Something very troubling is happening in the land. In fact, it is happening all over the world – as a result of the so-called ‘War on Terror’. It is a systematic and planned assault on our civil (God-given) liberties.

President J. Rueben Clark of the LDS Church First Presidency, (1933–1961) warned about what we are seeing before our eyes:

J. Reuben Clark Jr.

“Do not think that all these usurpations, intimidations, and impositions are being done to us through inadvertence or mistake; the whole course is deliberately planned and carried out; its purpose is to destroy the Constitution and our constitutional government; then to bring chaos, out of which the new Statism with its slavery, is to arise, with a cruel, relentless, selfish, ambitious crew in the saddle, riding hard with whip and spur, a red-shrouded band of night riders for despotism…” (Pres. J. Ruben Clark — quoted in Ezra Taft Benson’s book An Enemy Hath Done This p. 310).

The very freedoms that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution were established to protect, the very limitations upon overreaching government power, are being taken away by governments and do-gooder politicians supposedly in order to “keep us safe”.  Even some (or most) candidates and establishment politicians “professing” Mormonism are on board with the agenda. ¹

Ron Paul Standing with J. Reuben Clark Jr.

Before the House of Representatives, December 5, 2007

Champion of Liberty, Ron Paul

“Mr. Speaker, I regret that I was unavoidably out of town on October 23, 2007, when a vote was taken on HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted against this misguided and dangerous piece of legislation. This legislation focuses the weight of the US government inward toward its own citizens under the guise of protecting us against “violent radicalization.”

“I would like to note that this legislation was brought to the floor for a vote under suspension of regular order. These so-called “suspension” bills are meant to be non-controversial, thereby negating the need for the more complete and open debate allowed under regular order. It is difficult for me to believe that none of my colleagues in Congress view HR 1955, with its troubling civil liberties implications, as “non-controversial.”

“There are many causes for concern in HR 1955. The legislation specifically singles out the Internet for “facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process” in the United States. Such language may well be the first step toward US government regulation of what we are allowed to access on the Internet. Are we, for our own good, to be subjected to the kind of governmental control of the Internet that we see in unfree societies? This bill certainly sets us on that course.

“This seems to be an unwise and dangerous solution in search of a real problem. Previous acts of ideologically motivated violence, though rare, have been resolved successfully using law enforcement techniques, existing laws against violence, and our court system. Even if there were a surge of “violent radicalization” – a claim for which there is no evidence – there is no reason to believe that our criminal justice system is so flawed and weak as to be incapable of trying and punishing those who perpetrate violent acts.

“This legislation will set up a new government bureaucracy to monitor and further study the as-yet undemonstrated pressing problem of homegrown terrorism and radicalization. It will no doubt prove to be another bureaucracy that artificially inflates problems so as to guarantee its future existence and funding. But it may do so at great further expense to our civil liberties. What disturbs me most about this legislation is that it leaves the door wide open for the broadest definition of what constitutes “radicalization.” Could otherwise nonviolent anti-tax, anti-war, or anti-abortion groups fall under the watchful eye of this new government commission? Assurances otherwise in this legislation are unconvincing.

“In addition, this legislation will create a Department of Homeland Security-established university-based body to further study radicalization and to “contribute to the establishment of training, written materials, information, analytical assistance and professional resources to aid in combating violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.” I wonder whether this is really a legitimate role for institutes of higher learning in a free society.

“Legislation such as this demands heavy-handed governmental action against American citizens where no crime has been committed. It is yet another attack on our Constitutionally protected civil liberties. It is my sincere hope that we will reject such approaches to security, which will fail at their stated goal at a great cost to our way of life.”

Again, from President J. Rueben Clark, who warned us over 50 years ago about what we are seeing right before our very eyes:

“I say unto you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this Church will, in order to keep the Church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions of the past have been….If we do not vigorously fight for our liberties, we shall go clear through to the end of the road and become another Russia, or worse….[He added that if the Conspiracy ever completely takes over America], it will probably come in its full vigor and there will be a lot of vacant places among those who guide and direct, not only this government, but also this Church of ours….”

The legislation of the past decade under guise of fighting “terrorism” is Soviet in style, a true tool of dictatorships. Yet most of our elected officials support it and voted for it, including all running for the US Presidency in 2012—Ron Paul, of course, being the sole exception. (Obama, on the Democratic side, is a liar, and joins Republicans in butchering liberty, continuing the same agenda.)

