Hey everyone!
I just got out of a lecture that i heard about from my German class that was about a young member in Nazi Germany who tried to make a difference. The lecture was held today commemorating the beheading of the young man, Helmuth Huebner, who stood up to the Nazi government and tried to make the lies known. The first half of the lecture was interesting about the history and stories of members in the Third Reich. There were members who ranged completely across the political spectrum. It was interesting for me that there were even members who would have personally gone against this young man, had they known what he was doing before he was killed.
The speaker, a BYU professor of germanic and slavic languages, then took his opinion out and taught it a little too openly, I think. He said at the end that he wasn't in any way trying to compare Nazi Germany with our government today, but one of his main points in his thesis did just that. He said that one problem of the members in Germany at that time was that they were very under-educated about their situation. That was one way that Helmuth Huebner knew that the Allies were right and the Nazis were wrong, because he secretly listened to the English radio stations. He heard how the Nazis were covering things and making news to sound like they were winning, where the Allies were reporting the news fairly, admitting to their losses as well as their victories.
I thought it was interesting how at the end of the lecture Dr Keele invited us all to reread the sermons on the Mount and from the Tower, from Christ and King Benjamin, and re-evaluate what we should believe in. He brought up an interesting point that too many Mormons vote Republican just because all the Mormons do it.
The other side to that, however, was that he was criticizing the Bush administration the whole time, and even called him a weak man. I just want all of you to know that, without worrying too much about the past, except to see where mistakes were made, I think we need to think about what we're doing in this nation, and that the election next week is very important. I'm not sure if you all heard of Senator Obama's views of changing the nation to socialism (to some extent, at least) don't work nearly as well as he makes them seem. I saw this first hand in Germany. They have socialistic health care there, and it doesn't work nearly as it is described on paper. Maybe it was just because I worked a lot with the lower class; but there were also many in higher classes who taught me a lot about their situation. Changing to socialism would be rewriting the constitution and would be taking away our inalienable rights. My ability to earn so much a year would probably match that of what some would receive from this redistribution of wealth. Except they wouldn't have to work for it. Coming from our family, I consider myself somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, so I imagine those above me would have to give and those below me would receive, and not too much would happen for me.
The problem with this is the natural man. Just like Communism, the system would work perfectly if all gave their best and all was fair. But, as I saw in Germany, too many people just stopped giving and started relying on receiving. There was even a couple that I taught who would not get married because as long as he was a student and she had children, they would receive more from the government. My ideas are not based on the fact that the rich should give to the poor, although that would also be good, but on the fact that when things are made too easy to get, we lose sight on endurance. We lose sight on the eternal principle of work, endurance, patience.
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Yes it works on paper, but socialism only feeds the natural man. The Church tried the Las of Consecration, which worked amazingly well with the spiritually minded. There were, however, a few who fell back into being natural men, and ruined it for the rest of the Church. This nation is not yet ready to have a human-made Law of Consecration, much less a godly Law of Consecration. Those who know nothing of not being natural men will ruin it for all of us who do know.
Sorry this is so long, but I think it is important. I love you all!
-Andrew
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Political Help (Dad)
Hi All, Robin asked me to tell her my philosophy to help her on Election Day. I thought it would be a good posting for the BLOG.
I thought you might be interested in an editorial from the Deseret News. It is at http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705259288,00.html. It seems like all anyone says is to tear down the opponent. It is not very often that you read or hear anything that has only positive points in it. This is an editorial by a Republican and a Democrat. It may not help, but at least it should make you think before you “head for the hills” as the second guy puts it.
There has been so much negative campaigning by both sides that it is hard to know what to expect after the election. In the past the moral choice in the campaign has been more clear. Abortion, gay lifestyles, and opposition to family values has been promoted by one side and opposed by the other. The candidates and even the party platforms have either ignored them this year or have actually coalesced to the same positions. We have a Democrat leading the Senate who is “pro-life” and is a family man who sent his sons on missions and his children to BYU. We have a Republican President who opposes stem cell research on moral grounds and a Mormon Senator from Utah who is leading the campaign to allow stem cell research – also on moral grounds.
