2021 - The Road Ahead

 From the moment he took the office, President Donald J. Trump has been a lightning rod for controversy, confusion, vindictive lashing out, and abhorrent behavior of every kind imaginable. Now, thankfully, his era in American politics has mercifully come to an end. It ended the way it began in total chaos and a climatic storming of the Capitol chambers in a failed attempt to overturn the outcome of the election. Did Trump have a hand in rousing the crowd of protestors ahead of the Electoral College vote tally? Well, you can be the judge of that, but for the first time in our nation's history a POTUS has been impeached a second time by the House of Representatives, and even at this late date, only days before his term expires, Donald J. Trump's legacy has a stain on it that will be impossible to remove.

Refusing counsel from everyone, Trump has resoundingly refused to even attend the inauguration ceremonies for his successor, Joe Biden, the winner of the 2020 presidential election. He finally conceded the election, but only when the Electoral College vote was completed. But he has refused to acknowledge his role in inciting the crowd assembled outside the Capitol on the day of the Electoral College vote count. He apparently tongue-lashed his Vice-President Mike Pence that morning, instructing him to "either be a patriot or a pussy." Pence's role in the Electoral College by Constitutional mandate is simply to preside over the vote count and then declare a winner. He had no authority to do anything else despite Trump's little boy tantrum. Pence was the patriot here, not Trump.

The prognosticators of doom and gloom have already begun their predictable tirade of "end of times" analysis concerning Joseph Biden's election. Some will continue to assert the claims of an illegitimate presidency based upon no evidence from Trump's lawyers in numerous court challenges to the election results. Others will assert the nation will fall apart after the failed "coup attempt" supported by Trump supporters. Biden's policy shifts will no doubt be real in an attempt to reverse Trump's. I've read the Republican Party in America will now cease to exist. All of these bold predictions can find equal and opposite counterparts in the years when George W. Bush won, and Trump upended political punditry by winning. The more things change, the more they remain the same, it would appear to me. The one constant for me is that America has not successfully committed suicide - yet.

The road ahead for us in 2021 will continue to be a battle for the hearts and minds of America. However, most hearts and minds have already been made up, and few will change their deepest-held beliefs. It remains to be seen if there are politicians who can tap into the conventional wisdom of Americans. Joe Biden will at least make a show of attempting to interpret his victory in November as reflecting the will of America. He will have both houses of Congress in his camp, just as Barack Obama did when he began his two-term presidency. Few, however, have been able to master the diversity of America. Most new presidents when they take office, pledge to reach across the aisle, heal the divide and work for harmony and unanimity of feelings. Most transitions from one party to the other are carried off without insurrection, though agitators would have it otherwise.  

2021 will also be a year when scientific breakthroughs in vaccine production will in time eradicate the persistent COVID-19 virus if enough Americans agree to take the vaccine when it is offered. Right now there seems to be a much larger demand for the vaccine than there is adequate supply. That's the right trend if the supply and distribution can keep up. The distribution of the vaccines will be problematic, because the vaccines will be administered by the government. In Utah it is being handled through the county health departments. For people 70+ years of age like me, it means expressing interest in a pre-appointment email registration for the vaccine, and the roll-out will happen over the next two months. We are being told to watch our email inbox for a sign-up opportunity. Already we are hearing government leaders in Utah pleading for patience as they figure out how to match the supply with the demand. Anytime we turn the science over to the government it seems there will be a breakdown - bet on it. So far science gets an A, government gets a C-, but guess who will be at the front of the line taking credit for the eventual success. Betcha I know the answer to that one. The doctors will be elbowed out of line by the politicians clamoring for recognition and credit.

Speaking of diversity in America, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) offered an opinion piece recently in the Deseret News entitled "The Union and the Constitution Forever." He insists there is good news in our diversity:

"The good news is, we already have a proven way to achieve this goal. The United States has always been diverse. Our Constitutional framework was specifically written for a regionally, culturally, economically and religiously diverse nation. The Constitution’s checks and balances and separated powers simultaneously empower political majorities while protecting political minorities and, most of all, individual rights.

"America’s ability to make our diversity a strength is part of what makes us the greatest nation on earth. Our job is to make sure our diversity pulls us together instead of pulling us apart.

"Given America’s wide diversity, political issues decided at the federal level are by their nature going to be the most divisive. People in the East and the West, on the coasts and in the interior, in rural and urban areas — to say nothing of “red” and “blue” states — are always going to see the world differently."

Lee concludes that the way the Founders envisioned handling diversity was not to eradicate it but to embrace it, channel it and balance it so that tyranny never asserts itself within our borders. We hear accusations of tyranny from time to time, and it may be true some would attempt to impose it, but so far America has resisted being told what to do by dictators. Just take as an example the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine. Some are still insisting that this virus is someone in China's idea of controlling the masses, and that the government conspiracy is what is keeping us all in check. They rise up in opposition to mask wearing mandates and business regulation to control the spread of the virus. Resistance for the sake of resistance regardless of reason and common sense seems to be their cry.

