Independence

I want to begin by thanking all those, whether on the battlefield or at home, who have fought to defend our liberty and our independence from those who would seek to oppress us. I hope I will use that gift wisely.

What is the American dream?

When we think of the American dream, a lot of us probably picture a nice, big house and a nice, fancy car and a lot of exotic vacations. We see this as the result of having the opportunity to climb a ladder to the top. It's certainly better than having no chance at all, but is that really all it is? Is that the cause that the patriots seceded from England for?

Now, there were some problems with how to deal with money on the surface. But the issue wasn't so much taxes as it was taxes without representation.

The American dream is the freedom to choose your dream. You may succeed at it. You may fail. You may even find out that it's not as fulfilling as you thought it would be. Freedom doesn't guarantee that everything will be sugar plums and rainbows all your life.

The Burden and Beauty of freedom: Responsibility

Freedom means hard decisions and hard work if you want to get anywhere. (You could just choose to be a couch potato all your life and not get or become anything.) It means making mistakes and doing things right, and learning from the consequences of both. If you do get somewhere, it means so much more to you because you chose it and put in the effort. It might not be luxury. It might be an accomplishment that you are passionate about. It might be a happy family. It might be spiritual well-being. It could be several things. The point is this: you get to decide who you are.

Give Up Responsibility?

Suppose you decided that being responsible was too hard. You want to choose, but you don't want to deal with some of the natural consequences because they might be less pleasant than the thing you chose to do. There's no getting out of consequences in the long run. Whatever you do has an effect on you, and usually on others.

Turn the page, and maybe you want good consequences that come from good choices. Well, that's fine. But making decisions is so hard! What if you mess up and get a bad consequence? It's risky! So, you want to give your decisions to other people who promise to make the right choices and send good things your way. That's easy enough. But why on earth would you trust other fallible, mortal beings who don't even know you and all your circumstances with your decisions? The only way that you can determine what the consequences are is if you make the decisions and act on them.

Now, that doesn't mean that you can't go to others for advice, or even consider unsolicited advice. Taking some wise advice does not make you weak or dependent. You might have to swallow your pride to do so, but that actually makes you stronger. Making a good decision means being aware of and weighing the options. Then you choose.

That also goes for accepting help. If someone is choosing to offer you assistance, and you need it, there's no shame in taking it. Allowing someone to serve you will allow them to grow as a person, and it does good to you too.

Government's Responsibility: Protect Freedom

So, what does all this have to do with political liberty? The principles of freedom and responsibility have a lot to do with the role of government in our lives. Do we want a government that protects our basic rights, which includes the pursuit of happiness? Or do we want a government that decides most things for us and gives us nice (or not so nice) things? With the latter option, that's a lot of responsibility to put into the hands of a few. It takes away some of the essence of who we are. It lays a heavy burden on our leaders, whether they are competent or not, as in the words of King Henry in the third act of Shakespeare's Henry V¹:

Vpon the King, let vs our Liues, our Soules,
Our Debts, our carefull Wiues,
Our Children, and our Sinnes, lay on the King:
We must beare all.
O hard Condition, Twin-borne with Greatnesse,
Subiect to the breath of euery foole, whose sence
No more can feele, but his owne wringing.
What infinite hearts-ease must Kings neglect,
That priuate men enioy?

(A lot of the U's and V's were interchanged, if that helps it make sense.)

. . . And also as in the words of King Mosiah, who saw the need to change the form of government. (He was a Nephite king in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ):

32. And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land.

33. And many more things did king Mosiah write unto them, unfolding unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous king, yea, all the travails of soul for their people, and also all the murmurings of the people to their king; and he explained it all unto them.

34. And he told them that these things ought not to be; but that the burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part.²

More Than Politics

Everything discussed here stems from concepts deeper than politics. Our liberty is tied to our very essence as human beings. God loves us and wants us to be happy. He gives us commandments with the intent that if we choose to keep them, we will be blessed. He does not force us, though. He gives us the choice and then offers us help and mercy for when we need it. That's the only way we can really be happy: if we choose happiness, as explained in the book of Alma (emphasis added):

3. And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.

4. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—

5. The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.

6. And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.

7. These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.

8. Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.³

So, let's go back really quickly to the story of the Nephites and their new independence:

38. Therefore they relinquished their desires for a king, and became exceedingly anxious that every man should have an equal chance throughout all the land; yea, and every man expressed a willingness to answer for his own sins.

