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.

Why I Celebrate on the 4th of July

There is perhaps no other place on earth where the annual celebration of the birth of a nation is done in such a unique way. We don't line up our armaments and parade them past the White House with everyone in America cheering our collection of long-range missiles with nuclear warheads as thousands of troops goose-step down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Instead, we have picnics in the backyard and we light off fireworks. At least we used to light off fireworks - now Utah is so bone-dry only the bone-heads light off fireworks.

We celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. It was no small feat for a fledgling group of diverse colonies to agree to condemn the sitting King of England in such scathing terms. We opposed what we believed was tyranny and taxation without representation. Funny thing is THAT form of taxation doesn't even hold a candle to the tyranny one could assert now exists in America WITH representation. But that's a story for another day, isn't it?

I celebrate the glorious gift of freedom on this July 4th. I celebrate the ability to put some thin-sliced marinated beef briskets on the grill with chocolate brownies and congo squares and grape ice cream for dessert. I remember and I am grateful for the sacrifice of so many men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for my family so we could enjoy one another's company as we gather at the Ranch this weekend.

I'm grateful to all those who fought in the heat of the summer and the bitter cold of a Valley Forge winter during the Revolutionary War to give life to the words of the Declaration of Independence.

It was 150 years ago this week in which the bloodiest battle of the Civil War was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Both sides fielded courageous advocates for what their version of freedom looked like.

War-worn and long-postponed plans for life were the common lot of my father's generation. Some called it the "Greatest Generation." That global conflagration, once considered the war to end all wars, was only the prelude to a sustained period of years that saw unparalleled growth and expansion of freedom's blessings worldwide.

As I grow older it is increasingly more difficult to take the hard work and sacrifice of all those who came before me for granted. I stir with emotion every time I sing the National Anthem. I tear up when I think about the flag that flies a few feet from my home and realize what it represents in blood, toil and courage.

I checked the other day about who reads this blog. I've had readers represented in 22 countries so far. To them I would say, don't give up on the ideals America represents. I pray all may remember the sacrifice of so many who have gone before to make freedom a reality beyond the ideal.

I have freedom to get up every day of my life in America to try and make something good happen, something that but for me would not exist.

I have the unrequited joy of seeing my children and grandchildren succeeding and prospering as adults who are making a contribution for good to their own families, their country, their Church and their employers. They are amazing people who emerged from a simple idea, "Patsy, I love you, will you marry me?"

I am only beginning to understand what it means to be a father, but understanding the meaning that goes behind "Grandpa" is so much easier and fulfilling.

My wife of 44 years is growing older at my side day by day, and as we laugh about our deteriorating body parts, we can share not only that but so much more together in relative peace and tranquility compared to so many others in our strife-riddled world.

Oakley, Utah, not far from where we live, puts on a stellar parade every year. The highway is closed all morning long, then the fabulous new rodeo arena sponsors the Oakley Rodeo at night for a continuous feast of Americana at its best. There is nothing to compare with John Wayne's booming voice over the loudspeakers declaring "America, Why I Love Her."



The Woodland Ward sponsors the annual 4th of July breakfast, complete with flag raising ceremony and a huge American breakfast of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, bacon, ham and all the fixin's any way you want it.

I will never tire of celebrating the 4th of July. To be sure, America has her problems, and many predict her demise, but I choose to remain optimistic about her future. As long as God's children can muster enough gratitude for blessings received, we will continue to find a majority who value the cause of freedom. .

Happy 4th of July!

Can America Be Saved From Tyranny?

The short answer to this question is yes.

I've heard the radio and cable TV pundits batting this question around routinely. Controversy sells. The latest round features a one-word description of a young lady uttered by a professional talk radio professional who should have known better. However, he took the bait and now all his commercial sponsors have abandoned him.

He's concerned (as we all must be) about the loss of freedom in this country when taxpayers are required under the provisions of Obamacare to fund promiscuity through the distribution of birth control devices. When that didn't play so well with the Catholic Church, the president and his administration switched course and demanded that insurance companies provide contraceptives freely to their insureds. All of it makes for great fodder on Twitter, but deflects the conversation from the other abysmal policy failures of this administration.

Controversy drives ratings, calls attention to the combatants, and the question remains in the minds of many, "Can America be saved from such tyrannical acts as we have seen in steady procession over the last seventy or eighty years, and particularly the acceleration of tyranny we have witnessed in the last three years?" Personal righteousness and obdience are key elements. Here's what anchors my faith in my answer:

Samuel F. Smith

Samuel F. Smith, a Baptist minister, wrote his great poem soon after the Church was organized. He titled it simply, America:

My country! ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble, free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills.
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees,
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!
(Hymns, 339).

