It would be well if we could all be aroused by circumstances brought to our attention into a state of alertness to the dangers and the situations confronting us. I believe, my brethren, that it is well for every one of us to consider that he has a definite personal responsibility to do his full duty in the Church, in the government to which we belong, in order to forestall some of these calamities that look to be in the offing.

Source: President Stephen L. Richards
General Conference, April 1952

Topics: Citizenship; Responsibility

Preservation of Freedom

In conclusion, I repeat that no greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the Church, upon all citizens of this Republic and of neighboring Republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.

Let us, by exercising our privileges under the Constitution–

(1) Preserve our right to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience,

(2) Preserve the right to work when and where we choose. No free man should be compelled to pay tribute in order to realize this God-given privilege. Read in the Doctrine and Covenants this statement:

. . . it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. (D&C 101:79.)

(3) Feel free to plan and to reap without the handicap of bureaucratic interference.

(4) Devote our time, means, and life if necessary, to hold inviolate those laws which will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.

To sum up this whole question: In these days of uncertainty and unrest, liberty-loving people’s greatest responsibility and paramount duty is to preserve and proclaim the freedom of the individual, his relationship to Deity, and, (repeating the message of our President, to which I subscribe with all my soul) the necessity of obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ — only thus will mankind find peace and happiness:

. . . If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32.)

Source: President David O. McKay
General Conference, April 1950

Topics: Responsibility

I pray that we, and all America, may hark back to our forebears in our American history, to those who gave us by the divine will of God the Constitution of the United States, and who saw in this government the grandeur that God himself wished, for the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are true.

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, October 1951

Topics: America, Heritage

Loyalty To Country

Finally, let us be true to our country and to our country’s ideals. Nearly three thousand years ago an ancient prophet said that this is a land choice above all other lands, and it is, and the government of the United States as given to us by our fathers is the real government under which individuals may exercise free agency, individual initiative.

Oh, let us oppose any subversive influence that would deprive us of our individual freedom or make this government a dictator instead of a servant to the people.

Source: President David O. McKay
General Conference, October 1951

Topics: America, Heritage; Free Agency

America, A Land Of Destiny

Let us look for a moment at one or two of the phases of freedom that are so important to us. Most of us believe that America is a promised land, a land of destiny, and so it is. But what is that destiny?

Anciently, the Lord made it known that the gospel would be restored in these last days; that it should come forth after a period of apostasy and that it should come forth upon this land of America. It was necessary that the gospel should come forth under a free form of government in order that the modern people of God could carry on their work without regimentation or restriction, and, therefore, God dedicated America to freedom.

When the Savior was among the Nephites, he predicted the coming forth of the Gentiles upon this land; he told about the coming forth of the gospel itself and said: “For it is wisdom in the Father that they [the Gentiles] should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things”—meaning the gospel principles—“might come forth from them,” that is, from the believing of the Gentiles, “unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel.” (Book of Mormon, III Nephi 21:4.)

Source: Elder Mark E. Petersen
General Conference, April 1946

Topics: America, Destiny

There are influences and movements and groups and organizations within the borders of the United States which today, if they could, would rob us all of our free agency.

Latter-day Saints, of all people, should stand firm in defense of freedom. Free agency has a special meaning to us. We know that without free agency there would be no progress. We all know that the gospel itself is based upon the principle of free agency. Yet there are some among us who have allowed themselves to slip to one side or the other, and they need to reorient themselves in line with the divine revelations we have received concerning the principle of freedom.

Source: Elder Mark E. Petersen
General Conference, April 1946

Topics: Free Agency

Self-Improvement

Looked at in this light—oneself as a beneficiary and division of labor as a benefactor—it becomes pertinent to re-examine one’s own behaviors, attitudes, actions. If we would best serve our individual self-interest, we would do well to live in harmony with the facts of life, not in disharmony with them.

Looked at in this light, one should do everything possible to increase his own perceptive and exchange powers. It is only by self-improvement that one can best serve self. And, clearly, it is only by self-improvement that one can better serve others—that is, add to someone else’s well-being.

Source: Leonard E. Read
Unearned Riches, The Freeman, December 1956, p.28

Topics: Responsibility

The Soundness Of Principles Of Self-help

Let us stand together on our own feet. Let us cooperate to accomplish these so-called material objectives. A sound agriculture is vital to the national economy. I like the words of that great Irish pioneer in cooperative effort, Horace Plunket, who labored for many years among the poor, down-ridden farmers of Ireland, when he said:

For the longer I live, the more certain do I become that what the best of governments can do for farmers is of insignificant importance compared with what, by carefully thought out and loyal cooperation, they can do for themselves.

Let us as Latter-day Saints stand on our own feet. Let us not be inclined to run to a paternalistic government for help when every problem arises, but to attack our problems jointly, and through effective cooperative effort, solve our problems at home.

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, October 1945

Topics: Government, Domestic Policy; Welfare

Good Government And Good Men

There has been running through my mind a statement by William Penn: “If men be good, government can not be bad.” At first I was inclined to challenge it seriously, as we are inclined to challenge all statements of broad generalization. I challenged it because I thought of all the exceptions to the rule. I thought of all the peoples, historically and also in the present, who had become captive peoples and oppressed peoples quite beyond their choice or their power to resist. I thought of all the straight-thinking minorities who have resisted the popular fallacies in every generation and in every country. But I became convinced, as I thought further through William Penn’s statement, that it had a broad and fundamental truth in it: “If men be good, government can not be bad”—in the long view of things, and admitting all the exceptions.

Source: Elder Richard L. Evans
General Conference, April 1945

Topics: Government, Good; Morality

•  ⟨⟨ 
•  ⟨ 
•   |  
•  ⟩ 
•  ⟩⟩