Simple Utah Mormon Politics

"Based on the teachings on war in The Book of Mormon , there is only one US presidential candidate that I can support." Those aren't my words. They are the words of my 18-year-old son.  And you know what?  He's right.

The European Union, with its tight sanctions on Iran, may be pushing a wounded tiger into a corner just as the United States did to another country a few years ago.  I'm sure you remember what happened then...

Why has it taken more than eight months for the US Senate to ratify an extension of a treaty that has worked so well? Because certain Republicans want to make the Democrats look bad. Unfortunately, they're making themselves look silly in the process.

Once we have a correct understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we no longer beat the drums of war. Instead, we seek to understand other peoples and cultures and what motivates them. Disciples of Jesus Christ advocate peaceful solutions to our problems. As a nation, we Americans are not doing a very good job of living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Bombs Over Hanoi Would American foreign policy be more productive if Americans and their leadership thought more about how God would want us to act among ourselves and toward the other nations of the world? Absolutely--because if we turned to him, he would bless us with peace.

Good leaders serve the people.  Bad leaders oppress them.  This concept was reinforced for me today as we read about an oppressive Israelite king in our Sunday School class.  It struck home when I realized that the Israelite king had an unfortunate modern-day parallel--the American oppression of Iraq, a problem which has only recently begun to be fixed.

If patriotism means supporting one's government, then it's not always right to be patriotic. Our LDS priesthood lesson, about the sacrifices of the Founding Fathers, got over a bit early. One of my friends in the group noted that I had been with the United States military in Iraq and suggested that it would be enjoyable to hear my testimony. I don't think they were quite prepared for what they heard, but several came up to me after the meeting and said that it was exactly what they needed to hear. Here is the essence of what I told them.

Operation Millennium Challenge, perhaps the most lavish war gaming exercise in U.S. military history, was conducted in late 2002.  The enemy in this war game was a rogue commander in the Middle East.  Even more interesting is the date when the plans for Millennium Challenge were hatched. Seven years after the invasion of Iraq, we're still there. It seems clear that an attack on Iraq was planned well before America was attacked on 9/11. It also seems clear that anyone with any influence on the operation ignored all the warning signs of failure.

I always thought we hated Hitler more than Stalin because there was more documentary, pictorial, and videographic evidence of Hitler's atrocities, and that Stalin did a better job of covering up his and his country's crimes. That may be a partial explanation, but in reading The Anti-Communist Manifestos , I have discovered another, much more substantial reason.

Might the leaders of Western countries have known just how damaging World War I would be to Christianity, to Islam, to the West, and to the Middle East? Sadly, the Great War was fought for nothing but irrepressible pride. In retrospect, it is probable to imagine that, had WWI never been fought, a cataclysmic attack on American soil, such as the one that happened on September 11, 2001, would have never occurred. But even without retrospect, it would have been, nearly one hundred years ago, elementary to predict such an eventual backlash. From the perspective of malice toward Islam, it is easy in retrospect to see how Western encroachment into Muslim lands would have triggered a vicious backlash against Christians in Asia Minor and the Levant. A more Who would have imagined a century ago, that the pride of dictators, oligarchs, and gun runners would effect a needless world war, which would in turn lead to the fall of the Twin Towers? The exact target would have been hard to foretell,...

Ironically, especially for those who have not been keeping score, liberal Democrat administrations committed the United States to every major conflict in the 20th century except one. That one exception, George H.W. Bush's foray into Iraq, along with his son's clean up project to kick off the 21st century, convinced America that the Republican party is the perpetual party of war. For many Americans, history seems to have started on the morning of September 11, 2001. For all they know, Republicans do start all the wars. But the reality is that war-starting has very little to do with political party affiliation. Conservative leaders have consistently opposed the vulgarity of American empire, while progressives of either major party have been the ones to push us into empire, with those needless and messy wars. The actions of both Bush administrations have convinced many Americans that only Republicans have never met a war they didn't like. This Red vs. Blue is a worthless c...

President Barack Obama's first budget proposal is a travesty. His first deficit is projected to be $1.8 trillion. The numbers could be worse except for potential nickel-and-diming of American servicemen and women. "Option 96" in the current Health Care budget proposal would reduce the cost to government of providing the Tricare for Life (TFL) program, but such a cost reduction would be a sucker punch to American veterans--especially those on fixed incomes. The Constitution of the United States lists only 18 things that the federal government can do. At last count, they were doing about 18 million things, but of the Thousands upon thousands of servicemen and women have answered the call of their country. A significant number of them have answered the call with their lives. You'd think their government would take care of them. original 18 federal responsibilities, several of them refer to defending our country. Such things as declaring war raising and supporting Arm...

"Dad, the more I study American history, I can't figure out why America has not been more isolationist," my daughter, exasperated, exclaimed to me yesterday. She cited as examples of baffling U.S. perfidy the Korean and Vietnam wars. I could only say to her that I wish I had been that intelligent at age 17. The rollout of daily events makes it increasingly more easy to see how America could have dramatically benefited both the world and itself had it been politically and militarily isolationist for the last 100 years. Because we weren't isolationist, much of American patriotism now hinges on the hundreds of thousands of U.S. military servicemen and women who have died for their country. It didn't need to be that way. Real American patriotism should have been the stuff of a shining city on a hill in the attitude of beckoning to all to choose the same liberty that America had come to stand for. Instead, "isolationist" became almost overnight a filthy...