This poem was first put to the tune of Great Britain's national anthem in 1832 at a Fourth of July celebration. God had finally replaced the King of England as the Supreme Ruler, God and King in the hearts of our forefathers, the founders we celebrate! The words indicate that Samuel F. Smith had also gleaned some insight about this land of America — truths which, he no doubt was unaware, had been revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Joseph learned by divine revelation between 1827 and 1829, while he translated The Book of Mormon, that God is the author of our liberty and that to retain it, the inhabitants of the land must be protected by His mighty hand. While we are sometimes tempted to believe we can protect liberty by elections or legislative decree, there really is no other power that can protect our God-given liberty.

Joseph Smith received revelation that went even further. These truths identified the “Great God” implored by Samuel F. Smith as Jesus Christ. The truths revealed in The Book of Mormon declare if we are to enjoy the protection of His might, we must accept Him as our God and keep His commandments. When I ask myself how we are doing as a nation today, it gives me pause. To save the nation, we must save the home with priesthood power.

“Behold,” says one revelation, “this [America] is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.” (Ether 2:12).

Samuel F. Smith's words, “Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King” imply that the God of the land is also King of the land. And this is also true.

The Book of Mormon, quoting Jesus as he spoke here in America, reads:

This land shall be a land of liberty. . . and there shall be no kings upon [it]. . .
For I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words. . .
For it is a choice land, saith God. . . wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me.” (2 Nephi 10:11–19).

The history of the people described by The Book of Mormon makes clear that enjoying this God-given liberty while we inhabit the "choice land" depends upon acceptance of and obedience to Jesus Christ.

We learn from the record that more than two thousand years before His birth in the flesh, Jesus Christ led a small colony of people from Asia to America. When they first set foot on the land, He put before their prophet leaders a two-way test, “that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off. . . when they. . . are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:8–9).

It was the test of the two ways, stated elsewhere as "We have beheld that the great question which is in your minds is whether the word be in the Son of God, or whether there shall be no Christ." (Alma 34:5).

The descendants of this people who first came to America, known as the Jaredites, became a mighty nation. They flourished on this continent for two thousand years. When they obeyed Christ in righteousness, their civilization prospered. When they rejected Him, they eventually annihilated themselves in civil wars. Mormon's abridgment of their history can be found in the Book of Ether. Having read it again recently, it gives light to our present circumstances in America.

In 600 B.C., about the time the Jaredites were destroying themselves, Jesus Christ made provision for another small colony to come to this choice land. He revealed to them, as He had to the Jaredites, that He is the God and King of the land. If they accepted and obeyed Him, they could always remain a free, prosperous, and happy people. However, if they chose to reject Him they would invite certain destruction.

The Jaredite record was made available to their prophets so they could be made aware of the consequences of the two ways. As always, He has left the choice to obey or reject His words in our hands.

The thousand-year history of these people subsequent to the Jaredites records their division into two factions — Nephites and Lamanites. It seems they alternated roles at times. Sometimes the Nephites were righteous and prospered, and other times the Lamanites repented, were righteous and prospered. The key provision associated with prospering was remaining humble and repenting, so counter-intuitive to today's standards where we seem all too quick to arm ourselves and think our safety comes from being weighed down with nuclear arms. The fact we accumulate this weaponry is always couched politically as "defensive measures" to deter others from attacking us. However, recent history will show we have been quick to pull the trigger in the offensive use of our weaponry when we presume to police the hot spots in the world.

After Christ's post-resurrection visit to the land of America, when He ministered personally among them, all who survived the destruction accompanying His crucifixion — both Nephites and Lamanites — were “converted unto the Lord.” United as one in Christ, they built a society described this way:

There were no contentions and disputations among them [for about two hundred years!], and every man did deal justly one with another. . . There were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and. . . the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land.
Surely [concluded Mormon who abridged the record] there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. (4 Nephi 1:2–7, 16).

However, after that happy interlude things began to change. Pride, and every accompaniment of evil that ensued, found place in the hearts of people. They turned away from the God of the land. They rejected Him. By the end of the fourth century A.D., as a result of contention, crime, and carnage, their civilization had disintegrated into chaos.

They had proven themselves unworthy of protection by the “might” of the God of the land, and the scattered remnants of these people dwindled in unbelief until they had reached the state of degradation in which Columbus found them when he landed on this continent.

