Justified Civil Disobedience.

I rarely go political. I’m going to do so today, against my better judgment.

Illegal Immigration is justified Civil Disobedience on a massive scale.

A few points:

1.  I refuse to use PC terms like “undocumented worker” or simply “migrant” (or “immigrant”);  that robs it if the true power of what is happening.  Yes – it’s illegal – and that’s the whole point.  Civil Disobedience isn’t really civil disobedience if it  isn’t breaking a law.

2.  Opposition and a desire to enforce the borders is not, in my mind, usually racist.  It’s a disagreement.  Some people value keeping the law, and while I disagree in this one instance, I despise the constant accusations of racism that occur when this debate happens.  Yes, there is racism, and I’ve seen it (I have relatives who hate Mexicans merely because of their darker skin and different language), but the accusation of racism is too casually thrown about.

3.  Read this article (warning – some bad language) which only scratches the surface of what is wrong with current immigration law.  I am not necessarily a totally 100% open border advocate, but our current immigration laws and policies are evil and deserve to be ignored.

I think that’s good for now.  We’ll see what the rest of all y’all have to say.

Romney’s Path to the Mormon Presidency

Thinking about editor Albert R. Hunt’s silly post-primary prediction where he sees Romney, “becoming president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” I decided to do a little math experiment on the probability that Mitt Romney could someday become the LDS Prophet. He will be 65 in 2012 during the election year. I will be using the most realistic “fast track” path.

He loses the bid for U.S. President, either in the primary or the general. This frees him up for a Church calling/assignment. The LDS Church leadership asks him to become a mission president. That lasts for 3 years. When finished he returns and is called to the First Quorum of the Seventy for another 3 years. He is now officially a General Authority with real “inner circle” leadership status, although limited by whatever duties given. Continue reading

I Was Constrained By The Spirit That I Should Vote For…

[Cross Posted from Sixteen Small Stones]

One of the important aspects of the LDS doctrine of personal revelation is that the Holy Spirit can and does sometimes instruct individuals to act contrary to our own reason and understanding.

So here is a little supposal:

Think of a presidential candidate that you do not support.  Now put the candidate’s name into the appropriate places in the following passage:

And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should support [a specific candidate] for President; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I supported a [candidate of that ideology/party/record]. And I shrunk and would that I might not support [her/him].

And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold it is the Lord’s desire that [that candidate] be President of the United States…

We spend a lot of time debating and defending our political beliefs, and comparing political candidates to our ideals. But what if, regardless of political party, or ideology, or record, or aptitude, or personality, or anything else we might use to judge our candidates, the Lord for His own reasons wants you to support a candidate different than the one you would choose?

Continue reading

State of the Mormon Presidential Hopefuls

For disclosure, I admit to supporting Michele Bachmann above any other current candidate. She seems to me the most consistent with my own political positions. If it wasn’t for the fact that I live in a last to vote in the primaries State (how is that for all votes count?) my involvement in the process would be much more. For the moment I can only hope that primary voters who do have some power will give her more of a shot. As this year’s Iowa Ames straw poll shows, newspaper and national polls don’t tell the whole story.

That out of the way, this isn’t directly about her. Two Mormon contenders are in the Republican Party who want to be the next U.S. President. Their chances could not be more different. Continue reading

The Faith Convictions of Muslims

Before the tragic attack on the World Trade Center, I had a grudging respect for the Muslim faithful. They seemed the most spiritual and religiously conservative group on the planet, untouched by the Western immorality and atheism. There was the accusation that was only because of the lack of educational opportunities, but even those who went to Western and U.S. schools went back home without losing religious convictions. There was something about Islam that a person who had their own strong faith convictions had to admire.

When the infamous 9-11 attack happened, there was hope that citizens of the United States could learn something about themselves out of the deadly chaos. Perhaps the Christian nation as a whole would re-evaluate the moral direction it had taken. They would take notice of Muslims and look within to question how they had lost their spiritual way. Certainly they could contrast the strength of conviction and moral cohesion of such a large group of people and come away determined to change. For one brief week it seemed possible.

That illusion was quickly shattered. It didn’t take very long for people to continue going about their business like always. Each generation seeming more intent than the next to rid themselves of religious and moral guidance. Meanwhile, the extremist Islamist leaders ended up sharing the anti-Christian, anti-Israel, and anti-United States stances of Western liberals. That wasn’t a surprise, but how they played off each other was. They ended up doing the your enemy is my enemy dance. The terrorists came off not as moral crusaders, but political despots eager for attention with the blood of the dead. Still, the question stands how Muslims remain faithful stalwarts in such large numbers while Christianity, and Mormonism included, continues to stumble. Continue reading