It all comes down to the War in Heaven…
Many people might be mistaken about why LDS people–if they are–might be drawn to libertarianism in the first place. In short, it has nothing to do with anything Jesus said or didn’t say–or Bible-based doctrinal circles that Joseph Smith “squared” via modern revelation.
Rather, it all comes down to the War in Heaven.
So…the War in Heaven is kind of a big deal in LDS theology, and even more so in an LDS approach to libertarianism. I will warn any readers unfamiliar with certain basic tenets of LDS theology that I’m skipping a tremendous amount of background information which might make some of what follows more palatable. I assume that risk, and remind everyone that the explanations and opinions below are mine, and are not official statements of the
The first thing you need to know about the War in Heaven is that in LDS theology, we all lived before this life in the presence of God–but without physical bodies–we usually call this the good old days “the pre-mortal existence” and refer to our then-selves as “spirit children” of God. In LDS theology, every person was born to heavenly parents in this condition before coming to Earth.
According the LDS Bible Dictionary, the War in Heaven was essentially a conflict over two opposing “plans” for the spirit children of God–all of us–by which we could be born into mortality, be tested and tried, and return eventually to live with the Father. One plan, proposed by the Father and advocated by Jesus Christ, the First Born, involved granting each individual their “agency”, or freedom to choose to return to be with God, while the other plan, proposed by Lucifer, involved compulsory means whereby all of God’s children would be forced into obedience, thereby “saving” all of God’s children.
You can read the scriptures for yourself, and I suggest you do for completeness in understanding what exactly I’m talking about here (they’re all short):
Revelation 12:4-13, Abraham 3:22-28, D&C 29:34-38, Isaiah 14:12-15.
In a nutshell, those passages tell us that 1/3 of the spirit children of God rebelled, in company with Lucifer, and were cast out. The remaining 2/3 chose the plan of God. Yes, you heard me right: Mormons actually believe that you, me, and everyone else stuck on the 405 freeway at 5pm actually chose to come to Earth for the express purpose of exercising our agency–or freedom to choose.
It is upon this last sentence that Mormon libertarians rest much of their thinking: It’s all about agency. It all comes back to the war in heaven–without it, we wouldn’t have agency. Without agency, we wouldn’t sin. Without sin, we wouldn’t have need of a Savior or the Atonement. Without the Atonement, God is either unjust or unmerciful, and therefore imperfect, and must necessarily cease to exist.
So…yeah. It all comes down to the War in Heaven.
In practical terms, this means that many Mormons place an ultra-high premium on the freedom to choose–even if it means accepting something that is ultimately worse for society. Certainly I believe that a society without poverty is better than one with it, but if I must accept compulsory means–taxation and redistribution of my laborfruits, then I prefer poverty. The Word of Wisdom, along with clarifications of this revelation over the years, also reflect the premium Latter-day Saints place on agency–any substances that cause an individual to surrender their ability to choose freely should not be consumed: alcohol, tobacco, drugs–anything that causes addiction.
(Except Coke Zero and Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked, because these are not wants. They are needs.)
For me personally, this story became relevant when I returned from my mission to
(If you feel that you had similar experiences in a Sociology course, I’m sorry to inform you that you were being lied to.)
So I fell in love with capitalism and free markets, but not because of it’s relationship to economic equity or efficiency, not because of its ability to translate self-interest into great wealth, and not because of its seeming fairness–get what you earn, and not a penny more–but because it was a philosophy that seemed to hinge entirely on individuals’ exercisement of AGENCY–those who worked were rewarded, those who didn’t were not. Capitalism, above all, requires that people live and die by their own choices.
Similarly, I didn’t decide that communism was “wrong” because I hate sharing (though this is patently true when it comes to the ice cream I mentioned above), or because I want poor people to stay poor. Rather, I loathe collectivist policies because they use compulsory means on those with wealth, and remove the consequences from the actions of the rest. Collectivist policies destroy agency.
Jesus of Nazareth was absolutely right (gasp!)–wealth can be a horrible thing spiritually (though so can poverty), and greed is an influence or instigator for much of the evil in the world. But according to my understanding of LDS theology, it is necessary that each individual still CHOOSE to be greedy, lazy, selfish, or to be content, productive, or selfless. Individuals–and societies–must be allowed to do what the weird quasi-naked lady tells Ray to do at the end of Ghostbusters: Choose–even if it means a giant marshmallow man is going to come and get nasty in
Thus, the proper interpretation of my “Mormon libertarianism” is grounded in agency–not in capitalism. I do not oppose equity in society; I just oppose the use of compulsory means to achieve that end. I chafe under taxation, not because I’m running out of cash and hate the poor, but because those taxes are taken with the barrel of a gun. I pay fast offerings and make other charitable contributions to find achieve greater equity, and encourage others to do so, also. I hate the fact that you, my neighbor, can vote to raise my taxes, and force me to achieve greater equity.
I think you should agree with everything I say, but I prefer–no, I demand–that you choose, all by yourself, whether or not you will agree with a single word. You cannot leave that decision to me, because I refuse to make it for you.
