SLIP SLIDING AWAY: THE EXODUS OF OUR FREEDOM
The following talk entitled Slip Sliding Away (The Exodus of our Freedom) was presented a little over a decade ago at a Sacrament Meeting in Ogden, Utah. This message is as valid today as it was a decade ago, but the urgency has been significantly enhanced. Satan reigns with blood and horror throughout the world, but his main goal is to destroy this nation and its freedoms. His forces of destruction are both external and internal. Externally we face radical Muslim terrorists whose sole goal is to eradicate all Jews and Americans no matter what the cost. Currently we are fighting that war in Iraq rather than on our own soil, but if we acquiesce to those opposed to this war, we will soon be fighting terrorism on our own soil. Internally Satan's influence has spread like wildfire. Most of the media, most politicians and a growing number of the judiciary advocate policies that are forcing us into bureaucratic bondage. The prevalent attitude is the something for nothing attitude. Gambling, lawsuits and welfare in all of its manifestations are the way of life for most Americans. An attitude of entitlement rather than self-reliance is the result of the brain-washing that Satan's disciples have spread throughout this great nation. With moral degradation, ignorance and apathy prevalent, Satan is now ready to destroy the Constitution and claim this nation as his. We must step forward to fulfill revelation by saving the Constitution and our God given freedoms.
As you read the newspapers, watch and listen to the news reports and observe the ways of the world, do you have a feeling of uneasiness? Do you sense, that a chill in the air has replaced the warm fuzzy feelings you once had? Do you see your freedoms slip sliding away?
While reading an issue of the Church News devoted to honoring the lifetime of President Ezra Taft Benson, the Prophet's warning concerning the destruction of the Constitution intrigued me. (According to the article in the Church News, President Benson delivered this message twice, once at a BYU devotional on Sept 16, 1986 and the second time at General Conference on October 3, l987. The Prophet's warning was as follows:
"We are fast approaching that moment prophesied by Joseph Smith when he said: "even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction." (July 19, 1840, Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City.)"
The reason I was and continue to be intrigued by President Benson's warning is because I see awful things happening to our great nation, and my desire is to do something about halting the processes of destruction. President Benson's message has stimulated me by providing both enhanced motivation and general guidance for my efforts.
My purposes in presenting these ideas are two-fold; first, to share my perception of the subtle and not too subtle ruin being invoked upon our nation and its divinely inspired Constitution, and second, to advise and motivate others to join with me in individual preparation, so that collectively we will be the staff to bear up this nation and save the Constitution.
I suspect that there are those among you who are amused by my anxiety attack, and there are those who are mumbling "this is premature after all this is a great nation--far superior to any other nation". Maybe those of you so engaged are correct in being skeptical but, on the other hand, maybe you err.
Ruin, Real of Imagined: President Benson gave us guidance on understanding the significance of the Constitution when he stated that it required an understanding of the following basic eternal principles; Agency, the function and proper role of government, the source of basic human rights and that government should have only limited powers. It is these principles that had their origin in the pre-mortal councils of heaven, which we must employ in judging the health of our nation and its Constitution.
It was rather ironic that the same day that I started writing down these thoughts, I also watched an old time movie classic called "High Noon". For those of you who may not know or don't remember the story, it consists of about two hours of drama in a small "Wild West" town as prelude to a shoot out at "High Noon". The drama begins with the town marshal, who had earlier liberated the citizens from the tyrannical rule of some thugs, turning in his badge and gun and marrying a lovely saintly lady. But as fate would have it, the liberal judges up north had released the leader of these outlaws from a life sentence in prison and this vile individual and his base cohorts were headed back to town to reap vengeance and reinstate their tyranny. Apprised of this distressful news by the local telegraph operator and acting against the wishes of his new bride, our hero once again assumes the role of marshal. With his guns strapped to his sides, he makes the rounds trying to deputize the men of the town so they can stand by him in defending their families and their freedoms. The courageous marshal's pleas for help are rejected at every turn and finally distraught and overcome by disbelief he ends up at the home of the former marshal. This good man, who is now old, confesses that he would help, but that his presence would be more of a hindrance than help. Furthermore, when asked by our hero for an explanation for the behavior of the citizenry, he gave this poignant and telling answer. "They don't care." In spite of this universal apathy, our hero stood by himself at "high noon", shot and killed the villains and then, with his lovely new bride, who did not forsake him, left this liberated but thankless town.
The gut-wrenching aspect of this story is that not one person in that community had courage enough to act to save him or herself from bondage. In fact, some were so depraved that they were looking forward to the return of the reprobates as a way to enhance their own personnel gain.
So with that in mind lets consider our real life national problems and the ongoing attack on the Constitution. To begin, let me pose this question: Among the electorate of this nation, which is the greater problem ignorance or apathy? The, so called, humorous answer to this question is: Frankly, I don't know and furthermore I don't give a damn.
