With the highlighting of the flaws in the Romney campaign, it has led me to wonder. Do mormons really want a representative government in this age of wickedness? Or would they rather (throw away their vote) have a moral dictator?
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I don't think a dictator, even a moral one, would turn this country around. It needs to come from the bottom up, not from the top down. Think about it; even if King Mosiah or King Benjamin were alive today and made King of America, how much actual corruption do you think would cease? The US is too vast a country to allow a king to have personal control over everything. That means that lower level, corrupt bureaucrats would still have tremendous sway over your life. Also, dissenting groups would be more violent, whereas today they usually work within the political process. In short, we'd need a more or less moral people before it would work to have a moral dictator. In that situation, why not keep the representative government?
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I am going to disagree with Arbi (again) but only in part.
There is an old Russian saying: "Best government is Good Tsar. Worst Government is Bad Tsar. Most Tsars are bad."
Even King Mosiah said that if you could always rely on the Kings to be righteous, then the best form of government would be to have a monarchy. So if we could be sure that our Dictator/Tsar/King/Great Poomba/Big Cheese would be a moral ruler, then that would be great. He would enforce the laws against wickedness, and would cleanse the lower levels of government when people appealed to him to do so. He could put down rebellious elements. An enlightened despot would be great--government would be efficient, just, etc.
But since there is a short supply of Philosopher-Kings, we are better off with a representative government. And government Of the People, By the People, and For the People, is only going to be as good as the People are.
Now, in regards to what Ray asked, I think it is obvious that the USA is not yet ripe in wickedness, that there is still a significant percentage of the people that are capable of self-government, and so I am not giving up quite yet.
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I'm not voting for Ron Paul because it's not expressly prescribed in the Constitution.
A perspective from "Liberalism, Conservatism, and Mormonism" by Hyrum L. Andrus. In explaining how the Constitution will be perfected and become the foundation of the Kingdom of God, Andrus states:
A theocracy recognizes the right of the priesthood to nominate men to political office and to direct the policy of the government. Here, then, is the difference between the Government of God and the government of the United States. Citizens of the Government of God will recognize the will and dictation of the Almighty, first, in nominating men to political office, to be accepted by the consent of the people as we do under the theocratic procedures of the Church; and second, by the Lord through His living Priesthood, having the right and prerogative to set the policy of government for the maintenance of freedom.
October General Conference, 2028: It is proposed that we nominate the following members to serve as senators in the government of Zion to represent the saints in their respective areas: RayB, Shiz, Cat, Jason, Bok, Arbi. All in favor manifest it. Any opposed by the same sign.
We release, without a vote of thanks, Brother Roper from his position as National Director of Children's Music. His warped versions of traditional Primary songs have adversely affected the learning environment in Primaries throughout the Kingdom.
-- Edited by Roper at 18:49, 2007-03-06
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
I found nothing humorous about Roper's tendency to corrupt the minds of primary children and primary songs... I have no doubt that he'd do it. Oh the humanity!
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Sorry, I won't be able to fill that capacity. I'll still be too busy trying to convince parents of 11 year old scouts and other church members that Scouting is not about making sure their precious angel sons get their eagle scout "entitlement" by the time they turn 14 so that we don't lose them... that there is this funny thing in Scouting called "earning" their merit badges and awards and that ultimately it is up to them take interest in doing it and then to do so, not the Scout leaders and certainly not the parents, oh and that it is simply nigh unto impossible to run a scout program for 11 year olds on the limitation of meeting twice a month for an hour with no other support from the ward, troop committee, or parents.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Cat Herder wrote: Sorry, I won't be able to fill that capacity. I'll still be too busy trying to convince parents of 11 year old scouts and other church members that Scouting is not about making sure their precious angel sons get their eagle scout "entitlement" by the time they turn 14 so that we don't lose them... that there is this funny thing in Scouting called "earning" their merit badges and awards and that ultimately it is up to them take interest in doing it and then to do so, not the Scout leaders and certainly not the parents, oh and that it is simply nigh unto impossible to run a scout program for 11 year olds on the limitation of meeting twice a month for an hour with no other support from the ward, troop committee, or parents.
My dad used to be our wards scoutmaster (he's not a member which was kind of funny). At any rate, there were a couple of parents that were upset because their little Billy wasn't advancing and got on his case about it like it was his fault. Out of the entire troop of my dad's scouts only about four didn't make eagle. He had about 8 or so that did make it. The difference wasn't in what he was doing but in what the parents were doing. Those boys that didn't advance for the most part never did a thing to help. It made a bad impression on my dad of some of the ward members which did little to encourage him to investigate the church. One parent who was an eagle scout actually said he wouldn't help his son because no one helped him get his eagle when he was a scout. This same dad had all the adult scouting awards, Silver Manure Award, etc. His son made it all the way to Life Scout and had all the merit badges but never did the final project. A couple others treated scouting like it was a teenage babysitting service. While a good scout leader is important if there is no parental support or involvement the chances of a scout advancing are pretty slim.
Feel free to start a new thread so we can swap stories!
but only in part. 
