UNITED BY HONOR.COM
The Divine Origin of Human Rights
The Manifest Dangers in a Republic
Laws of Economic Prosperity
Mother Teresa's Prayer
God Gives the True Standard
Enduring Standards of the Pioneers
Economics and Morals Must Harmonize
Religious and Political Truths Related
Principles of Right and Wrong Do Not Change
The Divine Origin of Human Rights
It must be remembered that the founding fathers of this great nation were men imbued with these principles [the 10 Commandments]. There are those in the land whose faith it is that these were “wise men whom [God] raised up” for the purpose of establishing the Constitution of the
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 will grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations-a throwback to the feudal system of the dark ages. We must ever keep in mind the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson, as found in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable 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 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 for the acts of the State-ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios-burst forth like a conqueror upon the world 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 Essays [1907], ch. 2.)
We also need to keep before us the truth that people who do not master themselves and their appetites will soon be mastered by government. (excerpted from “A Statement on Problems Affecting the Domestic Tranquility of Citizens of the United States of America”, October 21, 1975, Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture and former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
The Manifest Dangers in a Republic
We are rearing a generation that does not seem to understand the fundamentals of our American way of life, a generation that is no longer dedicated to its preservation. 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
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-be 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 by means of direct governmental intervention.” (excerpted from “A Statement on Problems Affecting the Domestic Tranquility of Citizens of the United States of America”, October 21, 1975, Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture and former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
It also seems fundamental to ask, 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 blessing, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens-a wise and 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.”
The principles behind this American philosophy can be reduced to a rather simple formula:
1. Economic security for all is impossible without widespread abundance.
2. Abundance is impossible without industrious and efficient production.
3. Such production is impossible without energetic, willing, and eager labor.
4. This is not possible without incentive.
5. Of all forms of incentive, the freedom to attain a reward for one’s labors is the most sustainable for most people. Sometimes called the profit motive, it is simply the right to plan and to earn and to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
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 for 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 soul-destroying to the idler and incentive-reducing to the worker.
Economic blessings are obtained by being obedient to the laws upon which economic blessings are predicated. (excerpted from “A Statement on Problems Affecting the Domestic Tranquility of Citizens of the United States of America”, October 21, 1975, Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture and former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
Mother Teresa's Prayer
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
"Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting into the government, principles and precedents which afterwards prove fatal to themselves."
(Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of a Nation, p. 462)
God Gives the True Standard
We cannot safely substitute anything for the Gospel. We have no right to take the theories of men, however scholarly, however learned, and set them up as a standard, and try to make the Gospel bow down to them; making of them an iron bedstand upon which God's truth, if not long enough, must be stretched out, or if too long, must be chopped off - anything to make it fit into the system of men's thoughts and theories! On the contrary, we should hold up the Gospel as the standard of truth, and measure thereby the theories and opinions of men. What God has revealed, what the prophets have spoken, what the servants of the Lord proclaim when inspired by the Holy Ghost, can be depended upon, for these are the utterances of a spirit that cannot lie and that does not make mistakes; while the teachings of men are often based upon sophistry and founded upon false reasoning. Uninspired men are prone to judge by outward appearances, and to allow prejudice and plausibilities to usurp the place of divine truth as God has made it known.
(Orson F. Whitney)
Enduring Standards of the Pioneers
Were these pioneers to express in words their fundamental beliefs, so manifest in their acts, surely they would counsel us to believe:
Yes, they would urge us to believe; That love is the greatest force in the world; that in love there is no fear; that love alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might; that there is an all-wise and all-loving God, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with his divine will.
However outmoded some of these standards may be considered today, they are nonetheless enduring truths without which no character worthy of the name, can be built. When we face the argument that “times are different”, may we have the wisdom to recognize that truth never changes. May we possess courage to direct our lives in accordance with these enduring values!
(Ezra Taft Benson, 1956, “So Shall Ye Reap”, p. 313-5)
Economics and Morals Must Harmonize
We should keep in mind that economics and morals are both parts of one inseparable body of truth and these must be in harmony. We must square our actions and our policies with these eternal principles if this nation is to be preserved and not go the way of
There is, my fellow Americans, a Force in the universe which no mortal can alter. We must make certain that our policies and our program conform with those eternal principles which have been set forth by that Force, by the God of Heaven. In other words, we need to raise our sights beyond the dollar sign, beyond material things. We need to recognize that
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend on their virtue, or put our confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.”
