my gov paper

Civic Responsibility
Report Prepared for Dr. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel
Honors 240, Section 1
Winter 2009
Jessie Riddle
In the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prophets and apostles have stated that freedom is a result of individual action. Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote “More than we realize, our whole society really rests on the capacity of its citizens to give ‘obedience to the unenforceable’” (Maxwell 175). However, because all men have the freedom to make their own choices, a people’s liberty is not guaranteed. Speaking of communist Russia in 1925, Elder Charles Nibley remarked, “These people are denied their free agency. The rulers of this people have a wrong conception of the rights and privileges which the Lord says pertain to all mankind” (Nibley 72). United States citizens have the power to direct their own government, and are thus responsible for the future of liberty in their country. Latter-day Saint prophets and apostles have consistently described three key responsibilities of LDS U.S. citizens in order to ensure continued liberty– individual morality, education for themselves and their families, and active participation in civic government.
LDS leaders have repeatedly emphasized that individual morality is a necessity for successful government and the protection of liberty. They emphasize that without personal accountability, a society cannot function – that no federal program can force people to be honest with their neighbor or on their tax return; no government aid can replace the power families and communities have to help those in need. However, they also assert that citizens in general must adhere to a code of high moral conduct in order for the United States government to protect their liberty. President Ezra Taft Benson remarked, “We have no right to expect a higher degree of morality from those who represent us than what we ourselves are” (Benson 125). In addition to the necessity of societal morality for morality in leadership, LDS leaders have affirmed that without the approval of God, a political system is much more vulnerable. Elder Erastus E. Snow said “this political system and order of government is a power in His hands established, preserved and defended thus far by Him, which He will continue to use so long as the people are worthy of it” (Snow 45). This necessity of God’s approval and protection suggests that LDS leaders hold Latter-day Saints in the United Saints responsible to live according to God’s laws, and thus direct the United States in such a way that He can continue to protect it.
LDS leaders support the philosophy that the principles and laws structuring government and protecting freedom in the United States are useful only if U.S. citizens understand them, and can only be protected if U.S. families teach them. Prophets and apostles have repeatedly emphasized the need for residents of the United States to gain a knowledge and understanding of its laws. Elder Levi Edgar Young stated, “Millions of citizens have never risen to the appreciation of the glory of our nation, and therefore they become the fighters and destroyers of right…education is the only way to reach the ideal in our souls of what our Government really means” (Young 82). Leaders have expanded the idea of education’s necessity by stating that what is taught at home forms the foundation of societies. Elder Erastus Snow said that “These [constitutional] principles should be well understood and thoroughly impressed upon the minds of the Latter-Day-Saints…that they may implant in the hearts of our children a love of freedom and human rights, and a desire to preserve them, and to aid in maintaining and defending them in all lawful and proper ways” (Snow 44). Prophets and apostles acknowledge, with James Madison, “men are not angels” (quoted in Holland 187). This reasoning leads to the conclusion that not all of the people who direct the constitution’s future will make beneficial decisions – crises must inevitably come. There will be threats to liberty in the United Sates, and unless citizens and their children understand and cherish those freedoms that are endangered, liberty may quietly disappear.
According to LDS leaders, individual morality and education will ultimately fail to direct the United States unless moral and educated citizens take an active role in the process of civic government. Several authorities have outlined specific civic responsibilities for Latter-day Saint U.S. citizens – President Benson, addressing Latter-day Saints, said “We must become involved in civic affairs…we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, and our advice. We must be wisely informed and let others know how we feel (Benson 126).” This quote illustrates the philosophy that Latter-day Saints will be accountable for how they put into action the unique insight and understanding they gain through the gospel. LDS leaders propose that participation in civic government is the bridge between private actions and a democratic republic’s collective future – it is the legacy that current citizens of the United States will leave citizens to come.
The United States is directed over time by the individual actions of her citizens. Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purport both the validity and the vitality of action on the part of LDS citizens in order to maintain liberties in the United States. Elder Albert E. Bowens said, “All our memorials will be idle fruitless ceremonials unless they have the effect of focusing our attention upon the value of our institutions which were established to perpetuate the liberties for which the Revolutionary Patriots fought and died, and of inspiring us with the will to preserve them” (Bowens 84). According to the statements of LDS prophets and apostles, citizenship in the United States and membership in the gospel of Jesus Christ offer both liberty and responsibility – the freedom to choose a course of action, and ultimate accountability for the consequences of that course.