The author of this blog does not condone, endorse, or subscribe to the beliefs of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Views in this article are published only for the continued education of the public and are not to be taken as this author's personal views.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-responds-to-same-sex-marriage-votes#continued

SALT LAKE CITY 5 November 2008 COMMENTARY 

Since Proposition 8 was placed on the ballot in June of this year, the citizens of California have considered the arguments for and against same-sex marriage. After extensive debate between those of different persuasions, voters have chosen to amend the California State Constitution to state that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Continued

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Voters in Arizona and Florida took the same course and amended their constitutions to establish that marriage will continue to be between a man and a woman.

Such an emotionally charged issue concerning the most personal and cherished aspects of life — family, identity, intimacy and equality — stirs fervent and deep feelings. 

Most likely, the election results for these constitutional amendments will not mean an end to the debate over same-sex marriage in this country. 

We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position.   No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

It is important to understand that this issue for the Church has always been about the sacred and divine institution of marriage — a union between a man and a woman. 

Allegations of bigotry or persecution made against the Church were and are simply wrong.  The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians.  Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches. 

Some, however, have mistakenly asserted that churches should not ever be involved in politics when moral issues are involved.  In fact, churches and religious organizations are well within their constitutional rights to speak out and be engaged in the many moral and ethical problems facing society.  While the Church does not endorse candidates or platforms, it does reserve the right to speak out on important issues.

Before it accepted the invitation to join broad-based coalitions for the amendments, the Church knew that some of its members would choose not to support its position.   Voting choices by Latter-day Saints, like all other people, are influenced by their own unique experiences and circumstances.  As we move forward from the election, Church members need to be understanding and accepting of each other and work together for a better society.

Even though the democratic process can be demanding and difficult, Latter-day Saints are profoundly grateful for and respect the ideals of a true democracy.

The Church expresses deep appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the many Latter-day Saints and others who supported the coalitions in efforts regarding these amendments.

The Real Meaning of the Right to Vote

By Alex Epstein
FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Every Election Day, politicians, intellectuals, and activists propagate a seemingly patriotic but utterly un-American idea: the notion that our most important right--and the source of America’s greatness--is the right to vote. According to former President Bill Clinton, the right to vote is “the most fundamental right of citizenship”; it is “the heart and soul of our democracy,” says Senator John McCain.

Such statements are regarded as uncontroversial--but consider their implications. If voting is truly our most fundamental right, then all other rights--including free speech, property, even life--are contingent on and revocable by the whims of the voting public (or their elected officials). America, on this view, is a society based not on individual rights, but on unlimited majority rule--like ancient Athens, where the populace, exercising “the most fundamental right of citizenship,” elected to kill Socrates for voicing unpopular ideas--or modern-day Zimbabwe, where the democratically elected Robert Mugabe has seized the property of the nation’s white farmers and brought the nation to the verge of starvation--or Germany in 1932, when the people democratically elected the Nazi Party, including future Chancellor Adolph Hitler. Would anyone dare claim that America is thus fundamentally similar to these regimes, and that it is perfectly acceptable to kill controversial philosophers or to exterminate six million Jews, so long as it is done by popular vote?

Contrary to popular rhetoric, America was founded, not as a “democracy,” but as a constitutional republic--a political structure under which the government is bound by a written constitution to the task of protecting individual rights. “Democracy” does not mean a system that holds public elections for government officials; it means a system in which a majority vote rules everything and everyone, and in which the individual thus has no rights. In a democracy, observed James Madison in The Federalist Papers, “there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention [and] have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.”

The right to vote derives from the recognition of man as an autonomous, rational being, who is responsible for his own life and who should therefore freely choose the people he authorizes to represent him in the government of his country. That autonomy is contradicted if a majority of voters is allowed to do whatever it wishes to the individual citizen. The right to vote is not a sanction for a gang to deprive other individuals of their freedom. Rather, because a free society requires a certain type of government, it is a means of installing the officials who will safeguard the individual rights of each citizen.

What makes America unique is not that it has elections--even dictatorships hold elections--but that its elections take place in a country limited by the absolute principle of individual freedom. From our Declaration of Independence, which upholds the “unalienable rights” of every individual, among which are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” to our Constitution, whose Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech and the freedom of private property, respect for individual liberty is the essence of America--and the root of her greatness.

Unfortunately, with each passing Election Day, too many Americans view elections less as a means to protect freedom, and more as a means to win some government favor or handout at the expense of the liberty and property of other Americans. Our politicians promise, not to protect the basic rights spelled out in the Declaration and the Constitution, but to violate the rights of some people in order to benefit others. Today’s politicians want capital for failing banks--by forcing non-failing Americans to pay for them; subsidies for farmers--by forcing non-farmers to pay for them; prescription drugs for the elderly--by forcing the non-elderly to pay for them; housing for the homeless--by forcing the non-homeless to pay for it. The more “democratic” our government becomes, the more we cannibalize our liberty, ultimately to the detriment of all.