39. Therefore, it came to pass that they assembled themselves together in bodies throughout the land, to cast in their voices concerning who should be their judges, to judge them according to the law which had been given them; and they were exceedingly rejoiced because of the liberty which had been granted unto them.⁴

The real American dream has been around for a long time. It's just been recently recognized again. We also have a law (the Constitution), and we get to choose what kind of people represent us. The Constitution was set up as a parameter for those we appoint in preserving our basic rights and liberties so that they don't overstep their bounds and take them away. Let's continue to defend our independence. Let's take responsibility for our choices and actions and enjoy the fruits of doing -- and being -- good. Perhaps they won't come right away, but they will. God keeps his promises. He's kept his promises to me, and I trust that he will continue to do so.

1Shakespeare, William. Henry V. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2253/pg2253.html

2The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Mosiah 29: 32-34. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/29?lang=eng

3The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Alma 43:3-6. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/41?lang=eng

4The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Mosiah 29: 38-39. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/29?lang=eng

Freedom and Responsibility

Here are some thoughts I've been having lately. It seems like a lot of people these days just want everything to come easy. That's not the way life works, but a lot of us have been fooled into thinking that. My grandparents and my parents knew how to work, and they knew that if they wanted something in life, they had to work for it. Now machines and computers do a lot of the work for us. We like that. I must admit, it's nice to have extra time for thinking, reading, socializing, etc. But the media and politicians play on our lazy nature. They offer to take care of more things for us and make more decisions for us. If we let them, we're giving up part of our agency, and we're no longer free. Giving up responsibility is giving up agency.

Another way people give up agency is by claiming that they were born with a certain nature or into a certain environment and that they can't change. “I am what I am,” they say. They make themselves a victim to there genes or circumstances. Some scientists claim that we are predetermined which leads to the conclusion that we are not free. I choose not to believe that. I think one of our most important attributes as human beings is our agency. Why is it so easy to give it up? We want the freedom, but not the responsibility. We have freedom and liberty drilled into our brains, but our media very rarely portrays the consequences that come from making choices of a certain nature. We forget about our responsibilities to ourselves, to others – especially our loved ones, and to God.

This is why, over all the socio-economic systems we currently have available to us, I think a republican government with free enterprise economy is the best option. We are free so long as we don't infringe on other people's freedoms. We have liberty and responsibility. The government is also responsible to us. A lot of people don't like the competition and hard work required to succeed in this kind of system, but they want all the benefits and freedoms that come with it. When politicians offer to take care of the people and provide them with happiness “from the cradle to the grave” it sounds pretty good. What people don't realize is that they're being fooled into giving up their freedom to choose what to make of their own lives. Isn't that the point of living as a human being? They are also being fooled into giving up pain and discomfort. Yes, those things are necessary too. How could we ever know pleasure if we didn't know pain? How could we ever know fulfillment if we didn't have any obstacles to climb over? How could we ever be victorious if we never had any conflict? We will never find what life is all about if we are like the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels who lead meaningless, but painless lives.

Besides that, no man-made system could possibly provide every pleasure or happiness. How can a bunch of mere mortals who don't know us at all know what will make us happy? Aren't we supposed to figure that out as individuals? I believe that there is one objective path to happiness, but we must, as individuals, be convinced that that is the right path. We as individuals must choose to follow that path or to not follow it. Then we must take the responsibility for that choice.

Have you ever seen Megamind? It has an interesting message that goes right along with this, I think. Here's a simplified rundown of the story. So, Megamind, a big-headed blue alien man, was raised by a bunch of jailbirds – a less-than satisfactory upbringing. He was taught that bad was good and that good was bad. So, he became a super villain and fought against Metrocity's hero, Metroman. As the plot progressed, he realized that bad didn't give him all the rewards he wanted. He started to care about something beyond himself. He tried to do something good, but it backfired. He thought that was only good at being bad. In the end, he pulled through and saved the day. He realized that even though he was brought up in less than ideal conditions, and that even though he had been an outcast in his younger years, he could still choose to be something good. He learned to act, instead of being acted upon.

Hooray for good movies!