"This isn’t about the size of the federal government — the federal government is going to remain huge for a long time to come. Rather, it’s about the need for national consensus to validate federal policy. 51%-49% issues are controversial, by their nature. Some issues — like national security or immigration — by their nature must be decided at the federal level, no matter how controversial they are. But most issues — from education to welfare to health care to housing to infrastructure — really can be decided at lower, less divided, levels of government.

"Blue states can be as blue as they want; red and purple states can go their way too. And all Americans — across the country and across the political spectrum — would be happier not to be in a constant zero-sum battle against the other party on every single issue under the sun. The founders called this approach 'federalism.' Philosophers call it 'subsidiarity.'

"To me, it’s the only realistic way to restore trust in our public institutions, detoxify our national discourse and heal some of the wounds of our current divisions."

It's not too complicated, folks. You let the federal government do what it does best on the big issues like immigration and national security, and you let the states, cities and counties do what they do best on the local issues in the red and blue states. By design, those outcomes at the local level will be better dealt with closer to the people. We've strayed from the principles envisioned in federalism, and it's time to get back to those principles to tamp down the angst at the federal level.

Trump, it turns out, was little more than an agitator, pitting us against one another for four long years. Yes, he did some good things, balancing the SCOTUS for one, but let's see if Biden can do a better job of following the Lee model than Trump ever did.

Fate of America Not Riding on November 3rd 2020 Election

I have been restrained by a self-imposed aversion to politics in more recent years, but I want to associate myself with a recent poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen and published this morning in the Deseret News. He maintains in his polling that culture in America always leads and that politicians lag far behind, yet it seems the politicians always garner the most publicity and in my opinion it is unwarranted.

The title of the article is "The fate of America will not be decided on Nov. 3." We are all bombarded in election cycles by the Red Team and the Blue Team, and no, we're not talking here about the U of U and BYU. The transitory nature of politics is nothing we should be investing in if we are sane citizens. 

There are types and shadows of former inhabitants of this land documented for our review in the Book of Mormon, and as a Church we have recently studied their disastrous fates in the Come Follow Me outlines when those earlier inhabitants were decimated by internal civil wars. We can be smarter than they if we will choose a better path.

Rasmussen has a lot of interesting findings in this latest poll. Among them:

- many voters agree with my key underlying assumptions: 69% agree that politicians aren’t nearly as important as they think they are

- 57% share my view that the culture leads and the politicians lag behind

- earlier polling showed that 76% recognize that American society isn’t nearly as polarized as American politics

- 71% of white voters agree that politicians aren’t nearly as important as they think they are

- that view is shared by 67% of Black voters and 64% of Hispanic voters

- 58% of Democrats agree that the culture leads and politicians lag behind

- so do 56% of Republicans and 55% of independents

- a strong majority of every measured demographic group believes American politics is more polarized than American society.

"For me," observes Rasmussen, "those views are consistent with a belief that almost all positive change in America begins far from official Washington and outside of the political process. That’s the story of America. Whether we look at the struggles for independence, women’s suffrage, civil rights or any other great movements, they began and grew in the popular culture. They rumbled beneath the surface and gained strength long before overcoming the resistance of our political system."

How refreshing is that? A voice of reason at long last, reverberating through the souls of most Americans who know what politicians always seem to ignore. There is a collective wisdom associated with the average American that far transcends the collective wisdom of Washington insiders. 

Just take a look at what they did with Social Security. Remember the "lock box" that was designed to keep the funds invested by those average Americans out of the hands of the spendthrift politicians? Yeah, we all know how that worked out, don't we? Now those trust funds are nothing more than a part of the general fund for spending amounting to trillions in deficits with no end in sight. The runaway spending freight train will not stop, it now appears, until it comes to the end of the tracks overlooking that vast chasm up ahead. Nobody in this election cycle has even mentioned a balanced budget. 

But let's not focus on the negative, something that is so easy to do.

"So," concluded Rasmussen, "I am not counting on the Red Team or the Blue Team to swoop in and save the day. That’s not their job. Yes, elections do matter. But there’s more to life and the nation than politics and elections."

Let me underscore that conclusion by my own observations. The POTUS cannot be held responsible for everything that happens or does not happen during their administrations. George W. Bush was handed his head politically over the government's seemingly inept response to the Katrina hurricane that hit New Orleans several years ago. Lyndon Johnson was blamed for not ending the Vietnam War sooner, and decided not to run for re-election. Jimmy Carter was guilty of surrendering in the war against the American economy triggered by Middle East aggression over oil prices, and went on to lose in a landslide election to Ronald Reagan. More recently, Donald Trump has been pilloried for the government response to handling the COVID-19 pandemic? Who in their right minds could possibly ascribe responsibility for all these happenings to one occupant of the Oval Office? That is the very definition of insanity - to think that a single individual could muster that much power to affect events outside their control.