The choice this year reminds me a lot of the 1976 election. We were in graduate school at the University of Illinois then and idealistic as all students were at that time. The election was between an older man who had spent his life in congress and knew government inside and out and a young outsider who was charismatic and full of enthusiasm to “change Washington.” (Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) Jimmy Carter came to Illinois and I went to hear him speak. He was really convincing – a good speaker and seemed to be a welcome change from the politics of Watergate. In the end I voted for Ford, but I have to admit that I was impressed by Carter and saw a lot of reasons to vote for him to bring in some new ideas. You can read in history books how it turned out. Carter was probably one of the worst presidents. Before he left office we had double-digit inflation, high taxes, mortgage rates around 15%, foreign relations in disarray, and American hostages in the embassy in Iran.
I don’t like socialized medicine. I don’t like the government redistributing wealth based on social status. The system should encourage merit and alleviate real need. I don’t like the attitude that if anything goes wrong the Government should take care of us. (This seems to be the crux of the current choice.) I don’t like having both houses of Congress and the Presidency in the same party. This has not been good in the past no matter which party it was.
I think you can see from that which way I am intending to vote. However, I actually like the choice in this election better than in the last two, and maybe even the last four. The Lord’s advice to us about elections is in D&C 98:4-10. There are things I don’t like in their campaign rhetoric, but the impression I have gotten is that both John McCain and Barak Obama are basically “honest, wise and good.” This seems to be the test we should apply to our elected officials, and I don’t think we have been able to say that about both candidates in the last few elections. In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen is not having the wrong party win; rather it is having half of the country not accept the winner as the President, giving him the respect that the office deserves, and working to help him succeed instead of hoping that he fails.
I hope this helps. It is good you are thinking hard about it. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, “Vote Democrat – it is easier than thinking.” I am afraid that is true in too many cases on both sides.
Love
Dad
I thought you might be interested in an editorial from the Deseret News. It is at http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705259288,00.html. It seems like all anyone says is to tear down the opponent. It is not very often that you read or hear anything that has only positive points in it. This is an editorial by a Republican and a Democrat. It may not help, but at least it should make you think before you “head for the hills” as the second guy puts it.
There has been so much negative campaigning by both sides that it is hard to know what to expect after the election. In the past the moral choice in the campaign has been more clear. Abortion, gay lifestyles, and opposition to family values has been promoted by one side and opposed by the other. The candidates and even the party platforms have either ignored them this year or have actually coalesced to the same positions. We have a Democrat leading the Senate who is “pro-life” and is a family man who sent his sons on missions and his children to BYU. We have a Republican President who opposes stem cell research on moral grounds and a Mormon Senator from Utah who is leading the campaign to allow stem cell research – also on moral grounds.
The choice this year reminds me a lot of the 1976 election. We were in graduate school at the University of Illinois then and idealistic as all students were at that time. The election was between an older man who had spent his life in congress and knew government inside and out and a young outsider who was charismatic and full of enthusiasm to “change Washington.” (Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) Jimmy Carter came to Illinois and I went to hear him speak. He was really convincing – a good speaker and seemed to be a welcome change from the politics of Watergate. In the end I voted for Ford, but I have to admit that I was impressed by Carter and saw a lot of reasons to vote for him to bring in some new ideas. You can read in history books how it turned out. Carter was probably one of the worst presidents. Before he left office we had double-digit inflation, high taxes, mortgage rates around 15%, foreign relations in disarray, and American hostages in the embassy in Iran.
I don’t like socialized medicine. I don’t like the government redistributing wealth based on social status. The system should encourage merit and alleviate real need. I don’t like the attitude that if anything goes wrong the Government should take care of us. (This seems to be the crux of the current choice.) I don’t like having both houses of Congress and the Presidency in the same party. This has not been good in the past no matter which party it was.
I think you can see from that which way I am intending to vote. However, I actually like the choice in this election better than in the last two, and maybe even the last four. The Lord’s advice to us about elections is in D&C 98:4-10. There are things I don’t like in their campaign rhetoric, but the impression I have gotten is that both John McCain and Barak Obama are basically “honest, wise and good.” This seems to be the test we should apply to our elected officials, and I don’t think we have been able to say that about both candidates in the last few elections. In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen is not having the wrong party win; rather it is having half of the country not accept the winner as the President, giving him the respect that the office deserves, and working to help him succeed instead of hoping that he fails.
I hope this helps. It is good you are thinking hard about it. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, “Vote Democrat – it is easier than thinking.” I am afraid that is true in too many cases on both sides.
Love
Dad
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