Lehi, the first prophet who led his family and a few others to America in 600 B.C., prophesied “there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.” (2 Nephi 1:6).

No one who came here has escaped this everlasting decree “that whoso should possess [it] should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off. . . when they. . . are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:8–9). The truth of the two ways is inescapable.

We who live in America today cannot escape this everlasting decree. And the Lord has said, “My word shall be verified at this time as it hath hitherto been verified.” (D&C 5:20).

Jesus Christ, the God and the King of this land, led Columbus to it.

He led the Pilgrims to Plymouth.

He sustained and gave victory to the colonists in their Revolutionary War against Great Britain and the tyrannical reign of King George.

He established the Constitution of the United States (see D&C 101:80).

Over a period of some twenty-six centuries He gave the revelation to scores of prophet leaders who authored of The Book of Mormon, detailing the lives of the former inhabitants of this land.

Moroni, at the direction of Jesus Christ, finished the record and hid it up in the Hill Cumorah, where, under His surveillance, it was safely preserved for some fourteen hundred years.

By the power of Jesus Christ, the God and the King of this land of America, the record was brought forth, translated, and published in 1830. Joseph Smith said he did it "by the gift and power of God." For over 180 years it has stood as a tireless message of the divinity of Jesus Christ to all who will receive it.

And so you ask, what does all of this mean to me today? Whether one accepts The Book of Mormon as scripture or not, Moroni provided an editorial comment after he had abridged and assembled all the records associated with the destruction of two vast civilizations that had inhabited the American continent. His sober reflections and warnings to us in the latter days provide the answer:

And this cometh unto you. . . that ye may know the decrees of God — that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done. (Ether 2:11).

I highlight these inescapable truths today as a warning against the ongoing anti-Christ trend in America today. The assaults against our liberty and our freedom continue unabated and they are accelerating at a pace I never imagined possible a few years ago. When government becomes the solution to every detail of our lives, we lose the freedoms God gave us. It is little wonder Connor Boyack was inspired to produce a masterful book, Latter-day Liberty. I commend its contents to you.

A backward glance helps put things into perspective. There is a useful list of atheists that may surprise you with some of the names. Others are more familiar. It should not be surprising they outnumber the true and living prophets by a wide margin, and their writings and teachings have gained significant traction in recent years.

My Dad has been routinely cleaning out his files, and he simply cannot throw any of it away so he gives most of it to me. It's really a scrap from his most recent pile that prompted today's blog post. Some years ago reference was made in a Deseret News editorial to “a super-duper, eager-beaver atheist” who “does not like Christianity” at all, “and is out to destroy it. . . In a national magazine [this atheist] is quoted as thundering from her ‘pulpit’ ‘Churches are leeches. . .’ Now that she has moved on prayer and Bible reading in U.S. public schools,” the editorial continues, “her next targets, it appears, are tax-exemptions for churches, ousting chaplains from the armed services and omission of ‘God’ in courtroom oaths, on money and in the pledge of allegiance.” (Norman Vincent Peale, Deseret News and Telegram, 3 July 1964). No one would doubt the anti-Christ agenda in America has accelerated since then.

There was another scrap in Dad's pile from an undated and unattributed magazine that advanced and argued the thesis that America is no longer “the Christian land of the Pilgrims.” It's probably something of the same vintage, so the arguments against Christianity in this country have abounded for many years, for the most part unchallenged.

Then my eye settled on another scrap, this one a Pew Research Center poll dated July 16, 2010. "By the year 2050, 41% of American believe that Jesus Christ definitely (23%) or probably (18%) will have returned to earth. However, a 46% plurality of the public does not believe Christ will return during the next 40 years. Fully 58% of white evangelical Christians say Christ will return to earth in this period, by far the highest percentage in any religious group. Only about a third of Catholics (32%) and even fewer white mainline Protestants (27%) predict Christ's return to earth by 2050. Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 20% also see Christ returning during the next four decades."

Now don't misunderstand, I do not believe a public poll will either hasten or delay Christ's return. What this does demonstrate, however, is that a significant block of the inhabitants of America are either indifferent or openly hostile to the reality of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, and are ignoring His words as revealed in the scriptures and through living prophets. At the very least religious bigotry is certainly in evidence in this current presidential campaign.

