“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” (Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1932)
“We shall occupy to our nation the position that Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, stood in towards his brethren. The Lord will not let the labors of the revolutionary fathers fall to the ground. A class of young men will arise in these mountains who will help rescue the nation in the day of its calamity. They are good and true citizens, although their first allegiance is to God. The day of our calamity is approaching. It is at the doors.” (Moses Thatcher, October 1890, General Conference)
“A foreign power had inroaded the nation, and from every human indication, it appeared as if it would seize the government and supplant it with monarchy. I stood trembling at the aspect, when a power arose in the west which declared itself in favor of the Constitution in its original form. To this suddenly rising power, every lover of constitutional rights gave hearty support. The struggle was fiercely contested, but the Stars and Stripes floated in the breeze, and bidding liberty to all, waved proudly over the land. Among the many banners, I saw one inscribed thus: ‘The government based on the Constitution now and forever!’ On another there was: ‘Liberty of Conscience’ And there were several others, both religious and political.” (Charles D. Evans)
“Now why should we awake if the Lord is going to take care of us anyway? Now let us suppose that it is too late to save freedom. It is still accounted unto us for righteousness’ sake to stand up and fight. Some Book of Mormon prophets knew of the final desolate end of their nations, but they still fought on, and they saved some souls including their own by so doing. … [A] good deal of responsibility lies within the priesthood of this Church as to what happens to America and as to how much tragedy can be avoided if we do act now.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Not Commanded in All Things, General Conference, 1965)
“We must come to the task of decision that now [1944] faces us, with the purest motives. Avarice, greed, selfish ambition, the thirst for power and place and dominion, must all be thrust from our hearts. We must come with the loftiest patriotism, with a single allegiance, undivided, unshared, undefiled, for the Constitution under which we live—so in effect runs the oath of office of each of you who grace the Bar of this commonwealth. Our hearts and hands must be clean of all foreign isms and alien political cults. The Constitution and its free institutions must be our ensign. For America has a destiny—a destiny to conquer the world,—not by force of arms, not by purchase and favor, for these conquests wash away, but by high purpose, by unselfish effort, by uplifting achievement, by a course of Christian living; a conquest that shall leave every nation free to move out to its own destiny; a conquest that shall bring, through the workings of our own example, the blessings of freedom and liberty to every people, without restraint or imposition or compulsion from us; a conquest that shall weld the whole earth together in one great brotherhood in a reign of mutual patience, forbearance, and charity, in a reign of peace [p. 61] to which we shall lead all others by the persuasion of our own righteous example.” (J. Reuben Clark, Called Unto Liberty, 20th Century Sermons)
Study Groups
“Church members are at perfect liberty to act according to their own consciences in the matter of safeguarding our way of life. They are, of course, encouraged to honor the highest standards of the gospel and to work to preserve their own freedoms. They are free to participate in nonchurch meetings that are held to warn people of the threat of Communism or any other theory or principle that will deprive us of our free agency or individual liberties vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.
“The Church, out of respect for the rights of all its members to have their political views and loyalties, must maintain the strictest possible neutrality. We have no intention of trying to interfere with the fullest and freest exercise of the political franchise of our members under and within our Constitution, which the Lord declared he established ‘by the hands of wise men whom [he] raised up unto this very purpose’ (D&C 101:80) and which, as to the principles thereof, the Prophet Joseph Smith, dedicating the Kirtland Temple, prayed should be ‘established forever.’ (D&C 109:54.) The Church does not yield any of its devotion to or convictions about safeguarding the American principles and the establishments of government under federal and state constitutions and the civil rights of men safeguarded by these.
“The position of this Church on the subject of Communism has never changed. We consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of the earth.
“We therefore commend and encourage every person and every group who is sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles and awaken a sleeping and apathetic people to the alarming conditions that are rapidly advancing about us.” (“Statement Concerning the Position of the Church on Communism,” 477)
Redeemed by Blood
“I say unto you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and we of this church will, in order to keep the Church going forward, have more sacrifices to make, and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known. If the conspiracy comes here it will probably come in its full vigor and there will be a lot of vacant places among those who guide and direct, not only this government, but also this Church of ours.” [CR Apr 1944 & 1952]
“I say to you that the price of liberty is and always has been blood, human blood, and if our liberties are lost, we shall never regain them except at the price of blood. They must not be lost!” [CN 11-20-1952 PPNS, Pg. 71]
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