The Will of the Majority

There is a principle lying at the very foundation of this Church, and it is at the foundation of this government as well, for in the laying of the foundation of this government it was conceded that it would be impossible for us to go forward unless it was agreed that the will of the majority, expressed in law, must be regarded as the rule governing the conduct of the minority as well. Hence our Constitution came into existence.

It is so in this Church. No man is muzzled. President Grant does not muzzle his brethren. He seeks for all the light and wisdom that they have. But there is also a rule that when we reach a conclusion the decision of the majority obtains, and it is the duty of the minority, either in the government or in this great American church that is also builded upon this same glorious principle, that we obey the will of the majority expressed in law.

Source: Elder Melvin J. Ballard
General Conference, October 1934

Topics: Democracy

First Great Lesson In Americanism

I remember that the first great lesson in Americanism I received was in the first great campaign under statehood in Utah, when we were in a presidential election. I recall how my father, a leader of one of the parties here, had been urgently recommending and doing everything in his power to get his candidate elected, but he was defeated. I recall the practice of my father to always pray as earnestly for the President of the United States as for the President of the Church. Now, the morning of the inauguration of this successful president, who was not my father’s candidate, it was my father’s turn to pray and I was watching. But to my astonishment he prayed more earnestly for that man than he had ever prayed for a president before; and I said: “Father, you surely forgot yourself this morning. You did not intend to pray for that fellow. You did not vote for him. You did not want him. You thought your man would be a better president.” He said: “I certainly did not forget. It is true I thought my man would have been a better president, and I still think so, but the majority of the people did not agree with me; and the majority of the people having spoken he is now my President, and I am going to support him as though I had voted for him; and pray for him, yes. And he will need my prayers much more than the other fellow would have needed them.”

Source: Elder Melvin J. Ballard
General Conference, October 1934

Topics: Citizenship

In The Hands Of God

Don’t worry about the future of the Church. It is in the hands of the Almighty. Don’t worry about the future of the Government. That, too, is in the hands of God, and he will guide it and direct it aright, and carry it forward until it, too, shall find its glorious mission. God speed his cause on. Wars, yes, and bloodshed will come, and thrones will totter, but out of every conflict will come the onward progress of truth and righteousness in the preparation of this world for its golden age, for the coming of the Son of God!

Source: Elder Melvin J. Ballard
General Conference, October 1934

Topics: Heavenly Interest in Human Events

The day was, years ago, when to be classed as a good Mormon was to be classed as a man who paid his debts. Let us, wherein we may have failed in the past to live up to that record, make up our minds that we are going to live up to it again in the future.

Source: President Heber J. Grant
General Conference, October 1934

Topics: Debt

Some eighty years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States in Savings and Loan Association vs. Topeka (22 Law. Ed. 461) declared “to lay, with one hand, the power of government on the property of the citizen, and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuals . . . is nonetheless a robbery because it is done under the forms of law and is called taxation.” Also in those days before it became legal, and even respectable, to forcibly redistribute the earnings of some citizens in order to secure the vote and favor of others, the forgotten clause of the Fifth Amendment was as carefully adhered to as is another clause today. I refer to the clause which says, “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”

Source: W. C. Mullendore
Published in The Freeman, January 1957

Topics: Government, Wealth Transfer

Individual Responsibility

In the quotation here made from the Apostle John’s record of the sayings of Christ, two elements may be selected for definite thought. One of these is that in and of our own volition, we assume the responsibility of doing something ourselves, rather than be always seeking to depend wholly upon the advice and direction of others. This advice is timely in degree, but it has its limit in often burdening others beyond necessity. In proper degree it is timely in that it complies with the design of Providence. Yet let us remember that the inspiration of the Holy Ghost for us to proceed upon our own individual initiative is worth something; and acting under that inspiration is an obligation aptly expressed by the Apostle James: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Wherein we seek over-guidance or over-government from human sources, we develop in ourselves a tendency to helplessness. That which is put into us by others is always far less ours than that which we acquire by our own diligent and persevering effort. It is not luck nor accident that helps a man in the world so much as purpose and persistent industry.

Source: Elder Reed Smoot
General Conference, April 1934

Topics: Responsibility

I want to impress upon the minds of the Latter-day Saints not to covet that which belongs to any public institution, or that which belongs to any city, or county, or the government of the United States. Unless I have been misinformed, many people have said, speaking of the distribution by the government of supplies to the people: “Well, others are getting some, why should not I get some of it.”

Source: President Heber J. Grant
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: Government, Wealth Transfer; Honesty; Welfare

Forty-five Years Ago And Now

I believe that there is a growing disposition among the people to try to get something from the government of the United States with little hope of ever paying it back. I think this is all wrong. I believe that there is not that same moral sense among the people today that there was forty-five years ago.

Source: President Heber J. Grant
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: Government, Wealth Transfer; Honesty; Responsibility; Welfare

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 of the rightfulness or wrongfulness of a policy or principle whether in government, in business or social affairs.

Source: Elder David O. McKay
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: Law

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