President Marion G. Romney

President Marion G. Romney observed: "In distinguishing communism from the United Order, President David O. McKay said that communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and that it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. Communism is the greatest anti-Christ power in the world today and therefore the greatest menace not only to our peace but to our preservation as a free people. By the extent to which we tolerate it, accommodate ourselves to it, permit ourselves to be encircled by its tentacles and drawn to it, to that extent we forfeit the protection of the God of this land." (Ensign, September 1979, First Presidency Message).

Much earlier, President Romney cited a quote from President McKay with another sober warning: "Relying on that part of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' the United States Supreme Court has ruled against Bible reading and prayer in public schools. By so doing, said President David O. McKay, 'the Supreme Court of the United States severs the connecting cord between the public schools of the United States and the source of divine intelligence, the Creator himself,' who, of course, is the God of this land." (Relief Society Magazine, December 1962, 878).

The inroads that creeping socialism have made in America need no further explanation. I have written previously about the reality we have all observed that we are in large measure a socialist government now. We say, I don't want socialism, but don't take away my Social Security benefits, my Medicare for my knee replacements, my Medicaid for my family members who can't afford coverage, and don't touch my food stamps. And how is such an attitude NOT socialism?

What I am advocating is that we no longer wrest meanings that aren't there from the First Amendment. Communism, socialism, atheism, secular humanism, or any other anti-Christ influence, must never be allowed to weaken our conviction further that Jesus Christ is the God and the King of this land. May nothing discourage our determination to obey His laws, so we may merit His divine protection as a free nation!

On such conviction and such obedience hang all our hopes so well expressed in Samuel F. Smith’s patriotic hymn:

Our fathers’ God to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!
(Hymns, 339).



The acid test of our convictions can easily be judged by our eagerness or our indifference about a simple exercise in freedom. I speak of the caucus/nomination process. A poll released today said more than half of the residents of Utah have no intention of attending. 72% reported they didn't know where to attend. It's not that hard - go to utgop.org. It's another test of the two ways:

Either we engage in freedom's liberties, or we ignore our God-given privileges.

My Top Quote from 1974

Every year, Fred Shapiro puts out his "Top Ten Quotes of the Year."  This year, he created a new list, and gives his reason for his top pick:

Fred Shapiro, Yale University

"People resented the fact that [Hayward] was wanting to get back to his yacht races and other aspects of his normal life when those little problems were dwarfed by the magnitude of what people on the Gulf Coast were dealing with," Shapiro said.

Here's the whole top 10 list (courtesy of the AP):

1. (TIE) "I'm not a witch." Christine O'Donnell, television advertisement, Oct. 4.

1. (TIE) "I'd like my life back." Tony Hayward, comment to reporters, May 30.

3. "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested." airline passenger John Tyner, speaking to Transportation Security Administration worker at San Diego International Airport, Nov. 13.

4. "Don't retreat. Instead - reload!" Sarah Palin, Tweet, March 23.

5. "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le! Los mineros de Chile!" Chant at Chilean mine rescue, Oct. 13.

6. "I hope that's not where we're going, but you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies [it's about guns]. They're saying: My goodness, what can we do to turn this country around?" Sharron Angle, radio interview in January.

7. "We have to pass the [health care] bill so you can find out what is in it." Nancy Pelosi, speech to National Association of Counties, March 9.  [Jimmy Carter must LOVE this woman!]

8. "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach." LeBron James, television broadcast, July 8.

9. "You're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?" Christine O'Donnell, Delaware senatorial debate, Oct. 19.  (The Associated Press reported the quote: "So you're telling me that the separation of church and state, the phrase 'separation of church and state,' is in the First Amendment?")

10. "They should never have put me with that woman. ... She was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour." Gordon Brown, commenting about a voter he met while campaigning during the British general election, April 28.


Piggybacking on Shapiro, local Deseret News columnist Lee Benson added his own list of Top Ten Quotes with a Utah flavor.

* * *

It seems the standards of public discourse have slipped substantially if all that is required to make Shapiro's Top Ten List of Quotes these days is to say something so totally dumb and stupid it makes people laugh out loud.  Case in point:  Tied at Number One, Christine O'Donnell said a lot of stupid things in her unsuccessful Senate bid this year, including "I'm not a witch," after admitting she had once "dabbled" in witchcraft earlier in her life.

LeBron James, pretending anyone out there really cared all that much, declared he was taking his talents to South Beach.  It has to be right up there on the top ten list of ego indulgence ever foisted on America.

It started me thinking, what's my favorite quote as I thought back on the 2010 topsy-turvy year in politics?  There are so many who have given up hope in politics and politicians in general.  The country is mired in debt that is escalating now at a quicker pace than revenue (taxes) coming into the Treasury.  It's a dismal time for some, reminiscent of the "malaise" Jimmy Carter once described in a pivotal speech that eventually toppled his miserable presidency. 