(James Madison, “Elliot’s Debates” 3:536-7)
Religious and Political Truths Related
Men are not building for durability either in their structures, their lives, their religious faiths, or their institutions. The result is a troubled world. Everywhere is anxiety and the dread arising from uncertainty which halts or stays all the normal processes of life. It all arises out of one cause – lack of fidelity to right principles – principles which are known and are not mysteriously hidden. Men have failed in allegiance to their religious principles and nations have not been true to their political principles. The two infidelities go together. When there is a breakdown of religious constancy, there inescapably follows deterioration in the political morality. Both have the same root cause, namely, the breaking away from or the compromising of sound principles. It amounts to a running away from reality and giving way to the urge for avoiding the hard and rigorous disciplines incident to meeting the issues of life, trying to reach goals without traveling the thorny road that lead to them.
We want to avoid all the disagreeable things. We are trying to live under a pleasure economy in a pleasure world. So we live, really, in nothing: for no God, for no piety towards the past. Once we lived for freedom, pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” The very expression implies sacrifice and suffering, discipline of the soul to meet reality. Now we want to be spared suffering of any kind – physical, emotional, or mental. We seek security, a six-hour day, a car, and a pension. But all the time life eludes us, peace of mind eludes us, and we have dissatisfaction, turmoil, uncertainty, and dread. (Albert E. Bowen)
Are there not, in reality, underlying, universal principles with reference to which all issues must be resolved whether the society be simple or complex in its mechanical organization? It seems to me we could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles and distracts us by subjecting each situation to the simple test of right and wrong. Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and a wrong to every question which requires our solution . . . .
We cannot well lay claim to being a grown-up, mature, civilized people until we have come to the point where morality is the determinant, and we ask simply what is, in good conscience, right. The conclusion seems inescapable that the confusion and distraction and conflicts and antagonisms and uncertainties and bewilderment which plague the world today present mankind with what is at bottom a purely moral issue – the issue between right and wrong. That, then, should be the final test of the propriety of all courses of action.
But there are difficulties thrown in the way of getting that simple test adopted. One is that there is current in the world today a school of thought which assert that there is no such thing as universal principles of right as opposed to wrong. They say that for the individual, growth is a continuing “ongoing process” without direction. That is, that we are continually changing, growing but not toward any ultimate purpose. There are accordingly no fixed principles by reference to which we may determine what we ought to do. If confronted with a situation, all we can do is to experiment – try out the course we want to take, and if it works out to the advantage of the experimenter, then for him it is right. Each one finds out for himself according to his own interest. Of course this must inevitably result in confusion, and ultimate chaos.
This is a deadly paralyzing notion to plant in the minds of people and particularly the youthful and immature. It strikes down belief that man is a moral being with a purpose and a destiny and commensurate responsibilities. It releases one who accepts it from all restraint of conscience. It provides him with an allegedly scientific but basely false assurance that he is in no wise responsible for his actions however vile they may be since they are after all but in the course of nature. Let such a notion as that gain general currency and you have dealt a devastating blow to all organized society. A free government could no longer exist, for its perpetuity must depend upon the moral integrity of its citizens. Only an absolute, iron-bound despotism could deal with a creation like that.
. . . . When foundation principles are discarded, then shifting, vagrant, opportunistic substitutes for principles take control and precisely because they are opportunistic they must shift with the vagaries of changing popular moods. Stability – a steady march forward toward a fixed goal – no longer is found. It is for us to stand by the tried and proved principles of religion and the tried and proved governmental principles which have so blessed our land. (Albert E. Bowen)
Principles of Right and Wrong Do Not Change
Those courses of behavior which harmonize with and conform to absolute spiritual values must be eternally right just as their opposites must be eternally wrong. Between the two there is undying conflict. They cannot accommodate themselves one to the other. If it were attempted to make adjustments between them by having each yield something to the other you might succeed in tempering the wrong but what you had left would not be the right. It could at best be right debased by an admixture of wrong, a counterfeit.
There may be new techniques of exposition, improved approaches, expanding understanding of interpretation and application and even a weeding out of extraneous [assertions] which have fastened themselves upon the basic principles, but in the fundamentals of the message itself there can be no alterations. Wherever the majority opinion may for the moment lie, or however the conflict may swirl and lash about it the eternal right must still stand unshaken and unmoved as the fixed base to which men may with assurance and safety anchor their lives. That which is right does not become wrong merely because it may be deserted by the majority, neither does that which is wrong today become right tomorrow by the chance circumstance that it has won the approval or been adopted by overwhelming predominant numbers. Principles cannot be changed by nor accommodate themselves to the vagaries of popular sentiment.
(Albert E. Bowen)