I really enjoy politics. I love the process and the ideas and frankly the entertainment value that our national political arena provides. I am in awe of the genius of our founding fathers and the incredible result that their ideas produced. Nothing like it has ever been seen in the history of the world. The last administration did some really horrible things. It has taken me a long time to realize that there are people who want power for power's sake. I know, I'm a little slow but it is something that I just don't understand. I believe it really took root in the first Bush administration and now we have a race-based radical as an advisor to President Obama.
This is a very uncomfortable place to be. I am reading "Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky was the original "community organizer". It is a book that is very influential in the progressive movement. Since there are about 3 of you that read this blog I am letting you know that I feel very moved to write now and then about political issues. Please don't be offended. This is the kind of stuff that really really concerns me.
These are the things that I believe:
Life is not fair. This life is a blink of the eye in eternity. We left home to get a physical body and take a test and we will be home before we know it. The unfairness and the trials and the hard parts of life are our eternal proving grounds and if we bear it well and rely with faith on our God we will have the spiritual muscles that we will need for the next part of our eternal progress. We came here to learn and grow and repent and forgive and serve and keep our promises and share that knowledge with our brothers and sisters.
It is wrong for a government to take the fruit of my family's labor by force and give it to someone else to try to equalize our situation in life.
It is my responsibility to be my brother's keeper. I should never be forced to keep that responsibility.
My God endowed me with the rights of life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness. He never said that I DESERVED it. I don't. This country was founded on certain principles so that I would have the freedom to EARN and grow and learn. In the process of that earning/growing/learning, if it is done in an honest way, I make myself stronger and able to lift those around me. He never endowed me with the rights of healthcare, two vehicles, shelter, food or a flat screen TV.(: I have the blessing of living in a country where I can EARN those things. This country was founded on true principles that make it possible for the have-nots to become the haves.
I was listening to an interview on Morning Edition a few days ago with Eduardo Galeano. He is a South American author. He made this statement, "No richness is innocent. Richness in the world is a result of other people's poverty and so we should begin to shorten this abyss between the haves and the have nots." I was driving and about had to pull over and catch my breath. I am a child of the 80's and I remember the Soviet Union and the Cold War. I knew on a logical level that there are people in the world that believe what Mr. Galeano said but to hear it verbalized had an incredible effect on me. I knew from the bottom of my soul that this is a lie. A lie that has its genesis in evil. It is exactly from this idea that millions of lives have been taken by those that believed this and thought that they were the people that should "shorten this abyss". They were helped by those that resented and were jealous of those things that they did not have. They did not realize until it was too late that when this idea is pursued, in the end no one "has" except those with the guns. It is a lie wrapped in the cloak of compassion or social justice.
It is my responsibility to be self-reliant. When I am so, I have the duty and blessing of lifting those around me. Prosperity is a natural consequence of this principle. When I give that responsibility away or it is taken from me I become stunted spiritually.
So- that's what I believe.
I've been reading my sister-in-law, Jennifer Jensen's master's thesis. It's entitled "A Comparison of Communism and Consecration". I'd like to quote her: "Communism is the counterfeit of consecration. It does not and cannot come near to accomplishing the same ends. To put it simply: communism compels forcefully plundered citizens to acquiesce, whereas consecration empowers citizens to freely attend to the second great commandment, to love thy neighbor as thyself."
2 comments:
Good work, Jana. I appreciate your comments. I believe it was this that Elder Holland was referring to when he counseled us at Cami's graduation ceremony to become computer literate and defend the Church. And, I believe, our liberties from those who would tear down and destroy. I think you have it exactly right.
You go girl! I agree! You have a gift with words.
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