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Show Page 6 The Utah Independent December 18, 1975 1 enjoyed by the rich alone; these are the comforts of us, the common people-comfof which mighty, monarchs of bygone ages never dreamed. if properly conducted. orts No nation has such an industrial complex made available to it because of applied science and the harnessing, in part, of electricity. Our transportation system hardly knows any bounds on this sphere. We travel in planes, trains, cars, and buses without limitation in our country, and in relative luxury, a luxury scarcely affordable or even accessible to masses of humanity in other countries. No other country has such an elaborate and universally accessible educational system, where even the humblest among us can climb the ladder of success to the highest rung. The Horatio Alger story is yet going on every day in this country. Few nations enjoy such freedoms-freed- om to speak, freedom to freedom think, to own property and business or participate in ownerfreedom to ship, worship, freedom to print, freedom to travel at home and abroad, freedom to censure even public officials, and freedom to have the privacy we desire. No country has been more concerned with due process in its judicial system than ours. The protection of human rights, as granted by our Constitution and Bill of Rights, is not just theory. History will record that we bent over backwards to protect the rights of the individual, sometimes even to a fault. No other country has been so generous as America in terms of its money and food. No nation has fought starvation and economic collapse, and come to the rescue of nations struck by natural disaster, as America has. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz has said that of all the free food sent by world powers to starving nations in recent years, 84 percent came from our country. There are many more blessings, but these are a few we might enumerate. Whence came the source of these blessings? Of those who would malign our country or system, we ask, by what source did we receive, such prosperity? The source of America's blessings Jjhe power has come to us from God because, to a great Ej extent, we have been a I people. There are some in this land who believe this is wBm a land choice above all other lands to the Lord (1 Nephi and that we shall remain here on this land only as we remain 2:20), in Gods divine favor. God-fearin- II g. Christ-worshipi- well-bein- The Ten Commandments, known as the Decalogue, stipulate, first, the sovereignty of God, providing for our allegiance to Him. Next comes the declaration of treason against Him with its attendant punishment, even to the proclamation of the great law of heredity operative upon transgressors. Then follows the law against blasphemy, stating that they who blaspheme will not be held guiltless. These constitute the first three commandments and circumscribe mans relationships with God. The balance of the Decalogue deals with mans interrelationships to his fellowman. There is the promulgation of law governing family relationships, parent and child; the law which specifies periods of work and rest, the relationship of capital and labor; then the principles which govern civic relationships and social order are declared the thou shalt nots of the commandments. The relationship of these commandments to the domestic problems in our society today may well be in order. Let us take the first the worship and service of God. Worship and belief in God have been basic to our social, economic, and political life during the whole medieval and modern eras. They have been the anchor to which we have been moored. They are the foundation n of our culture. Judaic-Christia- But today that worship and that belief are waning. We are so puffed up with our material achievements that we doubt all that we cannot either see, smell, taste, feel, or hear, or that we cannot bring under our w'ill. We think thus, notwithstanding the limitations of our knowledge and that we are constantly finding more and more to learn of the hitherto unknown. Yet we hesitate on the one great, ultimate fact: that we had a Creator, God. As Lincoln declared during the Civil War, so now may we say, We have forgotten God. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord w'ill not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. The stage, the screen, the novel, the club conversation, the street discussion, too often the fireside intimacies are punctuated with blasphemy, to which may be added, as of the same nature, coarse, ribald jokes, foul stories, and low small-talGods law forbids blasphemy. To break it brings its own punishment. Next is the keeping of the Sabbath. Many too many-ha- ve almost ceased to observe the Sabbath. Not only fs it a workday now, but it also is supremely a day of amusement "and recreation:" golf, skiing, skating, hunting, fishing, picnicking, racing, movies, theaters, ball and all other forms playing football, baseball, basketball-dancin- g, are coming largely to be the rule among too many of Christians. Some churches are said to encourage all these, fun-maki- so-call- ed ng But Gods law says, Keep the Sabbath day holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. We are becoming an idle people. More and more we expect to live with little or no w'ork. Hours of work become shorter and shorter; pay, therefore, becomes greater and greater. But finally we shall reach the minimum to raise the necessary foods to of work. It takes so