It now seems there are many who have been transported back to that time in their minds, if not their stated opinion, of where we are in America.

President Ronald Reagan

Then along came Ronald Reagan, who would have none of it.  At the end of 1974, then Governor Reagan of California gave one of his most famous speeches, known as his "City upon a Hill" speech.  Reagan, of course, went on to beat Carter in the 1980 presidential election and touched off a period of economic recovery, national optimism, and sustained prosperity.   I've already quoted Reagan when he gave his famous farewell address in which again he used the image of the "city on the hill."  So it appears Reagan had a "bookend vision" for America when he commenced his bid to be President as early as 1974, spanning the years he served as President until January, 1989. 


Strange, how Carter was advocating back then for a government-run health care solution, and Reagan was opposed.  "There you go again," he said as Carter rattled off his government program wish list.  It would take 30 years, but finally the "progressives" in government imposed their will on health care and now it is the law of the land at a time when America can least afford another trillion dollar entitlement program.

I make no pretensions about government being able to solve all our social problems, even as laudable and desirable as it may seem to provide health care for everyone.  In fact, I would assert with Ronald Reagan that a bloated government with a voracious appetite for tax dollars has become the problem, exactly as Reagan predicted it would.

So as we come mercifully to the end of the 111th Congress, the end of 2010, the year marking the re-awakening of the American citizenry now aroused over the tyrannical treatment it has been subjected to, it is well to hearken back to another time, another year, when the infusion of optimism was as needed then as it is today.

So my favorite quote of 2010 isn't from 2010 after all.  It comes from 1974, but it is worth repeating and setting the tone for the 112th Congress to be sworn in next week, and for all of us to reconsider as we embark on 2011.  Note unapologetic references to God in Reagan's speech, and compare and contrast with quotes from 2010 that were considered noteworthy, not a single reference to God among them:

You can call it mysticism if you want to, but I have always believed that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage.

This was true of those who pioneered the great wilderness in the beginning of this country, as it is also true of those later immigrants who were willing to leave the land of their birth and come to a land where even the language was unknown to them. Call it chauvinistic, but our heritage does not set us apart. Some years ago a writer, who happened to be an avid student of history, told me a story about that day in the little hall in Philadelphia where honorable men, hard-pressed by a King who was flouting the very law they were willing to obey, debated whether they should take the fateful step of declaring their independence from that king. I was told by this man that the story could be found in the writings of Jefferson. I confess, I never researched or made an effort to verify it. Perhaps it is only legend. But story, or legend, he described the atmosphere, the strain, the debate, and that as men for the first time faced the consequences of such an irretrievable act, the walls resounded with the dread word of treason and its price — the gallows and the headman’s axe. As the day wore on the issue hung in the balance, and then, according to the story, a man rose in the small gallery. He was not a young man and was obviously calling on all the energy he could muster. Citing the grievances that had brought them to this moment he said, "Sign that parchment. They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave and yet the words of that parchment can never die. For the mechanic in his workshop, they will be words of hope, to the slave in the mines — freedom." And he added, "If my hands were freezing in death, I would sign that parchment with my last ounce of strength. Sign, sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, sign even if the hall is ringing with the sound of headman’s axe, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the bible of the rights of man forever." And then it is said he fell back exhausted. But 56 delegates, swept by his eloquence, signed the Declaration of Independence, a document destined to be as immortal as any work of man can be. And according to the story, when they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he could not be found nor were there any who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.

Well, as I say, whether story or legend, the signing of the document that day in Independence Hall was miracle enough. Fifty-six men, a little band so unique — we have never seen their like since — pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Sixteen gave their lives, most gave their fortunes and all of them preserved their sacred honor. What manner of men were they? Certainly they were not an unwashed, revolutionary rebel, nor were then adventurers in a heroic mood. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, nine were farmers. They were men who would achieve security but valued freedom more.

And what price did they pay? John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. After more than a year of living almost as an animal in the forest and in caves, he returned to find his wife had died and his children had vanished. He never saw them again, his property was destroyed and he died of a broken heart — but with no regret, only pride in the part he had played that day in Independence Hall. Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships — they were sold to pay his debts. He died in rags. So it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston, and Middleton. Nelson, learning that Cornwallis was using his home for a headquarters, personally begged Washington to fire on him and destroy his home — he died bankrupt. It has never been reported that any of these men ever expressed bitterness or renounced their action as not worth the price. Fifty-six rank-and-file, ordinary citizens had founded a nation that grew from sea to shining sea, five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep — all done without an area re-development plan, urban renewal or a rural legal assistance program. . .

Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, "We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom. . .

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, "The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind."

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.

Separatists, Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means today to be considered a "Separatist" or a "revolutionary." Who are the revolutionaries today?  Who are those who seek freedom and are willing to die for it?  Who will live their religion at all costs, counting all things but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord?  I'm wondering if America in its latest attempt to redefine itself in this bi-annual renewal of national elections granted to us by our founders isn't just a way of hearkening back to our origins a little bit. If the pushback we've been observing in the recent election results is any indication, maybe it's a sign we're reaching back to our roots for a bit of the revolutionary spirit left within us.

In America we apply the term "Pilgrim" to those who first settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the 9th day of November 1620.  The Pilgrims who landed on that bleak New England shore at Cape Cod were "Separatists."  They were not the Puritans — they settled in Massachusetts.  But the Separatists settled at Plymouth.


Governor William Bradford

Thanksgiving Day originated one year later in 1621.  Imagine landing on these shores as religious people with little more than the clothes on your back and having to eke out an existence from nothing but abundant but untamed natural resources all around as winter is fast approaching.  It's a stunning tale of survival in hostile surroundings.  Governor William Bradford appointed the day for public praise and prayer after the first harvest.  This is what one account gives of that first thanksgiving:

"In the fall of 1621 the first harvest of the colonists was gathered. The `corn' yielded well, and the `barley' was `indifferently good,' but the peas were a failure, owing to drought and late spring. Encouraged with the harvest of their fruits, but needing more eatables for feasting, the leaders sent four huntsmen for food of the forest, and at their return, `after a special manner,' the Pilgrims rejoiced together, feasting King Massasoit and ninety men for three days, and partaking of venison, wild turkeys, water fowl, and other delicacies for which New England was then famous."

The first Thanksgiving was but a formal manifestation of the spirit of praise and thanksgiving that actuated the hearts of the pilgrims during that first terrible winter in the new country.  One wonders if the infamous "nor'easter" storms were discovered and named during that first winter. 

We are informed by historical accounts that of 102 immigrants who landed on the bleak rocky coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1620, nearly half died before the following winter had begun.  In December six died; January, eight; February, seventeen; March, thirteen — a total of 44 in four months!  Even despite the ravages many are suffering in the wake of this protracted recession recovery, we are by contrast in our comfortable homes surrounded with peace and plenty.  Awakening this morning to a 20 degree temperature in Pine Valley reminds me it is well for us to pause and try to imagine the suffering of the survivors mid-winter, both from their destitution and inclement weather. 

These earliest American refugees were not all of hearty stock.  Among them were delicately nurtured and refined men and women.  They hastily laid out two rows of huts for nineteen families in that first colony to protect themselves from the ravages of the oncoming winter.  In the first year they had to make seven times more graves for the dead than houses for the living.  Despite their grieving for the loss of their dead relatives, these survivors were to become the progenitors of a great and glorious nation.  They still felt inclined to be thankful for all their blessings and appointed "an especial day on which to give special thanks for all their mercies."

It is instructive for us during this Thanksgiving season to recall it was the Indians who kept the Pilgrims from starving that first winter.  The Pilgrims had insufficient food.  They saw some mounds into which they dug and found corn, and they appropriated it to their own use.  They reported it, however, to King Massasoit, and told him that as soon as they learned to whom the corn belonged, they would recompense them for it.

I have always retained a deep sense of gratitude for the integrity, fortitude, and faith of the Pilgrims.

I am grateful for their strength of character and for the attributes of true greatness which they exemplified. They chose the right with invincible resolution.  They resisted the sorest temptations from within and from without.  They bore the heaviest of burdens cheerfully.  They were most fearless under threat of constant menace and frowns, and their reliance upon God and truth was most unfailing.  In this day when so many are willing and eager to rewrite our history or to ignore it, consulting the original documents will yield the truth of our origins anchored in Divine Providence and the deep faith of our forefathers upon this continent.

Governor Bradford, on the day after they landed, gave an address to that little company aboard the Mayflower.  It is useful to observe they drew up a plan for their fledgling government and set forth their principles for government.  Here's the final paragraph:

"May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say, Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversities."

Their faith in God was real to them.  You can rewrite history if you choose, but we are informed by their accounts that their foundation was pure and holy to these refugees.