There exists a surprisingly large number of Christians, including a lot of Mormons, who think that the modern nation of Israel was created by an act of God. I happen to think that it was created by intrigue, something with which God does not involve himself. Even if Israel had been created by an act of God, it is safe to say that God would hide his face in shame at what Israel has become today. The Nation of Israel was conceived in war. It's my opinion that the world would be a much better place today had the nation of Israel never been born. The Jews have been persecuted like no other people in the history of the world. Hitler didn't start the torturings and killings--he just perfected Before the creation of modern Israel, Arabs and Jews had lived together in relative peace for many years. Since then, it seems, "peace" is no longer even an entry in the Middle Eastern lexicon. and systematized them. It's not surprising, then, that many Jews would want to le...

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that After suffering through bombardment of 6,464 rockets launched at Tehran from Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) bases southeast of the capital city over the past years, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and the Guardian Council recently determined to go on the offensive to terminate the MEK attacks. Iranian Revolutionary Guards in recent days launched a heavy air campaign against MEK strongholds. MEK spokespersons claim that over 400 followers have been killed in the air strikes, and at least 100 of them are civilians. After warning civilians in the area of MEK bases to leave their homes, Iran has now launched a follow-up ground attack. MEK freedom fighters are protesting the attacks as disproportionate. Protests of support for the MEK fighters have sprung up across Europe, the United States, and elsewhere around the world. The story continues : Thousands of Iranian troops backed by columns of tanks and helicopter gunships launched a ground offensive ...

Modern-day America has been styled recently by both Republican and Democratic governments as the savior of the world. The natural result of such illogic is to claim that whatever America does is right. Out of this supposed inability to do wrong was hatched the "Doctrine of Pre-Emption"--or, in other words, to attack "them" before "they" attack us. The United States government would be more successful if it heeded the Doctrine of Self-Defense as advocated in the Book of Mormon. The United States has employed the doctrine of pre-emption to some degree for decades now, but it has been most used blatantly by the George W. Bush administration. It is now, therefore, more commonly known as the Bush Doctrine. As fine-tuned by Bush's National Security Council, the Doctrine of Pre-Emption is this : The security environment confronting the United States today is radically different from what we have faced before. Yet the first duty of the United States Gover...

Recently the United States began training together with military personnel in the Republic of Georgia. A few weeks later a war broke out. How coincidental...? No. We've been taunting Russia for quite some time now. Can those who orchestrate US foreign policy really not see how the actions of the United States provoke the actions of Russia against the Republic of Georgia? For our safety, the motto of the next U.S. presidential administration should be "It's the foreign policy, stupid." An agent provocateur, as defined by dictionary.com is a secret agent hired to incite suspected persons to some illegal action, outbreak, etc., that will make them liable to punishment. A lot of America's incitement of Russia to illegal action is not so secret, but it is incitement just the same. Encouraging the nation of Georgia to become a member of NATO is a pretty big slap in Russia's face, although that's just one way we've incited them. Installing missile ba...

Yes, it is--but not nearly as often as we been taught here in the 21st century. On the subject of when it's morally permissible to go to war, George W. Bush and many of his predecessors could learn a great lesson from an ancient American military commander. We shouldn't talk about political issues in Sunday School class, but I've got to get some things off my chest...so I'll talk about them here instead. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, although it is politically neutral, encourages its members to be politically active. However, that political activism is prohibited from occurring in In modern-day parlance, "just war" means that even a half-baked idea is reason enough for the world's only superpower to dominate yet another nation, because the United States only wants what's best for everyone else. So did Stalin. So did Hitler. LDS meetinghouses. You may imagine, then, how difficult it was for me to bite my tongue to prevent it from...

In today's polarized American political climate, I occasionally hear people claim that Ronald Reagan overstepped his bounds when calling for the attack on the tiny island of Grenada. They say that it was too "easy". I disagree on both counts. War is never too easy, and true to form, neither was Grenada. Here are some facts about Grenada that you may not have known. Following the successful rescue mission to Grenada by US Military forces in October 1983, liberals scoffed at Ronald Reagan because it seemed to them like an 800-pound gorilla had just beaten a helpless child. Tell that to the 19 service members who lost their lives and the approximately 100 who were wounded. It was only because liberals didn't care to understand both sides of the issue that they made such baseless claims, which claims gave aid and comfort to our erstwhile Soviet enemy. As the Iranian Hostage rescue mission, known as Desert One , indicates, even the best laid plans turn out some times...

Ten years ago, Ron Paul criticized Bill Clinton's policy for war in the Balkans. You'd swear he'd just been criticizing George W. Bush. It is uncanny how similar the motives are behind the Bosnian War and the Iraq War. A critique of our quest for oil hegemony? It's in there. Allies running away from us? Yup! How about "If you don't support the war, you don't support the troops." It's all been said before--ten years ago during the Clinton Administration. So, put on your seat belt, and prepare for a topsy turvy ride of deja vu. The Establishment of Mao Tse-Tung's China was a master at propaganda. But he has NOTHING on the US Establishment, which now has the sights of its big guns trained on the ONE candidate that is not in some way beholden to the American Establishment--Ron Paul. Recently he has emerged as a formidable candidate. The American kingmen can no longer ignore him, and they don't dare talk about his clearly sound and attra...