The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(7/1/99)
"Every legislator and administrator should test proposed policies for
governing men in institutions, by the principles of religion, by the
requirements of the gospel. Many present propositions and practices
would then drop as putrid flesh from the body politic. Were that done
in legislative halls, or managerial offices, the old sores of
misunderstanding and political contention would soon heal, never again
to open. Were that done, a new world of peace would arise from our
blood-sodden, hate-driven world. If legislators would read the Bible
publicly in their sessions, new light would guide them to wise
decisions."
John
A. Widtsoe
"An Understandable Religion", p. 184
(7/2/99)
"A time is coming when the youth of these mountains [and all over the
world] will have to take part in governing the nation, and a greater
or less knowledge of political history will be absolutely necessary to
them.... Viewed in this light politics are worthy of the best
endeavors of the brightest minds; and such a system would we wish to
see introduced to and studied by our young men [and young women] whose
destiny is to uphold and sustain pure government, and be in this
direction as the servants of God are in all others--benefactors of the
world of mankind."
George
Q. Cannon
"Gospel Truth", p. 548 originally quoted in the "Juvenile
Instructor", 15 March 1885
(7/3/99)
"Let the people see to it that they get righteous men to be their
leaders, who will labor with their hands and administer to their own
necessities, sit in judgment, legislate, and govern in righteousness;
and officers that are filled with peace; and see to it that every man
that goes forth among the people as a traveling officer is full of the
fear of the Lord, and would rather do right at a sacrifice than do
wrong for a reward."
"Discourses of Brigham Young", p. 427
(7/4/99)
"I will teach my firm conviction that the foundation of any righteous
government is the law that has been received from the Lord to guide
and direct man's efforts. Righteous government receives direction from
the Lord."
L.
Tom Perry
"For The Time Will Come When They Will Not Endure Sound
Doctrine"
General Conference, October 1975
(6/22/04)
"The Lord deals with individuals; and salvation is an individual
affair; but, nevertheless, he deals also with nations. for he is the
God of nations, which are set up or put down, are preserved or
destroyed, according to their fitness; and all this is done in the
Lord's due time and way. 'Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord,' sang the psalmist. 'Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is
a reproach to any people,' declared the author of the book of
Proverbs." - James E. Talmage, "Conference Report," October 1923,
p. 52
6/29/09
“I believe, my
brothers and sisters, that our greatest danger as a people is from
within, and I would like to believe that the Latter-day Saints believe
in the leaders of this great Church to the point that they are willing
to accept their counsel and advice. I think sometimes we almost bind
them so that when they have the inspiration of Almighty God and would
like to speak to us they hesitate for fear some of us will feel that
they are interfering with political affairs. If I had my way I would
welcome the day, come it as soon as God may grant, when these men with
whom I am associated so intimately and whose very intimate thoughts I
know and their desires for the welfare of this people and the welfare
of the Kingdom of God, might not only be issuing instructions to this
great Church but to this great nation, which we are told is a land
choice above all other lands and over which Christ our Lord, as
decreed, shall reign, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, because in
this land it is decreed that the new Jerusalem of the Lord our God
shall be established.” - LeGrand Richards,
“Conference Report,” October 1940, Afternoon Meeting, p. 85
7/5/09
“Another large class of men have supposed that war was a great evil,
and so it is; and they have striven to introduce peace; and some of
the most influential men in Europe have united together to form peace
societies, but what do their efforts in this respect amount to? What
have they accomplished? Nothing; there is nothing done; iniquity
abounds just as much as it did before they tried to prevent it.
Temperance societies have tried to make people sober, but people are
as much given to intemperance as they were before the temperance
societies were introduced. There does not seem to be any difference.
Their agents have been sent forth, and their missionaries for years
and years have been laboring to ameliorate the condition of mankind
and to lead them to the knowledge of God, and what have they done? Let
the world answer. What have they done among the heathen nations? What
have they done among what are called Christians? The Peace
Society—what has it done? Let the United States answer; let the
present powers of Europe answer; let the world answer. Notwithstanding
human exertions may have been very necessary in many of these moves to
try to better the condition of the world, it must be acknowledged that
they have signally failed, and that unless something more be done, a
more powerful and a better kind of religion introduced, and a better
kind of temperance, of philosophy, a better kind of morality, a more
wise and liberal kind of government, and a better code of laws
instituted, the world has got to go on as it has done, without any
amendment; in fact it is getting worse and worse, instead of better
and better. The great problem, it is presumed, will have to rest with
us and the Almighty in relation to this matter.” – John
Taylor, “Journal of Discourses,” 26 vols., 10:52
3/16/12
We are the children of
God, literally. That being the case, God's word should be uppermost in
our minds in trying to bring about worth-while government. Until we as a
people in particular, and the sons and daughters of God in general,
realize that our civil governments will be failures so long as they are
not based upon divine guidance, so long will we continue to have strife,
conflict, and bloodshed. - Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report,
October 1943, Evening Meeting, p.77
6/26/15
That government now promotes what it once enforced laws against
becomes a sad reflection on the deterioration of public and
political morality in the nation. - Gordon
B. Hinckley, “Questions
and Answers," Ensign (CR), November 1985, p. 49
7/27/15
Other nations might boast of
their kings, but the King of America, proclaimed by the patriotic
fathers who rounded it and established it, is the great God of
heaven. This must continue to be the sentiment of the people of
America if these glorious institutions shall be preserved, and in
our hands is the sacred keeping of these great and glorious
principles. - Melvin J. Ballard,
Conference Report, October 1928, Third Day—Morning Meeting, p. 109
10/26/16
The
General Constitution of our country is good, and a
wholesome government could be framed upon it, for it was dictated by
the invisible operations of the Almighty; he moved upon Columbus to
launch forth
upon the trackless deep to discover the American Continent; he moved
upon the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he moved upon
Washington to
fight and conquer, in the same way as he moved upon ancient and modern
Prophets, each being inspired to accomplish the particular work he was
called
to perform in the times, seasons, and dispensations of the Almighty. –
Brigham Young, “Journal of
Discourses,” 26
vols., 7:14