On January 6, 2021 a group of thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in order to disrupt the Senate’s official confirmation of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States of America. These events have set off a firestorm of protests and denunciations across the planet, with many people expressing open dismay that “such an attack on democracy” could happen in America. Here I explore how these reactions prove that those who talk about democracy the most often understand it the least, as a group of the demos – the common people – assaulting the halls of power in order to prevent what they saw as corrupt political actions is the most democratic that has happened in America in the last fifty years. I further explore how the celebration by many on the political Left of the shooting of one of the protestors shows what their true political motives are, and they aren’t to end police brutality. Finally, I look at what the problems are which have given rise to this political divisiveness and what the real solutions are to it, both from a secular perspective and from a fuller religious perspective.
Tag: civil disobedience
The Lockdowns Are Killing Us
We have repeatedly been told that if you do not support the state ordered lockdowns then you oppose science, hate your grandparents, and want people to die. Well, the results of the lockdowns are starting to become too obvious for this delusion to hold up. Reality is setting in and no matter of vitriolic propaganda or perpetuated ignorance can disguise the truth any longer. The lockdowns have devastated the mental health of millions of people and suicides are skyrocketing across the planet. The fear, terror, and anxiety induced by the vulgar and ignorant media coverage of the virus coupled with the government ordered lockdowns which have turned billions of free people into prisoners in their own home have resulted in mass riots in dozens of cities all over the Earth. The elderly are dying from the misery and isolation caused by the lockdowns and have started protesting, demanding their rights to see their loved ones returned. Scientific studies are being released that prove the lockdowns didn’t reduce deaths from Covid-19 no matter how strict the procedures were, meaning the lockdowns have only killed people. Challenges to the legality of the lockdowns and the ability to enforce them have begun to spring up. No matter where you look, one thing is again and again proven an absolute fact: the lockdowns are a complete failure that have done nothing but destroy lives and kill people and must be ended immediately, without delay.
The U.S. Constitution: A Covenant With Death, An Agreement With Hell
In American Latter-day Saint circles there is much idolatry over the issue of the U.S. Constitution. Most of it has to do with a particularly willful misunderstanding of most statements on the Constitution found in the scriptures, the purpose of government, the rights of the people in the face of oppressive government laws, and the supremacy of God’s law to man’s in all cases. American Latter-day Saints also tend to idolize the American Founding Fathers. Much is made of the Lord’s statement, “by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose,” that is for writing the Constitution. (see D&C 101:80) It is without a doubt that they were intelligent men. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are still worth studying even today. But that doesn’t justify us in not creating something better now than they could envision then; that doesn’t justify us calcifying out social, spiritual, political, and economic development because they could not imagine the next step in liberty and individual freedom. It does not justify us in idolizing the Constitution (or your respective national charter), ignoring the many ways it has been wrong, corrupt, and evil form the very start, and choosing it over that which is better now.
When We Should Break The Law
From our earliest days, when the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum suffered in Liberty Jail and died in Carthage Jail, to the Saints spending nearly 30 years resisting Federal anti-polygamy laws, practicing civil disobedience and being willing to go to prison in order to serve God, on down to the modern day we have examples of the lives of great Saints who have repeatedly broken the laws of the land in order to do what is right and to serve God. Latter-day Saint history is full of rebels and rogues, people who would rather be exiled from the nation, who would rather be killed, than disobey the Lord. So how is it that so many of us have become so milquetoast about standing up the government tyranny? Why is it that so many of us think that the Saints should “strictly obey the laws of the government in which they live,” even when such laws aren’t just wrong or immoral, but even when said laws actively compel us either to disobey God or punish us for obeying Him? While there are numerous reasons, one of the largest is because Latter-day Saints have misinterpreted the Twelfth Article of Faith, D&C 58:21, and D&C 134:5 as giving commandments to the Saints to obey the law and to comply even with evil laws. A close examination of these scriptures though, as I attempt here, show that such interpretations are, by the large, gross nonsense.
How We Win: The Complete Series on How Nonviolence Can Help Change Society
What follows below was originally released as three separate parts, but, intended from the start to be read as one whole article, but ended up being too long. Each article works singularly, but the full force of the argument is somewhat disjointed by the need to break it up for easier consumption. Here the original article is restored for those who wish to take it in as one complete work. It explores how nonviolent action would not only help the protestors in the street win allies, change hearts, and alter laws, but how nonviolence makes possible the transformation of our society from what it is into one with greater liberty, equality, and prosperity for all.
Universal Imprisonment on Independence Day
American Independence Day, a day in which Americans are supposed to declare their liberation from an overweening British state that sought to turn them into servile prisoners in their own lands dawns this year with the American public facing mass imprisonment in their own states, cities, and homes. Convicted of no crime, facing no accusations, merely upon the declaration of those in power, tens of millions of Americans have been placed under house arrest and threatened with both life shattering fines and life ending violence if they disobey. If America ever needed a new declaration of liberation, today is that day.
How We Win: Part 3- The Way to Tomorrow
In Part 3 of 3 of my series about how to bring about true social change through nonviolence, I explore the power of nonviolence to bring about reconciliation, transforming our enemies into our friends, and to create a better world through mercy.
The US Government Has Declared War On Us
In response to the challenge that mass protests against police violence all across the nation pose to the position and influence of those in power, the governments of the cities, states, and nation itself have declared war against the people of the USA. Million of people are being placed under house arrests as if they were criminals, the military is being sent in to occupy various American cities, and the US President is threatening to us the US Army to forcibly invade and occupy American cities directly. In response to these acts of war against themselves, how should the people respond? What is the best way forward? Here we explore just those issues.
The Most Terrible Form of Idolatry is The Government
In 1854, William Lloyd Garrison stood up in the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City and delivered one of the most powerful anti-slavery speeches ever given. The value of this speech goes beyond its historical setting though. In this speech Garrison lays down the basic cause of liberty for all men and outlines exactly why any government that oppresses human liberty stands condemned and should be disobeyed. The principles herein are universal, especially for those seeking peace, liberty, and equality today. In a world riven by racist and nationalist violence -as is currently happening in America right now- Garrison’s words and his remedies especially apply more than ever:
“Show me the government which can be maintained only by destroying the rights of a portion of the people, and you will indicate the duty of openly revolting against it.”
The Government’s Unending War Against Society
Instead of focusing on the riots themselves I want to talk about the “intolerable conditions that exist in our society” that have given rise to them, that make people feel that the only way they can have their voice heard is by application of the torch and the rod to break, burn, and destroy. I want to talk about the State, how it has corrupted everything, and how to truly change it.