many man-hou- rs sustain a mans life and to provide the other necessities of clothing, shelter, and fuel. In the last analysis, this will measure the minimum working day and its compensation. Machinery reduces the time somewhat as compared with hand labor; but skilled labor costs more, and so the lessened time tends to waste the increased efficiency, and we are somewhere near where we were. It has always, over the long pull, taken six full days in each week, barring vacations (and these cannot be too long, nor too frequent), to produce a livelihood. Next comes Honour thy father and thy mother, which Christ declared meant to support them. Yet never before in recorded history has this law of God been so violated as it is today. Untold thousands of children in this nation have abandoned their parents to the care of the state. This action has brought in its wake a host of other ills: idleness, greed, covetousness, cheating, hiding property, lying about it, and the adoption by both child and parent of any device that could bring the parent within the provisions of the dole law. The violation of this law of God in our day has carried such a speedy visitation of many of its penalties that even the blind might see and the deaf hear and the witless understand, if they wish. Thou shalt not kill. We still frown on murder, but need we be reminded in what small esteem life is now held? Men are to live, else they could not work out their destiny. This mandate was given to Israel and to each child thereof. It is the command not to commit the sin of Cain. It is binding upon every one of Gods children. It speaks to them as individuals: it commands them as associated together in nations. It covers the single case of another Abel; it embraces the mass slaughter of war. It is a higher law than the law of punishment: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. It forecasts the Master's law of love and forgiveness: Love your enemies, bless them that curse ou, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 8:44.) ng There are principles which, if applied and acted upon, are conducive to the social, spiritual, and economic g of the nation. They are basic to sound international as well as domestic accord. They came from God Himself to Moses, and form the foundation of civilized society. They are embodied in what has been denominated as the Ten Commandments. These were designed by an Omniscient Intelligence to plumb the depths of human motives and urges and to govern the baser parts of mans nature. It is well to be reminded that no nation has ever perished that has kept the commandments of God. k. A Stand The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand PLEA FOR AMERICA A Continued from page The Paper That Dares To Take Thou shalt not commit adultery," and Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife. Here God gives the great law of chastity, which lies at the base of purity of family blood and the undefiled home. When the ancient prophets desired to excoriate Israel for her sins, they did it by comparing her to the prostitute. In the category of sins, unchastit stands next to murder, nor may we forget that growing crime of abortion, which usually follows unchastity. Never in this ours have of morals been so loose as now. Sex is all but generation deified and yet, at the same time, is put before youth in its lowest, coarsest, and most debasing form. The curtain of modesty has been torn aside, and in play and book and movie and television, in magazine story and picture, even in magazine advertisement, immorality stands out in all its vulgarity and rottenness. Thou shalt not steal. What do our criminal court records disclose on this? Records that are filled with accounts of juvenile delinquency in numbers never before in this equaled country. When God commanded Thou shalt not steal, He thereby recognized the fundamental right of property. How slight today is regard for the property of others, which, seen and desired, is too often forcibly appropriated. Thou shalt not bear false witness. The violations of God's laws already dealt with tell us that false witnessing (lying) is not absent from us. Yet God s law is a law of truthfulness. Then comes in the Decalogue the command, Thou shalt not covet. Covetousness is one of the besetting sins of this generation, and our covetousness reaches every item forbidden in the commandments our neighbor s house, his wife, his help, his worldly goods, and is that our everything neighbors. Covetousness, plus love of idleness, lies at the root of our violation of the law of work, with all the ills that has brought. Covetousness has invaded our homes, our communities, the nations of the w'orld. It has brought with it greed and avarice and ambition and love of power. Men scheme, plan, overreach, cheat, and lie to get their neighbors hciitage. Covetousness threatens the peace of the world today more than any other one element. But God said, Thou shalt not covet Two commandments we must note. On the S. hbath, when Jesus came riding into Jersualem upon an ass. the SadJucees, scribes, and Pharisees came to Him in the temple and vainly tried to Him, that they might arrest Him and wreak their vengeance entrap Him! upon One of the Pharisees, a lawyer,-askeof Him: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus, quoting the law given to Israel under Moses from Leviticus, replied: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40.