Fast forward to President George Washington, "the father of our country," when he signed the official proclamation of a Thanksgiving Day in America.  Note, here again, how the element of divine faith is underscored:

Whereas, it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his Will, to be grateful for his Benefits, and humbly to implore his Protection and Favour; and whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint Committee, requested me "To recommend to the People of the United States, a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful Hearts the many Signal Favours of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Form of Government for their safety and Happiness."

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday and the twenty-sixth Day of November, next, to be devoted by the People of these States, to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficient Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind Care and Protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation; — for the signal and manifold Mercies and the favourable Interpositions of his Providence in the Course and Conclusion of the late War; — for the great Degree of Tranquility, Union, and Plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational Manner in which we have been enabled to establish Constitutions of Government for our Safety and Happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; — for the civil and religious Liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; — and in general, for all the great and various Favours which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And Also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our Prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our National and other Transgressions; — to enable us all whether in public or private Stations, to perform our several and relative Duties properly and punctually; — to render our national Government a Blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and Constitutional Laws, directly and faithfully obeyed; — to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us) and to bless them with good Government, Peace, and concord; — to promote the Knowledge and practice of true Religion, and Virtue, and the increase of Science among them and us; — and generally to grant unto all mankind such a Degree of temporal Prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York, the third Day of October, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty nine.

Flashback to Father Lehi:  "Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring.  And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.  Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves.  And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever." 

With such a promise, however, also comes the attendant warning:

"But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord — having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise — behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them." (2 Nephi 1:7-10).

The very foundations and the ongoing perpetuity of this nation depend upon faith.  I raise my voice on this page to make the obvious assertion:  There is an influence undermining the very basic structure of this great nation.

Atheism, the very well-spring of the spirit of the anti-Christ, has spread its tentacles throughout America.  You can label any way you wish -- "secular humanism" is but one manifestation.  These proponents are seeking to eradicate from their minds at the earliest ages of our children the naturally occurring and deeply religious inclinations we share from our common heritage, as illustrated in our most formative written expressions as a foundering nation.  These enemies would destroy if they could all belief in God, all interest in Church or its activities, all hope, aspiration, and faith outside the political doctrine of a few who have seized the national power.

With the dominant trait of our pilgrim fathers, faith in God, however, we can correctly govern ourselves.  We must continue to love the stars and stripes, and accept, defend and promote the Constitution of these United States as divine.  We must never hesitate to choose the right path, as our Pilgrim forefathers did.  It is fashionable to disavow those divine inspirations, but the founders attributed their success to the Divine.

Love of freedom is deeply innate within each of us.  It comes to us as a pre-existent condition we valued and championed before we ever came to live upon this earth.  When we see these traits exhibited in the earliest documents of our tradition, it is easy to understand how they came to their conclusions so readily.

In 1604-5-6, Shakespeare was writing his plays. Four "classes" or "parties" in England dominated the scene.  The Catholics remained true to Rome; members of the English Church (later they formed The Church of England) had drawn away from the Catholics; the Puritans would become the founders of the Massachusetts Colony; and the Separatists later became the founders of the Plymouth Colonies. 

The Puritans and Separatists withdrew from the English Church, because they thought the English Church had not separated themselves far enough from the Catholic Church.  The persecution of these sects or groups was very intense, particularly under James the First who is described as "the greatest pedant that ever sat upon the English throne."  He was "arbitrary, capricious, tyrannical, and unprincipled, he trampled upon the most solemn oaths, and seemed never better pleased than when torturing or anathematizing the victims of his vengeance.  Hence at Hampton Court Conference, at the close of the second day, speaking of the Puritans, he said: `I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse.'"

That statement alone would qualify for the founders' collective statements about "tyranny" they would one day write into the Declaration of Independence describing King George III!

Finally he issued a proclamation, July 16, 1604, ordering the Puritan Clergy to conform before the last of November, or to dispose of themselves and families in some other way, as "unfit for their obstinacy and contempt to occupy places."

The Separatists waited awhile, and finally one group under a man by the name of Robinson took a boat to Holland where they might worship free of this autocracy.  Those who remained in England received the promised treatment from the clergy -- they were "harried," persecuted, imprisoned and driven out for their religious beliefs.

