Relation of Property to Character

The accumulation of property is no guarantee of the development
of character, but the development of character, or of any other
good whatever, is impossible without property.

- William Graham Sumner, On Liberty, Society, and Politics (Liberty
Fund)

Don't reform SS. Repeal it!

This article on mises.org explains why I would much prefer a repeal of Social Security than a reform of it through privatization. While I do feel that privatization is a step in the right direction on the spectrum of force vs. freedom, privatization could result in an extension of life to a system facing impending implosion.

Godlessness -> Communism

I begin to wonder about young men and about people in general who do not believe in God. There are lots of them. Do you know that about 75 million Americans do not even belong to any church? Do you know that about 25 million more who do belong to churches take no part whatever in them, making a total of about 100 million Americans who, for some reason or another, have almost completely excluded God from their lives?

When I talk with young people about such a situation, I always like to ask them to consider the fruits of godlessness. What does it do to you to be without God? What does it do to you to be without religion? Can it benefit you, or can it hurt you? I ask them to look around and see what kind of people the godless people are. I read a very interesting discussion the other day by one of our great Americans, Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, a man whom I respect highly. He pointed out in this discussion that one of the outstanding fruits of godlessness in the world right now is Communism. Communism, he says, is a direct result of godlessness. Men who do not believe in God, who fight God, who put God out of their lives, and try to eliminate him from the lives of everybody else are the ones who produced Communism.

Is Communism something that you would like to take into your life? It is one of the fruits of godlessness. Do you want to have within you the fruits--or rather I should say the seeds of Communism? Do you realize that the seeds of Communism are sprouting even now from godlessness?

You know what Communism has done to the world. You know how it has spread. You remember Hungary, don't you? And you remember Poland? Do you want to have anything like that in your life? Do you want the fruits of godlessness to become a part of you and your future?

- Elder Mark E. Petersen
General Conference, October 1960

Home Defense

On January 10, I posted about our divine duty as fathers to provide for the protection of our family. Accordingly, I today purchased at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Sandy, Utah, a Winchester 12 Gauge shotgun. It accepts both 3" and 2.75" shells. It has a shorter barrel (18.5") than a shotgun used for hunting, (such as the Remington 12 Gauge I previously owned but sold), but is more ideal for home defense. As peripherals for this awesome tool I have sufficient ammo for any home defense scenario which I pray never occurs, plus any clay-pigeon scenario, which I anticipate (with much anticipation) may occur the next warm Saturday we get here. After all, what good is a tool if one is not skilled in its use? All in all, I'm excited to be fulfilling my God-mandated responsibility to provide for the protection of my family.

Well-meaning, but Without Understanding

The following quote from an article in "The Freeman", my favorite print magazine (with archived articles online from 1955 to present here) caught my fancy. "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding."

- Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Supreme Court Associate Justice 1916-1939
quoted in The Freeman, May 1956

What I found interesting is that I did a search for Brandeis to learn a bit about him. The first link I went to was here. It tells how he worked "aiding the cause of the minimum wage against companies opposed to this principle.". Clearly, he would fall under the umbrella of "well-meaning, but without understanding" of his own judgement for this position.

For a clear understanding of the economic consequences of minimum wage laws, I recomment Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson.

Perpetual Debt

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...we [will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers. And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent ...till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery. And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."

- Thomas Jefferson

Property and Plunder

Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources.
This process is the origin of property.

But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others.
This process is the origin of plunder.

Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain-and since labor is pain in itself-it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.

When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.

It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.

- Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Father: Protect thy family

Quoting from the Proclamation to the Church and to the World on the family issued by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

"By divine design, fathers ... are responsible to provide ... protection for their families."

Blessings for obedience

"Men receive blessings by obedience to God's laws, and without obedience there is no blessing. Before the final triumphal return of the Lord, the question as to whether we may save our constitutional republic is simply based on two factors: the number of patriots and the extent of their obedience.

That the Lord desires to save this nation that he raised up, there is no doubt. But that he leaves it up to us, with his help, is the awful reality.

There is a time and season for all righteous things, and many of life's failures arise when men neither take the time nor find the season to perform their eternal duties."

- Elder Ezra Taft Benson General Conference, April 1967

Neutralizer #1: No Instructions

The first of the devil's deceptions in neutralizing the Elders of Israel in the Freedom battle is: "We really haven't received much instruction about freedom"

This is a lie, for we have been warned time and time again. President David O. McKay issues very solemn warnings on this. For a good summary of prophetic warnings on freedom from Joseph Smith to David O. McKay, I recommend the book "Prophets, Principles, and National Survival." This book was even recommended by President Benson in General Conference. Beyond that, I recommend the talks of President Benson especially.

Another form of this deception is "The prophets of today aren't saying anything about this." The notion that we only act if a prophet of today reaffirms a truth is patently false, when one considers that the scriptures contain the words of deceased prophets -- the Bible and Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price of long-dead, whereas the Doctrine and Covenants of dead prophets of more recent times. Furthermore, the words of the prophets given in general conferences as well as in official pronouncements are scripture, and may be found in conference reports, old copies of the Ensign. In addition, are the non-canonical writings and teachings of the prophets. While each prophet may have a different prophetic role and emphasis, this does not mean that with each new prophet we immediately discard all previous teachings and start anew.

Finally, in all we do, we should follow the Spirit. I testify that there are plentiful teachings about the importance of freedom in the Plan both in the scriptures and warnings to awake to perils to Freedom. I know from firsthand experience that the Spirit testifies of the truthfulness of these teachings. And such Spiritual confirmations are not limited to just the teachings of prophets, scriptural or otherwise. There are also writings of good men some of whom may not even be members of the church, which when read will be accompanied by a confirmation of the Spirit. An example of this is when I read the writings of Frederic Bastiat, such as The Law and That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen. The spirit testifies of *all* truth.

Exploitation of Employers

Workers Will Be on the Move in the New Year
"The new year is expected to usher in a flurry of job hopping as employees frustrated by years of incremental raises and scarce advancement opportunities begin shopping for new employers.

Nearly half of U.S. companies face an employee exodus as the economy improves, according to a survey by Novations Selection, Development and Communication, a performance improvement firm. Typically, fewer than 10% of employers would expect such turnover."
(USA Today, Monday)

Who will defend employers against this exploitation by workers?

When employers seek to reduce costs and increase profits by shopping for lower-cost labor, this is called exploitation. Labor unions are formed to protect workers from such 'exploitation' by making it much more difficult for employers to fire employees, which naturally results in lowered standards of performance. When employees seek to increase profits by shopping for higher-paying jobs, is this therefore also exploitation?