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Appendix IV
Graphs and Charts Socialism and Your Eight-Hour Work Day
In spite of the typical Americans annual pay increases, a better educated work force and the constantly improving ratios of capital to labor, the amount of time we spend paying our taxes each year expands.
The pie graph divides up your eight hour work day into the amount of time you spend working for your primary expenditures. As socialism expands, the government decides how much you will spend on old age assistance of currently retired people. It decides how much you will spend on the medical bills of current retirees. It decides how much of your income will go for education of the masses, whether you have children or not. It decides how much you will spend on the welfare needs of others. It decides how much of your income will go for licensing and regulating your fellow man. It decides how much of your income is going to be spent to clothe, feed and house the less fortunate. Your personal stewardship shrinks as the government expands.
Of course, there are always those who will do extremely well financially. Those will be held up as proof of the ability to break out of the pack. However, the vast majority, to even survive will find themselves trying to get back in the form of government subsidies, some of the money the government has taken from them.
Government loans for homes will be pursued. Government loans for businesses will be pursued. Government grants and loans for children’s college educations will be pursued. Government subsidized medical assistance, school lunch, agriculture subsidies, retirement and government guaranteed pricing and protection will be sought after. When they are finished they can honestly say they have “…seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils.” (Helaman 6:38) When the socialist is finished he can truly say he has caused almost all mormons to look the other way and try to forget Harold B. Lee’s statement, “I warn you that government subsidies are not the Lord’s way.” (Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of, p. 315)
Tax Freedom Day Loses, Socialism Gains
Your individual stewardship of your individual income declines as soul-destroying, government programs expand.
A good measure of how much freedom the citizens of a nation have lost is the amount of their income taken by their government. Redistribution of wealth (socialism) has become the primary purpose of government. Since 1930, city, county, state and federal taxes have averaged taking an additional 1.27 days per year of the American citizens income. We now work until May 9, (1997) to pay our taxes. Is this evil? Is it threatening to America?
Few Americans understand or agree with Ezra Taft Benson’s assessment that “Communism is essentially socialism.” (This Nation Shall Endure, p. 90)
While many Americans would fight to stop communism being imposed from abroad, they vote to implement its economic programs piece meal in the U.S. Marx would be pleased to note that the typical American has voted to give up his personal income through May 9, for socialist expansion in the U.S.
Marx, in his Communist Manifesto stated, “. . .the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property.” Individual stewardship would be destroyed. For the majority to vote to compel all U.S. citizens to participate until May 9th would please him no end. Socialism, as it spreads over a country, destroys personal initiative, personal responsibility and family ties. It is not merely an economic program to destroy capitalism. Marx, again in the Manifesto proposed, “abolition of the family.” He also stated therein, . . . “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, . . .” President McKay saw socialism as more than just economics. He stated, “During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism. . .” (Gospel Ideals, p. 273)
Socialism and Federal Spending 1900-1998
Over the years government has changed its purpose from protecting and preserving people and property rights to redistributing wealth. This is socialism. Has any prophet ever approved of, condoned or encouraged socialism and the expansion of these welfare state principles? In 1967 David O. Mckay wrote a letter to the faculty of BYU, encouraging them to teach the gospel in every class. He placed special emphasis on the need to teach the correct principles of the gospel when it comes to government. He said in part,
I cannot help but think that there is a direct relationship between the present trends which I have above indicated, and the very marked tendency of the people of our country to pass on to the state the responsibility for their moral and economic welfare. This trend to a welfare state in which people look to and worship government more than their God, is certain to sap the individual ambitions and moral fiber of our youth unless they are warned and rewarned…
I hope that no one on the faculty of Brigham Young University will advocate positions which cannot be harmonized with the views of every prophet of the church, from the Prophet Joseph Smith on down, concerning our belief that we should be strong and self-reliant individuals, not dependent upon the largess or benefactions of government. None of the doctrines of our Church give any sanction to the concept of a socialistic state….
If you believe President McKay, not one single prophet from Joseph Smith on down ever crossed the line and advocated welfare state (socialistic) beliefs. He sees “harmonized” teachings of the prophets being violated. Let’s assume President McKay is correct. The promoters of socialism will have zero scriptural and zero prophet support when it comes time for them to justify their rejection of their own prophets on these principles.
Socialism and Federal Spending 1988-1998
Throughout our history, the amount of the federal budget spent on defense has risen and fallen, depending on wars, post war and pre-war situations in our country.
In 1988 27% of the federal budget was for defense. For 1998, OMB projected defense costs drop to 15%. When Reagan was president he wanted to spend money on defense and congress wanted to spend money on socialism. They borrowed huge sums of money to expand socialism and defense spending.
Our current president (Clinton) wants to continue to expand socialism and our congress wants to balance the budget. Socialism continues to expand, and by rapidly cutting defense they appear to be making progress on balancing the budget. Americans, and particularly Utahns, enjoy being seduced by the spoils of socialism. “Of the eleven Western States, Utah recorded the heaviest tax burden,…and fifth highest in the entire United States,…” (The Utah Taxpayer, August 1997) Because of this seduction, the principles of the prophets are not viable campaign speeches, even in Utah.