Once they determined to leave England, the King said they couldn't leave.  "It is conformity we demand."  It got worse.  After extensive preparations to leave England in the middle of the night one night bound for the Netherlands, they were finally taken on board in the darkness only to learn they had been betrayed.  Governor Bradford in his account says:  "But when he had them and their goods aboard, he betrayed them, having beforehand plotted with the searchers and other officers so to do who took them, and put them into open boats, and there rifled and ransacked them, searching them to their shirts for money, yea even the women further than became modesty; and then carried them back into the town and made them a spectacle and wonder to the multitude, which came flocking on all sides to behold them."

Their plight of three hundred years ago remains a cautionary tale for all who love freedom.

Finally, Governor Bradford is able to report:  "The Dutchman seeing this, swore his country's oath, `sacramente,' and having the wind fair," sailed away with the husbands aboard, and the women and children left stranded.  Imagine their extremity.  They had nothing with them but the shirts on their backs, their wives and children left helpless.  They should have made the trip in seven days, but they were out fourteen days because of a terrible storm which threatened to engulf them.  Governor Bradford then reports:  "But when man's hope and help wholly failed, the Lord's power and mercy appeared in their recovery; for the ship rose again, and gave the mariners courage again to manage her.  And if modesty would suffer me, I might declare with what fervent prayers they cried unto the Lord in this great distress, (especially some of them), even without any great distraction, when the water ran in their mouths and ears; and the mariners cried out We sinke, we sinke; they cried (if not with miraculous, yet with a great height or degree of divine faith), Yet Lord thou canst save, yet Lord thou canst save; with such other expressions as I will forbear. Upon which the ship did not only recover, but shortly after the violence of the storm began to abate, and the Lord filled their afflicted minds with such comforts as every one cannot understand, and in the end brought them to their desired Haven, where the people came flocking admiring their deliverance, the storm having been so long and sore, in which much hurt had been done, as yet masters friends related unto him in their congratulations."

Remember, these are religious people fleeing persecution.  It was not unlike a voyage undertaken by the Apostle Paul on his way to Rome.

What I've outlined here is only a brief summary of what our Pilgrim forefathers suffered and endured for the love of freedom.  Their heroism in defense of freedom is well-documented, and ironically lays the predicate for what came later in their intolerance of the Indians who occupied the New World.  But none of it alters their persuasions and inclinations toward God's will for them.

So tell me, fair citizens of America in 2010, is there an enemy today in our country that threatens our freedom?  There are those who cry out, "Rescue the Constitution from what?"  I am persuaded the leaders of our country do not want more war with any more foreign enemies than those with whom we currently contend.  No, our most determined enemies lie within America's borders, not those we seem so inept at keeping out.

There is a desperate debate and a growing conflict between freedom and government-mandated entitlement programs that would rob us of our freedoms in the name of "spreading the wealth around."  There is a growing and swelling tide of the attitude, "Do as little as you can and get as much as you can."  And that is wrong.

In my view the antidote to recapturing the spirit of freedom and independence exhibited by our Pilgrim ancestors is faith — faith in God our Heavenly Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A love of freedom embodies the innate desire to worship, to work, to think and to live.  To feel a sense of earning what we receive, free from an invasive autocracy or government that will dictate what we pay to them and what we will buy from them as the purveyors and masters of all the elements of production.

In spite of it all, I remain thankful.  I'm thankful for our country, for those who live under its heavenly banner of freedom.  I am even grateful for the federal government and its leaders for whom I pray constantly, while wishing it were smaller and they were less intrusive.  I am grateful for the Church, thankful for living prophets who live among us to guide us, comfort us and give us hope for a future when Zion will be established and Babylon will be thrown down.  That day cannot be far distant at the speed we are travelling.  I am grateful for family, for children and grandchildren, for true friends to love (who love me), and for trustworthy men and women whom we can trust this Thanksgiving Day.  Among those who are not trustworthy and for whom I am not grateful this year are certain employees of the Bank of America.  But I digress.

We thank Thee, O Father, for all that is bright —
The gleam of the day and the stars of the night,
The flowers of our youth and the fruits of our prime,
And the blessings that march down the pathway of time.

We thank Thee, O Father, for all that is drear —
The sob of the tempest, the flow of the tear;
For never in blindness, and never in vain,
Thy mercy permitted a sorrow or pain.

We thank Thee, O Father of all, for the power
Of aiding each other in life's darkest hour;
The generous heart and the bountiful hand
And all the soul-help that sad souls understand.

We thank thee, O Father, for days yet to be;
For hopes that our future will call us to Thee.
Let all our eternity form, through Thy love
A heart of Thanksgiving in the mansions above.

-- Will Carleton