Respect for another’s rights and property is fundamental in good government. It is a mark of refinement in the individual. It is a fundamental Christian virtue.

Source: President David O. McKay
General Conference, April 1943

Topics: Labor; Private Property; Virtue

Prohibition is patriotic because it has proved itself to be a true friend of labor and a true friend of capital. Rome did not die for lack of college and public games, for the want of culture and refined society, or because she had no army or no navy. Rome died when she rotted at the heart. Rome committed moral and political suicide.

Said Poling:

I fear no yellow peril, I fear no foe that may embark from a foreign shore to do us hurt. I fear only the foe from within, this shackler of bodies, this impoverisher of industry, this moral despoiler, this corrupter of government which is called alcohol.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1942

Topics: Morality; Prohibition

We all know the situation, at least in a general way, and we know it is rapidly becoming worse, and that the “closed shop” system is rapidly spreading. This is a system of force that places plants and institutions employing labor in the hands of selfish, irresponsible labor leaders, agitators and organizers who force owners, managements, laborers, the public and even government officials to do their unrighteous bidding. Thus freedom is crushed and the guarantees of our inspired Constitution are thrown to the winds. Where the “closed shop” comes in freedom goes out, and the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” vanishes.

Now of one thing I feel sure. The vast majority of the patriotic liberty-loving people of America want the guarantees of our inspired Constitution maintained. They want this choice land still to be and to remain the “land of the free and the home of the brave:”

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1941

Topics: Freedom, Loss of; Labor; Unions

Economic Peace Through Application of the Golden Rule

If a full sense of brotherhood, actuated by the real spirit of the Golden Rule, were in the mind and heart of every employer and of every employee in America, and of every one else who has any kind of relations with his fellow men, then industrial, social, and economic peace in America would be born in a day. But alas this ideal condition is not in the offing. Instead we are faced with reality and a condition so pregnant with evil that we can save ourselves only by immediate, unceasing, wise, and powerful efforts. The preservation of our inherited liberties and of our God-given free agencies is worth every thing necessary for us to give in order that we might repossess and maintain them. Otherwise, will not the America of the future be devoid of the essentials that have made the America we inherited, a land of glorious promise?

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1941

Topics: Free Agency; Freedom, Threats to

Public Education Not Enough

Dr. Andrew D. White, great scholar, wise diplomat, historian, and the first president of Cornell University, said many years ago that since all the republics of the past have failed, he had made a careful study for the purpose of determining whether in our republic there is any element that did not exist in those republics which have not endured. His conclusion was that the only new and outstanding characteristic of our republic is its public school system and he expressed the view that if our nation is to endure indefinitely it will be because of the broad democratic training and education in our public school system that we are giving to all the citizens of our nation.

But there are those who have strong convictions that public school education alone is not enough to preserve indefinitely and in peace, the life, the liberty and the prosperity of this our beloved country, the United States of America. Many are of the opinion that other elements are necessary. Religion, morality, righteousness! These are elements which must be factors in the make-up of any nation, it is said, if that nation is to endure indefinitely.

Experience has taught that morality is the life of a nation and religion is the life of morality. “Arming a country with guns and tanks and airplanes is not enough,” says Roger W. Babson. Selecting men for the army, the navy and the air force on physical fitness alone will not suffice. “If our defense program is to succeed,” he continues, “the entire country must experience a re-birth, for in the end, only righteousness can save a nation.”

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Education; Government, Threats to; Morality

Coercion In Government Not The Lord’s Way

The Lord Himself has always favored government by the people. You will remember that in the days of Samuel the Prophet the Lord instructed him to let the people have whatever form of government they desired. They clamored for a dictator, a king, and because the Lord respected the right of free-will and human choice, because He recognized the right of men to govern themselves, and that it is better that humanity be self-governed, even though they are poorly governed, than to be compelled to obey even the divine law, He told the Prophet to let the people have a king, a dictator, since they insisted upon it. And the Bible tells us that after the decision of the Israelites to have a king, their dictatorial rulers wasted the substance of the people, they took away their personality and their freedom, and oppressed them with heavy taxes and other burdens. Instead of making a government for the people, as in a democracy, the people became the subjects of the dictators who did not rule for the good of the many but to bring power, wealth and idleness to a few.

Our government is founded on the principle laid down by the Lord Himself: that a man is capable of self-government. This is in harmony with the divine intent expressed by the Creator when He said:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth.”

This important statement of man’s right and ability to rule is expressed in our Declaration of Independence thus: “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And no doubt those forms of government in which there is an assumption to rule without the consent of those who are to be governed are responsible for that forceful expression, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Free Agency; Freedom, Loss of; Government; Government, Ideal; Taxes

Provision Made For Three Branches Of Government

Wisely did our forefathers organize our national institution with three different, distinct departments, each one to be entirely separate from and independent of the other two. These three departments are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial. These able and farseeing patriots and statesmen thus made these three separate and distinct departments the cornerstone of our republic and the guarantee that in our land there shall never be a dictator.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Checks and Balances; Dictatorships; Government, Power

Among those who created this great free government were Puritans whose ancestors had struggled for generations in England and in Holland to secure the right to think, the right to be free, and the right to worship God in whatever way they saw fit. In England, in those early days, non-conformity with the rules, regulations, beliefs and doctrines of the established Church was neither permitted nor tolerated. Puritanism contained the principle of true religious toleration. And doubtless the ultimate tendency of the views of the Puritans was to republicanism rather than to monarchy although in England the Church and the State were considered one and inseparable.

Eight restless years the Pilgrims spent in Holland where they had gone to find religious liberty and free government. They discovered soon, however, that for them Holland could not be a permanent home. Bradford says that when they looked toward America they were actuated by a great hope and an intense inward zeal to lay a good foundation in those then remote parts of the world for the propagating and the advancing of “the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ.” They struggled to prepare stepping stones, at least, to assist others in the accomplishment of this great and important gospel service.

Thus were the Puritans inspired to come to America and here help to prepare a people and frame a government providing such religious tolerance that it was possible for God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to come to these United States and here restore and establish the Gospel in its original fulness. Under these just and liberal laws it was possible for the ancient church to be established again with all its keys, rights and authority to teach, preach and proclaim the fundamentals of righteousness in preparation for the coming again of our Lord and Master who is to bring joy, happiness and peace to the world.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Uncategorized

The aim of our patriotic fathers was to establish a government that would guarantee to them and to their descendants to the last generation freedom, security, and happiness. They expressed their feelings in the Declaration of Independence which says:

Appealing to the supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, we do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these United States are and of right ought to be free and independent states.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Freedom; Government, Ideal

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