And yet, we want to believe in some altered parallel universe that it is still possible. That's insane.

We live in a day when we are among a diverse and culturally heterogenous society. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are in the boat with everyone, and we are a tiny little faction in the whole fabric of God's tapestry worldwide. We will be in for a raucous and rough ride from here on in until the Second Coming of the Lord. Things will unquestionably get worse before they get better.

"These are days of great spiritual danger for this people. The world is spiraling downward at an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better.

"I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now.

"Satan uses every intrigue to disrupt the family. The sacred relationship between man and woman, husband and wife, through which mortal bodies are conceived and life is passed from one generation to the next generation, is being showered with filth.

"Profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and pornography are broadcast into the homes and minds of the innocent. Unspeakable wickedness, perversion, and abuse — not even exempting little children — once hidden in dark places, now seeks protection from courts and judges. . .

"The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were localized. They are now spread across the world, wherever the Church is. The first line of defense — the home — is crumbling. Surely you can see what the adversary is about." (President Boyd K. Packer, "On the Shoulders of Giants," BYU, J. Reuben Clark Law Society devotional, 28 February 2004, 7-8).

President Dallin H. Oaks in April of 2004, spoke at General Conference in a similar vein:

"We are living in the prophesied time 'when peace shall be taken from the earth' (D&C 1:35), when 'all things shall be in commotion' and 'men’s hearts shall fail them' (D&C 88:91). There are many temporal causes of commotion, including wars and natural disasters, but an even greater cause of current 'commotion' is spiritual.

"Viewing our surroundings through the lens of faith and with an eternal perspective, we see all around us a fulfillment of the prophecy that 'the devil shall have power over his own dominion' (D&C 1:35). Our hymn describes 'the foe in countless numbers, / Marshaled in the ranks of sin' (“Hope of Israel,” Hymns, no. 259), and so it is.

"Evil that used to be localized and covered like a boil is now legalized and paraded like a banner. The most fundamental roots and bulwarks of civilization are questioned or attacked. Nations disavow their religious heritage. Marriage and family responsibilities are discarded as impediments to personal indulgence. The movies and magazines and television that shape our attitudes are filled with stories or images that portray the children of God as predatory beasts or, at best, as trivial creations pursuing little more than personal pleasure. And too many of us accept this as entertainment.

"The men and women who made epic sacrifices to combat evil regimes in the past were shaped by values that are disappearing from our public teaching. The good, the true, and the beautiful are being replaced by the no-good, the 'whatever,' and the valueless fodder of personal whim. Not surprisingly, many of our youth and adults are caught up in pornography, pagan piercing of body parts, self-serving pleasure pursuits, dishonest behavior, revealing attire, foul language, and degrading sexual indulgence.

"An increasing number of opinion leaders and followers deny the existence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and revere only the gods of secularism. Many in positions of power and influence deny the right and wrong defined by divine decree. Even among those who profess to believe in right and wrong, there are 'them that call evil good, and good evil' (Isa. 5:20; 2 Ne. 15:20). Many also deny individual responsibility and practice dependence on others, seeking, like the foolish virgins, to live on borrowed substance and borrowed light.

"All of this is grievous in the sight of our Heavenly Father, who loves all of His children and forbids every practice that keeps any from returning to His presence."

Those are but two examples from a host of prophetic warnings about the specific conditions in which we live. In my experience the living prophets among us have been warriors of truth, not counting the "political coin of the realm" before speaking out. It has ever been thus, and it will ever be so in the days ahead.

Here is President Russell M. Nelson giving counsel to us on the day he was sustained in a Solemn Assembly as the Prophet, Seer and Revelator:

"I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that 'if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things — that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.' (D&C 42:61).

"Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, 'To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!' (Neal A. Maxwell, “Meek and Lowly” [Brigham Young University devotional, Oct. 21, 1986], 9, speeches.byu.edu).

"Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, (2 Nephi 32:3) and regular time committed to temple and family history work.

"To be sure, there may be times when you feel as though the heavens are closed. But I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you — even miracles — will follow. That is what personal revelation will do for you.

"I am optimistic about the future. It will be filled with opportunities for each of us to progress, contribute, and take the gospel to every corner of the earth. But I am also not naïve about the days ahead. We live in a world that is complex and increasingly contentious. The constant availability of social media and a 24-hour news cycle bombard us with relentless messages. If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation.

"Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.

"My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation." (President Russell M. Nelson, "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives," Ensign May 2018).

