Religion & Politics...

With the upcoming election I've been listening a lot to Talk Radio lately. I don't know how many of you are ElRushbo listeners, but I've been thinking about something he said the other day. He had a caller on the program and they made reference to one of his previous comments. Rush believes, and often says, that Conservatism will always triumph when tried. The caller was asking why it appears that Conservatism isn't making much of a stand this election year. We have Hillary and Obama on one side, and McCain on the other. (Who many critisize of being way too far left wing.) There was Romney, but he closed his campaign, and then there is Huckabee but really, does he stand a chance at all? Especially now that Romney has endorsed McCain. Rush's reply was that there isn't a candidate on the ballot who can unite conservatives. He said that if there were a person who could unite all 3 facets of the conservative base, he would take the race... but we don't. So here we are, most of the way through the primaries and we have two strong left wingers on one side, and one moderate left winger on the other. Not looking too good for the conservative Republican base out there. Now there are arguments to McCain's conservativism, but mostly I wanted to use this to make a point.

As I have thought about the idea that Conservatism will always triumph when tried, another thought came to mind. I thought of what another wise conservative leader said. (Except this conservative leader happened to be a Prophet of God...) Joseph Smith said, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves." Take this on contrast to what Rush said. Rush believes that inherently Conservatism will always win. Now there is some truth to this. Good will ultimately win overall, but not in every battle in every society. We see many societies through the history of the world who have destroyed themselves because they strayed away from the principles of the Savior, Jesus Christ. You could say that they became too "liberal" in their view of the world, and the principles of the Gospel. They took the wisdom of men over the teachings of their Prophet of God. They strayed from the "conservative" principles of honesty, integrity, morality, etc... Once their society became so overcome with these "liberal" ideas that morality and honesty weren't that important, that whatever you want to do is ok, these ideas became their ultimate downfall. Their government crumbled because it was no longer held up on principles of righteousness, but rather, it was corrupted. Men who would seek power could change the government to suit their desires. Officials would look the other way when a crime was comitted if it was in their "best interests" in terms of staying in power. No longer was their government ruled by truth, honesty, integrity, and morality, but by deceit, greed, and lust for power. In other words, the people strayed from those "correct principles" needed to properly "govern themselves". Righteousness and "Conservatism" did not triumph in those societies because they did not allow it to do so. They abandoned principles of righteousness and did not teach their children to live righteously.

Our nation is in a very similar situation these days. We have many, even in our government, who would abandon those principles of honesty, interity, and especially morality, because it is in their "best interests". We aren't being politicaly correct if we disagree with a person's "sexual orientation" or decision to "live together" out of wedlock. These are personal choices and have nothing to do with "right and wrong". On the contrary, that's EXACTLY what they are. They are issues of right and wrong. We need to teach our children that Government should be and is founded on principles of righteousness. Morality isn't something to be taken lightly. It is not just a " good thing", but is absolutely critical to the survival of our government. What most of these "liberals" fail to recognize, is that our own constitution was founded on these same principles. If we abandon them, there is nothing left to hold up our government and it will crumble just like civilizaitons of old. Righteousness isn't optional, it isn't even just preferred, it is absolutely essential. We as a people need to make a stand for what we know is right. We, most of all, need to teach our children to be governed by principles of righteousness and not by the lusts of the flesh. The future of our nation, and our world, depends on it.