.

Source: Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, October 1968

Topics: Government, Limited

The Role of Government

[The individual] is not just a cog in the wheel of the state. To be such I think is the greatest danger in the world today, but there are those who favor this. They think the state is our protector. It isn’t. The state, as a servant, is here to protect you in your work, on your farm and in your business, and to see that justice is administered; you have a right to that protection.

But the state has not anything that you do not give it.

The government has no financial means but that which you give it, and we give it to the government so that it will protect each individual in his right.

While emphasizing the worth of the individual, I wish to say that the individual in turn owes a duty to society. The world today is demanding that the employer consider his employee not merely as a part of a machine to make money, but as a living, sensitive being entitled to justice and right. It is equally obligatory upon the employee to recognize the employer as one who has equal privileges. It is the duty of the citizen to take this same attitude toward the leaders of his government, and the duty of the churchman to recognize the rights of those appointed to preside. [Secrets of a Happy Life, comp. Llewelyn R. McKay (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1967), p. 61]

Source: David O. McKay

Topics: Government; Rights; Society

I believe with others that government, institutions, and organizations exist primarily for the purpose of securing to the individual his rights, his happiness, and proper development of his character. When organizations fail to accomplish this purpose, their usefulness ends. “So act,” says Kant, “as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, in every case as an end, never as a means only.”

In all ages of the world men have been prone to ignore the personality of others, to disregard men’s rights by closing against them the opportunity to develop. The worth of man is a good measuring rod by which we may judge the rightfulness or the wrongfulness of a policy or principle, whether in government, in business, or in social activities.

Source: David O McKay
General Conference, October 1962

Topics: Rights

We are placed on this earth to work and the earth will give us a living. . . . It is our duty to strive to till the earth, subdue matter, conquer the glebe, take care of the flocks and the herds. It is the government’s duty to see that you are protected in it, and no other man has the right to deprive you of any of your privileges. But it is not the government’s duty to support you.

I shall raise my voice as long as God gives me sound or ability, against the communistic idea that the government will take care of us all, and that everything belongs to the government. . . .

It is wrong! No wonder in trying to perpetuate that idea, that men become anti-Christ, because those teachings strike directly at the doctrines of the Savior.

No government owes you a living. . . . You get it yourself by your own acts—never by trespassing upon the rights of your neighbor, never by cheating him. You put a blemish upon your character the moment you do.

Source: David O. McKay
Church News, 14 Mar. 1953, pp. 4, 15.

Topics: Communism; Responsibility; Welfare

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