- 1 ) hese Mosaic laws contain the basic principles upon which all civ lized governments and our present civilization have been built. A man is now constituted, neither permanent government nor civilize tion can be built in violation of these principles. A little refleclio will persuade any person of this. right-thinkin- g The divine origin t of human rights must be remembered that the founding fathers of this great nation were men imbued with these principles. There are those in the land whose laith it is that these were wise men whom A Godl raised up for the purpose of establishing the Constitution ot the United States. They recognized that there are two possible sources to the origin of our freedoms that we have come to know as human rights. Rights are either as part of a divine plan n or they are granted as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, and religious conviction and belief in the sovereignty of God led these men to accept the divine origin of these rights. To Gods glory the credit and of these men, our nation was uniquely born. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government. If Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians and bureaucrats, then they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their forefathers, but w ill grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations-- a throwback to the feudal system of the dark ages. We must ever keep in inind the inspired words of Thomas Jellerson, as found in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be that all men are created that are endowed by their creator with certain unalienequal; they able rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. . . . Since God created man with certain inalienable rights, and man, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it follows that man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around. As said so appropriately by Lord Acton: It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven lor the acts ot the State-ide- as long locked in the breast of and thinkers, hidden solitary among Latin foliois burst forth like a the world conqueror upon they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man.. .and the principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control. (The History of Freedom and Other Essavs 1907, ch. 2.) 46 government. V rV-- J The manifest dangers in a republic e are rearing a generation that does not seem to under- stand the fundamentals of our American way of life, a eneraton s no longer dedicated to its preserva-tion- . lat Our people, both before and after they arrive at the age of the right of the ballot, should understand what it is that has made America great. We can only appreciate freedom if we understand the comparative fruits thereof. It was Jefferson who said, The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It is one thing to win freedom; its preservation is equally important. If reference is madi continually to weaknesses of the private enterprise system withoi-an- effort to point out its virtues and the comparative fruits of thiv and other systems, the tendency in this country will be to deman .! that the government take over more and more of the economic and social responsibilities and make more of the decisions for.the people. This can result in but one thing: slavery of the individual to the state. This seems to be the trend in the world today. The issue is whether the individual exists for the state or the state for the individual. In a republic, the real danger is that we may slowly slide into a condition of slavery of the individual to the state rather than enter this condition by a sudden revolution. The loss of our liberties might easily come about, not through the ballot box, but through the death of incentive to work, to earn, and to save. Such a condition is usually brought about by a series of little steps which, at the time, seem justified by a variety of reasons and which may on the surface appear to be laudable as to intent. It has been pointed out that the more basic reasons offered by would-b- e planned economy advocates are the desire to change and control others, the search for security, and the desire of individuals or groups to improve their own economic status or that of others bv means of direct governmental interven- tion. Laws It 1. of economic prosperity also seems fundamental to a.sk. Are we rearing a generation of Americans who do not understand the basis of our economic prosperity and the principles upon which prosperity is predicated? In 1801 Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, said: With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and Still one thing more, fellow citizens- -a wise and prosperous people? frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned. n miiiia was uuiu oil cciiaui pauern oi industry, it was one discovered by the Plymouth Colony utter trying an experiment with socialism, which brought the colony to the brink of famine. Governor William Bradford, with the approval of the chief men of the colony, set aside, the social experiment wherebv the most able and fit expended their strength and industry to support other mens wives and children a kind ol slavcric that they deemed repugnant. He then assigned to every family a parcell of land according to the proportion of their number for that end. This, he said, had success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more cornc was planted then other waise would have bene. ...The women now wentc willingly into the field, and tooke their little ones with them to set cornc, which before would aledg weaknes, and inabilities: whom to have compelled would have bene thought great very-goo- Economic security lor all is impossible without widespread abundance. 