One does not have to be an expert in either economic theory or foreign affairs to understand the proper role of government. First and foremost you need to establish the principles you believe in. Once you have these, you will be able to look at any situation (i.e. foreign affairs, fiscal policy, etc) and know how to react without being an expert in the details. I am just now beginning to realize this myself. Instead of clinging to a party, you should cling to principles-this gives you the freedom to truly understand if the decisions made are right or wrong (based, of course, on your principles).
It is important to remember that further education can change our paradigms. This paradigm shifting is important as long as we have the gospel as our foundation. This anchor helps to know that we are not being deceived or being led down the wrong road. Let me explain paradigm shifting with a story from Steven Covey’s book 6 Events.
A man (call him Steve) gets on a subway on a peaceful Sunday morning on his way to church. Steve is enjoying the quite ride and thinking about spiritual things (it is Sunday after all). At one of the stops another man gets on the subway with two children. The entire atmosphere of the subway is changed as the man sits down next to Steve with his head in his hands as the two children terrorize the subway car-bumping into people, yelling, and hitting people’s newspapers. Steve tries to sit there and ignore the situation and just “have a good attitude.” Finally, he can’t take it anymore and he turns to the man who is sitting next to him and says, “Sir, don’t you think you could control your kids a little better. They are disturbing the entire car.” The man looks up as if he is just now aware of what is going on. He turns to the first man and says, “Oh, I am sorry. We just came from the hospital where my wife just died and I don’t think my kids know how to take it-frankly I don’t either.” Immediately, Steve’s entire attitude changes. He doesn’t have to try to be nice to this man or try to be polite. He now, because of his paradigm shift, wants nothing more than to help this man.
If you are trying to find your way around Chicago and all you have for directions is a map of Los Angeles it won’t matter how hard you try, how good your attitude is, you will still get lost and not find your way.
These two anecdotes help explain why sometimes we need a paradigm shift. The first paradigm shift that we need is to gain a firm testimony of the gospel. This must take place before all else because it is the foundation. Without this we can be deceived and misled by other philosophies or ideas. Once we have an unshakeable testimony of the gospel, we can begin to take part in the discussions of the world (e.g. political, philosophical, ideological, etc).
The most important principle for me is liberty. Most people would probably agree with this statement but it is not as easy as it sounds. The reason I hold this principle so highly is due to the fact that it is one of the first principles of the gospel. We cannot do anything if we do not have liberty. A war in heaven was fought over liberty (we call it free agency in gospel discussions). We sometimes mischaracterize this war with assumptions from our experience here on earth. There was no fighting per se. It was a war of words, thoughts, ideas, and philosophies. We were presented with God’s plan. That was the only plan. We sometimes say that Satan produced another plan. There was no other plan. There was God’s plan, our Heavenly Father’s plan. He asked, “Whom shall I send?” He knew the answer to this. He knew he was going to send Jehovah. But God has a way of asking what I call agency questions: “Whom shall I send,” “Adam where art thou,” etc. God is omniscient. Do we really think He did not know whom he was going to send or that He did not did know where Adam was? Of course He did, on both accounts. He asks agency questions so we can show to ourselves where we currently stand. Satan was rejected as a messiah because he did not bring any potential of salvation with him.
Back to liberty-this is the grand principle. God, Himself, does not interfere with our agency, liberty, or freedom. The other grand principle is consequence. This is why liberty is not easy. There are consequences to every decision. There are even consequences for every indecision, which is essentially, in and of itself, a decision. You cannot have one without the other. One of the reasons our country is having a hard time right now is because we say we want liberty but we don’t want any consequences for our actions. You cannot have one without the other. Our desire for no consequences is beginning to override our desire for liberty and so we are facing big problems.If we transfer these two principles to the realm of politics we see a very interesting thing. First, the Founding Fathers believed in Liberty. They signed their death warrants when they signed the Declaration of Liberty (i.e. Declaration of Independence) from Britain. If America lost the Revolutionary War, they would have all been hung for treason. They indeed pledged their “lives, fortunes and [their] sacred honor.” They believed in liberty because they found themselves without it.
So if we truly believe that the Constitution was conceived in Liberty, then we can rely on it and use it in our political discussion. The beauty of this is that the Doctrine and Covenants tells us that it is an inspired document. It is not a perfect document, but one that we can rely on to form our political views. (Do you see how the first foundation or paradigm we need is the gospel?)
Here’s the thing though, not all of the Founding Fathers agreed. They argued, fought, discussed, and fought some more. Jefferson and Hamilton hated each other. Adams and Jefferson were initially friends, later became politically enemies, and finally were reconciled in their old age. However, using liberty as our guide, we can ask which of their philosophies we agree with. Does it lead to more liberty or less?
As we progress through the history of our country, we can track the loss of liberty almost from the day the War of Independence was over. Little by little, our liberties have been eroded away by the government. This has happened very subtly and so most of us do not notice. But we must know that we have less liberty now than we did.
Now don’t misunderstand me. I know that this is the greatest country the world has ever known. It has to be to do what it did, that is, be the foundation for the last dispensation. But it is an imperfect system that allows for human error. It allows for power struggles that are not in harmony with the gospel. It allows for a reduction of liberty. One of the things that God is trying to teach us in this mortal existence is that different forms of government do not work including democracy. The only form of government that works is a kingdom of kings and priests who love and serve THE King of kings and Great High Priest.
So what is the role of government? You have to answer that question for yourself but for me its role is solely to protect and ensure the liberty of its people. Anything it does above that is overstepping its bounds.
The bottom line for me is that my views on liberty, constitution, etc lead me to be a conservative. You must decide for yourself and be aware. Not everyone who says they are conservative follow conservative principles. They may just be regurgitating the party line and the party may be doing things that are not conservative.
Whatever you do, don’t rely entirely on other people for your ideals. Form them for yourself. THIS WILL TAKE TIME SO DON”T BE IMPATIENT. Initially, in my political awareness, I got so caught up in the rhetoric that I tried to force into my paradigm some ideals that I was being spoon-fed. This was very hard. Now that I have had my own paradigm shift it is easy and less taxing on my brain to form my ideals. Again, remember, principles.
The two websites that have helped educate me greatly are lewrockwell.com and mises.org. There is more information there than could be digested in a lifetime so we have little excuse that we were “uninformed.”
Now for the real last thing: The best short book on all of this is called The Law by Frederic Bastiat. It is very short and the first thing you should read before you do anything else. It is only 50 pages.
Good luck in your quest.