This brings up the next question: How is it possible to cut out the various welfare-state features of our government which have already fastened themselves like cancer cells onto the body politic? Isn’t drastic surgery already necessary, and can it be performed without endangering the patient? In answer, it is obvious that drastic measures are called for. No halfway or compromise actions will suffice. Like all surgery, it will not be without discomforts and perhaps even some scar tissue for a long time to come. But it must be done if the patient is to be saved, and it can be done without undue risk.
Obviously, not all welfare-state programs currently in force can be dropped simultaneously without causing tremendous economic and social upheaval.…In my opinion, the bulk of the transition could be accomplished within a ten-year period…(Ezra Taft Benson, The Proper Role of Government, p. 16, 17)
Work Force Mothers: A Consequence of Socialism
In light of the statements of the prophets over the years regarding mothers working, these national statistics on work force mothers should concern all LDS. Utah’s figures are slightly worse than these national averages.
Speaking at the dedicatory services of the monuments to women in Nauvoo in June 1978 Ezra Taft Benson warned,
We hear much talk—even among some of our own sisters—about so-called ‘alternative lifestyles’ for women.…Some have even been so bold as to suggest that the Church move away from the ‘Mormon woman stereotype’ of homemaking and rearing children. God grant that that dangerous philosophy will never take root among our Latter-day Saint Women! (Ezra Taft Benson, A Biography, p. 472)
Based on statistics, that “dangerous philosophy” appears to have taken root. Assuming the vast majority of Utah women would prefer to heed the brethren’s counsel, what driving force leads the vast majority to not heed their counsel? Economic necessity is one driving force. While economic necessity to one is high living to another, economic necessity is the primary factor in the minds of many mothers who work outside the home.
With socialism increasing its take of the average workers annual income, more and more women have entered the work force to make up the difference, and pay the taxes.
The promoters of socialism are primarily responsible for the number of mothers in the U.S. and Utah coming into the work force, against the unanimous counsel of the prophets.
Divorce: A Consequence of Socialism
Many factors come together to destroy a marriage. What is the primary factor? President Hinckley wrote, “I am satisfied that money is the root of more trouble in marriage than all other causes combined.” (Cornerstones of a Happy Marriage, 1985, p. 8)
Socialism is the primary consumer of a man’s earnings. As a man’s income annually shrinks to fund expanding socialism, his ability to fulfill his primary economic stewardship, the support of his family, declines. It is not just a coincidence that expanding socialism, expanding mothers in the workforce, and increasing divorce are parallel occurrences.
Our Prophets and Apostles have addressed the need for men to support their families and for wives to let them. The fact that it is harder and harder each year has not changed the message. Paul must have sensed this same need of men in his day to support, protect and provide for their families when he wrote,
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1st Timothy, 5:8)
…when the wicked rule the people mourn. (D&C 98:9)
Each year socialism grows. Each year fewer men fill the requirement of their stewardship. Each year more wives experience economic necessities their husbands don’t fill. Each year more wives leave their homes to enter the work force. Each year more marriages fail because of money troubles. These unhappy wives never know their husband is just another drowning victim of the consequences of socialism. His stewardship shrinks as socialism expands.
If you refer back to the graph on the eight hour work day you will note that you spend more time on a daily basis working to pay your taxes than you do to pay for your housing, food and transportation combined.
Increasing Housing Costs
This graph reflects rising rental rates along the Wasatch front, compared to the Consumer Price Index along the Wasatch Front. While rent rates have grown tremendously, buying a home has also sky rocketed. For instance, the 1998 Economic Report to the Governor of Utah, prepared by the University of Utah Bureau of Economic Research states that:
The average price of the same group of existing houses in Utah increased 74.4% in the 5-year period ending September 30, 1997 (the largest 5 year increase in the nation), according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s (OFHEO) Housing Price Index. The OFHEO price index measures the average price in repeat sales of the same houses.
One of the “economic advantages” of having more of our Utah wives in the work force than the national average is that while our per capita income in Utah is 44th (we were 49th nationally in 1992) our median household income ranks Utah 17th highest in the nation. The Bureau of the Census estimates that there were 3.08 persons per household in Utah in 1996 compared to 2.62 persons in national households. Most recent Bureau of the Census data shows that Utah’s median age was the youngest in the nation at 26.8 as of July 1, 1996. This compares to a median age of 34.6 for the nation.
Many factors go into the rising cost of housing. One of the major factors is the rising cost of land. Because County Commissioners have ignored Joseph Smith’s recommendations for new communities, building lot sizes, etc., people can’t afford homes. They are being forced into high density housing units. Fewer people will own homes. This will weaken community ties, increase juvenile crime, etc.
Joseph Smith
Wednesday, 13. I attended a lecture at the Grove, by Mr. John Finch, a Socialist, from England, and said a few words in reply...
Thursday, 14. I attended a second lecture on socialism, by Mr. Finch; and after he got through, I made a few remarks, alluding to Sidney Rigdon and Alexander Campbell getting up a community at Kirtland, and of the big fish there eating up all the little fish. I said I did not believe the doctrine. (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 33)
Brigham Young
We heard Brother Taylor’s exposition of what is called socialism this morning. What can they do?
Live on each other and beg. It is a poor, unwise and very imbecile people who cannot take care of themselves. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, p. 21)
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