2. Abundance is impossible without industrious and efficient pro- duction. 3. Such production is impossible without energetic, willing, and eager labor. 4. This is not possible without incentive. Of all forms of incentive, the freedom to attain a reward for ones labors is the most sustaining for most people. Sometimes called the profit motive, it is simply the right to plan and to earn and to enjoy the fruits of vour labor. 5. t; We also need to keep before us the truth that people who do not master themselves and their appetites will soon be mastered by PLEA FOR AMERICA tiranie an oppression. (See William T. David, editor, Bradford's New York: Charles History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-16Scribners Sons, 1908, pp. 146f.) The principles behind this American philosophy can be reduced to a rather simple formula: God-give- self-eviden- December 18, 1975 The Utah Independent Page 7 6. This profit motive diminishes as government controls, regulations, . and taxes increase to deny the fruits of success to those who produce. 7. Therefore, any attempt through government intervention to redistribute the material rewards of labor can only result in the eventual destruction of the productive base of society, without which real abundance and security lor more than the ruling elite are quite impossible. It is evident that when the willingness to work sharply declines, there will be increased frustration of any economic plan, however well intentioned or well conceived. Poverty is abolished by economic growth, not by economic distribution, and economic growth requires work. As we more and more become welfare conscious, it is essential to reaffirm the scriptural imperative that the idler shall not eat the bread of the worker. To operate contrary to this is to the worker. to the idler and incentive-reducin- g soul-destroyi- ng Many of our problems and dangers center in the issues of fair prices, wages, and profits and the relationship between management and labor. We must realize that it is just as possible for wages to be too high as it is for prices and profits to be excessive. There is a tendency, of course, for almost everyone to feel that his share is unfair, whether it is or not. An effort to adjust apparent inequities often calls for government subsidies. Too often these are authorized without asking, Who will pay for them? Much of our program of letting the government pay for it can be described as an attempt to better yourself by increasing your pay to yourself and then sending yourself the bill. The only safe and solid answer is the mechanism of a free market operating in an enterprise and free competition. Here everyone has a chance to cast his vote in the election that will decide what is a a fair price, fair wage, and fair profit, and what should be produced and in what quantities. To contradict the justice of that decision is to contradict the whole concept of justice by the democratic process. All will agree that the democratic process and the free market-bo- th parts of our American way of life are not perfect, but they are believed to have fewer faults and to do a better job than any other known device. A sure way to take a shortcut to serfdom is to discard the sovereign rights of all the people in either the political or the economic realm. so-call- ed We must remember that government assistance and control are essentially political provisions and that experience has demonstrated that, for that reason, they are not sufficiently stable to warrant their utilization as a foundation for sound economic growth under a free American way-- is still maxienterprise system. The best way-t- he mum freedom for the individual guaranteed by a wise government that establishes and enforces the rules of the game. Good government, which guarantees the maximum of freedom, liberty, and development to the individual, must be based upon sound principles, and we must ever remember that ideas and principles are either sound or unsound, regardless of those who hold them. Freedom of achievement has produced and will continue to produce the maximum of benefits in terms of human welfare. Economic blessings are obtained by being obedient to the laws upon which economic blessings are predicated. The relationship of eternal laws to current domestic problems Vs we. rightly concern ourselves over pressing domestic problems that affect the tranquillity of our people it is well to remember that just as physical laws are inter- BLi related, so are spiritual laws. It is much less likely that someone will be concerned with his adverse impact on the environment and his neighbors if he does no.t love his neighbors. Li One dimension of spiritual law, therefore, is that ones d and his esteem for his fellowmen are intertwined. If there is disregard for ones self, there is bound to be some disregard for ones neighbor. If there isnt a reverence for life itself, there is apt to be little reverence for the resources God has placed here on which we must call. The outward expressions of irreverence for God, for life, and for fellowmen take the form of things like littering, heedless stripmining, heedless pollution of wrater and air. But these are, after all, outward expressions of the inner man. Those who undertake the task of alerting their fellowmen with regard to physical