Are we “vigorously fighting” for our liberties here at home? Our liberties don’t depend upon a fruitless and endless War in Iraq. Our liberties can only be threatened from within. We were told in 1922 General Conference, by President Charles W. Nibley that: “We need not fear as to this nation from without. The Lord has said, ‘I will fortify this land against all other nations.’ The danger is not from without, but from within, as the Book of Mormon plainly points out from secret combinations of men giving their first allegiance to their secret combination.” (CR April 1922)

If this legislation is not dangerous to our liberties then why were these warnings given:

Elder Bruce R. McConkie said:

“There will yet be martyrs; the doors in Carthage shall again enclose the innocent. We have not been promised that the trials and evils of the world will entirely pass us by.” (1980, “The Coming Tests and Trials and Glory”)

Latter-day Saints, with their history, are fools indeed to vote into office butchers of the US Constitution, who will violate principles of liberty for the false and sham illusion of “security,” which Benjamin Franklin warned against, for such will find, they will then deserve neither, and will lose both liberty and security.

Joseph Smith was a candidate for the US Presidency in 1844 when martyred in the Carthage Jail by a mob with painted faces, even after having the assured and promised protection of the governor of the state, Thomas Ford.  LDS (Mormon) people should be highly sensitive to the retention of their liberties, for they have seen the conditions of tyranny when government is out of control.  Speaking of this, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910 — 2008) recounted:

Gordon B. Hinckley

“The Latter-day Saints fled their comfortable homes, their farms, their fields, their shops, their beautiful temple built at such tremendous sacrifice. They came to mountain valleys, thousands of them dying along the way. They came to the kind of place that President Joseph Smith had instructed the Twelve to find, “where the devil cannot dig us out.”

“But the adversary has never stopped trying. In the October conference of 1896, President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98), then an aged man, stood in the Tabernacle on Temple Square and said:

“ ‘There are two powers on the earth and in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth—the power of God and the power of the devil. In our history we have had some very peculiar experiences. When God has had a people on the earth, it matters not in what age, Lucifer, the son of the morning, and the millions of fallen spirits that were cast out of heaven, have warred against God, against Christ, against the work of God, and against the people of God. And they are not backward in doing it in our day and generation. Whenever the Lord set His hand to perform any work, those powers labored to overthrow it.’

“President Woodruff knew whereof he spoke. He had then only recently passed through those difficult and perilous days when the government of the nation had come against our people, determined to destroy this Church as an organization. Despite the difficulties of those days, the Saints did not give up. In faith they moved forward. They put their trust in the Almighty, and He revealed unto them the path they should follow. In faith they accepted that revelation and walked in obedience.” (An Unending Conflict, a Victory Assured, BY PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY,  Ensign June, 2007)

Latter-day saints knew what it was to have a Federal Government not only fail to protect them in their rights, but be the very instrument to destroy their pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, to destroy their property and even send armies to wipe them off the face of the map.

Joseph Smith, in voting warned:

“…we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that we have acted conscientiously, and have used our best judgment. And if we have to throw away our votes, we had better do so upon a worthy rather than an unworthy individual who might make use of the weapon we put in his hand to destroy us.” (Times and Seasons, Nauvoo, IV, 441. Cited also in Roberts, Comprehensive History, II, 208–209.)

Gordon B. Hinckley:

“The Book of Mormon narrative is a chronicle of nations long since gone. But in its descriptions of the problems of today’s society, it is as current as the morning newspaper and much more definitive, inspired, and inspiring concerning the solutions of those problems.

“I know of no other writing which sets forth with such clarity the tragic consequences to societies that follow courses contrary to the commandments of God. Its pages trace the stories of two distinct civilizations that flourished on the Western Hemisphere. Each began as a small nation, its people walking in the fear of the Lord. But with prosperity came growing evils. The people succumbed to the wiles of ambitious and scheming leaders who oppressed them with burdensome taxes, who lulled them with hollow promises, who countenanced and even encouraged loose and lascivious living. These evil schemers led the people into terrible wars that resulted in the death of millions and the final and total extinction of two great civilizations in two different eras.”