And so, I end where I began this post - there is no need to get caught up in the rhetoric of the political free-for-all that pummels us each election cycle in America. Take for your guide instead the admonition of a living prophet and seek to increase your personal revelation through the Holy Ghost. I am a witness that miracles do and will happen as we petition the Lord in faith, even though it may take much longer than we anticipate. But the answers will and do come. 

President Nelson reminds us we must "patiently honor the Lord's timetable." Remember that America, for all her faults and weaknesses is made up of average folks like you and me who do their level best to make individual and wise decisions about their lives in the best way they know how. Let's respect one another despite whatever differences may exist among us.

Let us learn to disagree better, maybe not less.

Patience, Not Anger, Eventually Wins Out

 About thirty-one years ago we added a large two-story addition to our original cabin structure in Pine Valley. It was late in November when we commenced construction, and getting the addition framed up and closed in before winter was our primary concern. 

We contacted the power company (then Utah Power & Light, now Rocky Mountain Power) to move the buried primary power cable running through the valley, and waited a week after three failed attempts at getting a response from them. Each day the temperature dropped, and the footing and foundation contractor told me he would have to move ahead, or cancel and wait until next spring. He was getting worried about pouring the cement in the winter months because of falling temperatures. 

After no response from the power company, except for shallow promises, "We'll get right on that," we decided to move ahead with a work around solution. The cement contractor fashioned a PVC collar to fit around the two-inch power cable where it would go through the two foundation walls and allow the power cable to run through our crawl space in the new addition. Problem solved, or so we thought.

Construction proceeded, we did in fact get the structure finished and closed in before the winter's fury descended upon us, and for those thirty-one years we have lived with that power cable in our crawl space. These are the things one does when you live where we live.

Fast forward thirty-one years. Despite several additional attempts to get the attention of the power company over the years, nothing was ever done until last week. We heard a knock at the door, and opened to greet a crew chief from Rocky Mountain Power who let us know they were on our property to inspect where the main power line was so that additional work around us could be accomplished. Blue stakes had marked the existing line with red paint and little red flags, and the crew chief was simply asking if the markings that showed the line running under our addition could possibly be accurate. I assured him they were, then he asked, "Could we go down in the crawl space and take some pictures of the line?" 

He took the pictures back to the office, and his parting words were, "I can't believe the power company has left this situation unaddressed for thirty-plus years. I don't know if we can get to it right away but certainly by next spring we'll move that line out around your home to the east, cut the existing cable and remove it from under your home." 

Imagine my surprise when I awoke the next day to find trucks, track hoes, dump trucks, and a large crew of men from the power company's subcontractor who were ready to go to work on rerouting the line. We walked the ground and agreed on the new trench location for the cable, and they explained they would bury the conduit in the ground that day and a crew from Rocky Mountain Power would follow up the first of this week and pull new cable and install a new terminal transformer box on our north property line. The speed, efficiency and accuracy with which they worked was impressive.

Turned out, when he got back to the office with the pictures, it was concluded quickly by the crew chief's boss, Mitch, that this was a project that leaped to the top of the list of priorities. He was good friends with two of our sons, Jake and Rich, who had lived in Mitch's neighborhood over in Heber City, and they had played together on the same Church basketball team and won a regional tournament together. He said to me when we met, "You've raised two great sons there, who have become great men. When I learned this was your home and the home where they had been raised, I was determined to make this happen sooner rather than later." It is good be the father of great sons, I thought to myself once again.

Last night, Mitch and his crew from Rocky Mountain Power arrived around 6:30 p.m., and confirmed they were there to pull the new cable through the buried conduit and make the new connections. They worked on it for about four hours, and we were only without power for about five minutes while they made the connections at both ends of the new cable in the junction boxes. When Mitch came up from the crawl space with the cable neatly coiled up in his hands, he said, "Well, promise kept after thirty-one years - we've taken out that 7200-volt power line from under your house and moved it safely away from you and your family."

The point of my telling this story is simple. Sometimes life presents us with experiences where we have choices. We can either huff and puff and threaten to blow down someone's house, or we can choose to be patient and civil, waiting for future events to unfold as they always will when truth rises to the top as cream rises in a bucket of fresh milk. And no, I will not be suing Rocky Mountain Power any time soon, and no, sitting on that 7200-volt power line for 31 years did not cause my brain tumor.

In this political election season in America, let us all be patient with one another and our politicians. Let us not be pouters or rioters. Let us, instead, be civil and patient with each other. America is the land where God chose to set the events in motion that would be hundreds of years unfolding in the ongoing restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Israel is being gathered from the four corners of Earth's expanse, and that work will take some time to complete. Be patient. "Let God Prevail," as President Russell M. Nelson has reminded us recently.

And just like the power company that fulfilled all its promises some thirty-one years later, God will yet fulfill all His promises too. (See Doctrine & Covenants 1:37). America will not fail in this political season, just as it has not failed in prior election seasons. Sometimes it just takes a little while to fulfill the promises the way we had hoped.