ecology without also paying heed to spiritual laws have undertaken an impossible task. self-regar- the children of oiA- - Heavenly Father, Who placed us here by design and for a purpose, and if there are not absolute spiritual as well as physical laws that we violate at our peril, then man has to he appealed to on different grounds, and that is a task If we are not really that is next to impossible. For, if we are merely transients in an unexplainable world, then we will act more like tourists than resi- ' dents! The Lord has said: Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and lor smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. (D&C 59:18-20The Lord has told us with regard to the essential resources of thi planet that there is enough and to spare. (D&C 104:17.) What i lacking so often is not the engineering to produce that grows out the w'orld of technology, but the human engineering necessary t share that which we have. Sharing with generations yet is also rooted in brotherhood and love. .) unborr-however- , Whatever mortal reasons there are to be concerned about enviror. ment, there are eternal reasons, too, for us to be thoughtful stewards President Brigham Young said: Not one particle of all that.com prises this vast creation of God is our own. Everything w'e have ha been bestowed upon us for our action, to see what we would do wit it whether we would use it for eternal life and exaltation, or fo eternal death and degradation. We are also rightfully concerned about the fabric of our country; home life. Another Church president, David O. McKay, soberb reminded us that no other success can compensate for failure in th-hom- As society draws women out of the home unnecessarily, as we to then make up for failures in the home, we substitute, some programs that are really and We err spiritually in doing so. If we are really concerned abou; alienation, we must do everything we can to spare the family, since it is the basic source of love, discipline, and values. Love at home i one of the basic needs in life, a spiritual need which, if violated brings harsh, irrevocable consequences. One writer has said, Fo when we emit from our families unloved, undisciplined individual into the stream of humanity, this is more dangerous than emitting raw sewage. It is clear that we cannot have peace in the world, fo instance, without harmony in the home. We are concerned about scarred landscapes that cause floods an-leave an economic emptiness that haunts the coming generations Similarly, unchastity leaves terrible scars, brings floods of tears an; anguish, and leaves moral emptiness. Significantly, both impruden g and unchastity rest on a that partakes of ai. and be ge and drink, eat, merry philosophy-gougrab now withou; g and unchas regard to the consequences. Both negligent violate the spirit of stewardship over our planet and person. tity Some may ask why we as a people and church quietly and consistently seek to change individuals while there are such large problems all about us, such as the urban crisis. But decaying cities are simply a delayed reflection of decaying individuals; revenue shortages are real, but the shortfall in character is one of its causes. The commandments of God give emphasis to improvement of the individual as the only real way to bring about the real improvement in society. Until we focus on basic qualities, little progress will be made. self-defeati- ng counter-producti- ve , life-sty- le strip-minin- strip-minin- so-call- ed So much depends, therefore, on our basic desires and attitudes. Just as our political democracy depends greatly on our capacity for so our capacity for depends, in turn,, on our having fundamental values and reasons to check our appetites self-discipli- ne, self-discipli- ne and our passions; otherwise, our plunder of people more than matches our plunder of mountains. It has been said that we cannot tame our technology until we can tame ourselves, and that we cannot tame our cities to make them good and habitable until we can tame ourselves. It is so, and always has been the case, that the outward things depend on the inward commitments. This nation now struggles for balance between the need for energy and food production, on the one hand, and our need to extract these things wisely, on the other hand. If the proponents in the political process are unduly selfish, then the balance will not be struck, and there will be strife, suffering, and waste. When, however, we have esteem for each other shared respect as well as shared concerns then economic and political accommodations are possible, and wise balance is more probable. While the resources of this planet are both perishable and renewable, time cannot be recycled. We are reminded in Gods early communications with mankind that when our time, for instance, is given over loo much for the seeking of pleasure, the serious and eternal we will things. will be left undone. If we become pleasure-seekerplunder our environment much more rapidly than if we have a sense of history-n- ot only about this planet, but also about the people who live thereon. s, We hear a great deal about the spiraling cost and incidence of juvenile delinquency and crime in our nation. Overcrowded living conditions are not a cause for crime, though they might contribute to it. We must look elsewhere: The failure of parents to teach their children to walk uprightly before the Lord; The failure of parents and com. unities to provide youth opportunities to work; Continued on pgge 10 |