I am thankful, I repeat again, for the loyalty of the “Mormon” people in sustaining the prohibition law, and I am sorry that some, apparently, from what they say and from their actions, are wavering. Let us, as a people, be loyal in support of those laws. They are constitutional, have been so declared. And it is the safe course, as far as the people of this Church are concerned, to honor, sustain, and obey those laws, whether we like them or not. And I want to tell you that it is the safe course for this nation to follow. When individuals or a community or a nation select only those laws that suit them, and obey them and break those other laws, they are in a dangerous position. When a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery was passed, there were those who were not ready to sustain and uphold that amendment, just as there are those now who are not ready and willing to uphold and sustain the Constitution of the United States. The Volstead act is a part now of the Constitution of this nation, and is so declared by a large majority of the people of this great nation, and it is the duty of this nation to uphold and honor and sustain the Constitution.

Source: Elder Thomas E. McKay
General Conference, April 1926

Topics: Law; Prohibition

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

Source: Milton Friedman

Topics: Free Market; Freedom

We Latter-day Saints believe in the sacredness of the Mayflower compact, and we hold very reverently in our hearts the Constitution of the United States, This document is the greatest expression of government that has come forth in all history, and its principles, if lived up to, will change the political and civic life of the world. The beautiful thing about the American government is that it is an expression of the lives of the people, and if the people live magnanimous and Christian-like lives, so will our Government become greater and greater. There are problems today to be solved, and I consider that the greatest ills of society are: first, the unprecedented challenge of authority and disrespect for law; secondly, hatred between man and man; and thirdly, the excessive search for pleasure as the aim of life. I believe that we people should be the greatest lovers of the law of any people living, for just law expresses our ideals and concepts of life. We should dedicate our lives to the highest political and civic truths and we should grow in the abiding thought that man is made in the image of God; that the Christian virtues are the highest codes of ethics; and that immortality and the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth are illuminated because of the restored Priesthood which we hold. With such ideals we will be able to contribute more to the solution of the problems of the world than any other people. I pray that we may not only see the problems of human society that lie before us, but that we will be able to meet them with a potency that comes as a result of the deepest faith in almighty God and his purposes.

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, April 1926

Topics: America, Heritage; Law; Morality

A society that puts equality . . . ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.

Source: Milton Friedman

Topics: Equality; Freedom

From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict which each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time.

Source: F. A. Hayek

Topics: Equality

Now, coming to our own land, our own Constitution, I think we hardly appreciate sufficiently what this Constitution means to us and to the work of the Lord. It is my belief that this Constitution, which the Lord declared he established, is for the benefit of all mankind. Verse 77, Section 101, reads as follows: “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.” Certainly, the fundamental, governing principles which the Lord has established on the earth under the name of the Constitution of the United States, were meant for all men, everywhere. These principles, with their accompanying freedom and liberty, are inseparably connected with our great latter-day work, it seems to me; for the Lord tells us that this freedom, this liberty, was brought about through the hands of wise men whom he raised up. Without this great Government of ours, this God-given Constittion, the gospel of Jesus Christ could never have found an abiding place in the earth. They are connected, correlated, interlocked one with the other; for the Constitution, like the gospel itself, is for the benefit of all flesh, for all mankind.

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, April 1925

Topics: US Constitution

If an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe they will benefit from it. Most economic fallacies derive from the neglect of this simple insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.

Source: Milton Friedman

Topics: Economics

On the coin of the realm there is another direct acknowledgment that as a nation we believe in God, for, stamped on every silver dollar and on every goldpiece, are the words: “In God We Trust.”

Also, in our national anthem we have these words:

“Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘in God is our trust!’
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, April 1925

Topics: Christianity

In our nation’s hymn “America,” we have the words which were given, I believe, by the inspiration of the Almighty. The last verse of this hymn is the one that declares our beliefs as to who is the God of this land, and while we sing it, I believe that we feel in our hearts that Jesus Christ is indeed our God, the true Ruler over this great land of ours. The words of the last verse are these:

“Our father’s God! to thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!”

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, April 1925

Topics: Christianity

•  ⟨⟨ 
•  ⟨ 
•   |  
•  ⟩ 
•  ⟩⟩