My motivation for telling the "High Noon" story and in stating the above answer to the posed question is that I am concerned that these same attitudes are pervasive throughout this great nation even to include the active membership of the Church. Unfortunately, I probably could rest my case based solely upon the percent of the electorate who vote and the percent that elect our government officials.
Incidentally, I received verification that I was on the right track in writing down and presenting these ideas when I tried to discuss my concerns with my family, my friends and my associates. Those in this group who are the doers and those who tend to be prideful looked at me with that "give me strength look"; while those who are aware but tend to watch things happen said "you can't do anything about that Don, that's the way it is"; and finally those who aren't fully aware that anything is happening responded by saying, "what did you think of last nights game? or wasn't last night's show on TV great?"
Seriously, the fundamental problem that we the citizenry face is that we are allowing government, and most critically the Federal government, to usurp powers not intended by the Constitution. As government's role and powers grow there is a parallel loss of individual freedoms, which in turn can modify our behavior, causing a slow but consistent destruction of our individual integrities.
Consider a recent interview on National TV of one of our "distinguished" Congressmen regarding his version of health care reform. A question was posed asking whether the American people would accept his plan. His, in your face, answer was: "When we pass this health care legislation, the American people will love and support it just like they do Social Security". Unfortunately, what he said was true, but it is true only because the American public is willing to allow the Federal government powers that were not intended. We are shrinking form our individual responsibilities and allowing government to take our money through taxes and then dictate through bureaucracies how that money is to be spent. These social programs are a clear-cut loss of freedom and are examples of the type of bondage in which we allow ourselves to be entrapped.
I see a tremendous acceleration in the loss of freedoms as we walk on egg shells with our speech so as not to offend the so called "victims" of our society, as affirmative action supersedes ability, as we coddle lawyers and they proliferate like shmoos, as we imprison increasing millions in the bondage of welfare dependence, as public land becomes government land, as kangaroo rats become more important than people, as personnel property becomes subject to confiscation by government and as questionable, if not misleading, studies are used to extort billions of dollars from our economy (e.g. consider the demise of freon as an air conditioning fluid). With this in mind, I strongly encourage all concerned individuals and you doubters as well, to take President Benson's advise and study the basic eternal principles given above, so that we can make a health check on this nation and better understand the significance of the Constitution.
Preservation of the Constitution: Preservation of the Constitution will not be accomplished by a single individual or by an organization. Implicit in "the revelation" is individual members, concerned by events, acting in concert with other concerned citizens to save the Constitution from Satan's tyrannical grasp.
Having said this, I feel compelled to elaborate for clarification and I also issue a warning to those inclined toward apathy. As I have contemplated the meaning of "the revelation" I have wondered how the Lord would accomplish what appears to be an extremely convoluted task. I first considered the possibility of a Church member assuming a position of political power: A position from which he could execute the influence necessary to save the Constitution. This approach sounds like a good one but in practice a single individual, even the President of the United States, has very little power to effect change, especially change for the good. Next, I considered the possibility of the Church organization acting overtly to save the Constitution, but I quickly realized the Lord would not allow the Church to move into the political arena. President Hunter reaffirmed this position in an interview with the Church News (July 9, 1994) when he said, "There are many things that we do not enter into, such as politics." Finally, I realized that the preservation of the Constitution would occur as a result of the good people of this nation acting in concert to turn back Satan's forces. Forces that are hell bent. Forces that are working night and day to destroy our freedoms, that camouflage their devious efforts using slogans such as 'rights' and 'victims', that prey upon the traits of the natural man such as 'greed', 'the something for nothing syndrome' and 'apathy'. President Hunter reinforced my conviction that individuals must do this work when he said concerning improving conditions in the world, "members can't sit back and expect the Brethren to solve all problems" In other words we must lead ourselves in doing this work of saving our freedoms and the Constitution.
For those of us not endowed with traits of leadership, this truly is an awesome responsibility. However, it is our good fortune that President Benson has listed the things that we citizens must do to befriend and safeguard the Constitution. We must be righteous and moral. We must learn the principles of the Constitution and then abide by its precepts. We must become involved in civic affairs. And we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, and our advice. This is no time for ignorance and apathy. In fact, if my analysis is accurate, there is no time for ignorance and apathy. We must act and we must act now and we must act on every front that President Benson has recommended. This prophecy is a voice of warning and a call to action, but on the other hand, its very existence is a declaration of hope.
I will end this discourse with one caveat. This effort is basically an individual effort, but there will be a natural tendency to form or join groups. Forming or joining groups for mutual support is ok, but as the General Authorities have warned, there is a real danger in single-interest groups, because single-interest groups tend to function much like a horse with blinders, losing the vision and perspective to guide the ship of state.