This Election Day, therefore, we should reject those who wish to reduce our republic to mob rule. Instead, we should vote for those, to whatever extent they can be found, who are defenders of the essence of America: individual freedom.

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Alex Epstein is a writer for the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) in Irvine, California, which promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Send comments to reaction@aynrand.org.

Were you aware that today is the anniversary of the Russian Revolution when Marxists overthrew the Russian Government?

Many people have been talking about how great the election on Tuesday was simply because it "Made History". This seems to be the case even if they did not and do not support the candidate. There are blogs saying how our Country is better just for having "Made History". There are people rejoicing that "History is in the Making".

Let me be perfectly blunt. You assume that making history is necessarily a good thing if you follow that line of thinking. But let us examine that. Throughout history there are those who did outrageous things [going over the Niagara falls in a barrel] and thus made history. There are others who did great things [like Mother Theresa and Ghandi] making history. But let us not forget that even in the name of doing good for one's country, great evils have been propagated. And those too "made history."

Those sort of acts include Hitler reclaiming "Germany's rightful place" in the world; Lenin killing thousands upon thousands of his people for the betterment of "Mother Russia"; and lest we forget, invading not one but two countries for no greater purpose than taking their natural resources [nod to our Current President].

This is not to say that Obama's election necessarily means calamity or evil. But change for change's sake is not a great good, nor is it necessarily a great evil. This is simply to say, those who want to see "History in the Making" need look no further than the last eight years.

The question is: what sort of History will the President Elect give us?

I've been reading lots of different blogs this day and taking a general view of the pulse of the nation in the aftermath of this latest historic turn. It's amazing to me how many people are in shock and meltdown and how many others are in frothy joy. I can't honestly say I've been privy to lots of elections, but in my imperfect memory, this is the most disparate of them all.

On side one, we have the Christian Right and Conservative elite proclaiming a day of mourning for the Country we have "lost". I'm not quite sure what besides the terror war, abortion issue, and personal liberty loss they could be moaning after. But then it was their candidate over the last 8 years who started us down that path anyway. So wherefore the hue and cry?

On side two, we have the foamy paths of dew drops and gems dripping from trees now that the Messiah walks amongst us once more. The absolute malarky that I've seen credited to the fact that a Black man is now president just makes me want to cry. I was watching the Black [you'll notice me more and more shy away from African American as it's such a lie] correspondents on so many channels talking about how this will change the state of the nation. You would think Obama freed the slaves or something as great. The fact that he made it as far as he did, from the pre-election talking heads, showed that America was free of racism. During election day, from the view of the Liberals among us, it showed that we as Americans were finally taking our place as leaders of the free world by doing what should have happened long ago. Now, after election day, I am seeing those same talking heads saying how Obama being elected has changed little in the racism 'war'.

Last night I saw tears of joy from people who are hypocrites and sycophants. Today I see tears of sorrow from those who spout holier than thou rhetoric and hate. Has anything truly changed? No.

America today is the same as yesterday. We just have a different color of President. But as so many wise people have said before, it's not the color of a man's skin that counts, but the color of his soul. And in my never to be so humble opinion, I think we got the President the Americans I've spoken with seem so justly to deserve.

WE have given up our Freedom in pursuit of safety.
WE have allowed ourselves to be enslaved and the fruit of our work to be poached thru an Unconstitutional tax system.
WE have become an Empire in the name of Democracy for all.
We have killed, slaughtered, and made war on nations that had more oil wealth than ourselves.
WE have refused to use our own energy forms in the name of Eco sanctity while ripping it freely from others.
WE have refused to do anything truly serious about the bad stewardship, meanwhile buying dispensations from the Al Gore's of the world.
We are allowing the poor among us to starve while blaming the rich for success.
WE are now the Vandals, cheering while Rome is over run.
WE are proclaiming holiness while shuttering away those who are not like ourselves.

The list is endless. And none of this will change. It will not change under Obama and it will not change under a female president. The fact is America, you choose to allow the Government to take care of you as it sees fit. You choose to give up personal responsibility in exchange for your freedom and the freedom of your neighbor. You assign blame to whomever seems to have the money to fix your problems, and then you wonder why your turn is next.

I don't want to hear the whining anymore. You deserve neither my pity nor my support. You chose to turn away from the man who laid out a solid plan to save us from enslavement to both our Government and the Governments of the world to whom we have been made indentured servants. And you chose to send men to Washington in the House and Senate who will neither support nor defend the Constitution of these United States.

You called him a fool when he said the economy would collapse.
You said he was in error when he said the Fed didn't know what it was doing.
You said he was nuts for pushing for immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

He was prolife and you shut him down.
He was for lower taxes and fiscal responsibility and you refused to let him debate.
He was for open and honest accounting of the Government and you said he was blowing smoke.

It's a shame Ron Paul has been proven right over and over and over again. But sit in your puddle of self-made woe. Rejoice for the short term that you got your Racially Sensitive President. The rest of us who saw this coming will be prepared like the ant to your grasshopper.

Good luck, and may the coming Winter of Collapse not leave you horribly scarred.