Written by Ron Madson

MAY DAY! MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

Poverty is an anomaly to the rich, they cannot understand why the poor when hungry do not simply ring the bell. --Walter Bagehot

“May Day” repeated three times has become the internationally recognized distress signal for all vessels (planes, ships, etc) that are in peril. Even though technically the “May Day” phrase originated from the French phrase “venez m’aider”---meaning come help me---I would suggest that the International Workers’ Day held every May 1st in commemoration of the May 4, 1886 Haymarket Strike in Chicago adopt this distress call--- that is to be used only in the most dire of circumstances.

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By Warner Woodworth, BYU Professor Emeritus

Today’s currents of economic malaise have long been the concerns of who seek a healthy economy and social justice. The LDS standard works are filled with admonishments to empower the downtrodden and remember that “the labourer is worthy of his reward” (I Tim. 5:17). Recent battles such as the Occupy Wall Street movement,[1] Mitt Romney’s denigration of the 47 percent,[2] the uproar over inequality,[3] and low minimum wages[4] illustrate these issues. Other damages against workers include corporate downsizing, exorbitant CEO pay, decline of middle class jobs, offshore manufacturing, flat wage structures, high unemployment rates, and so forth.

Mormonism addresses each of these concerns. Our alliance with society’s have-nots should begin with appreciation of the fact that Jesus Himself was a blue-collar worker, a low-paid carpenter engaged in manual labor. In today’s vernacular, we would say he’d be a trade union member and card-carrying member of the Democratic Party. In other words, he would probably be a Liberal.

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Those who are reading this are, to a certain degree, dissatisfied with things the way they are. Being a Mormon Democrat is not for the faint of heart; no one who is guilty of thinking “all is well in Zion” is a member of this club. While we are grateful to be Americans, grateful for our testimonies of the Savior and the restored Gospel, and (I think especially as Democrats) conscious of how all these blessings come from our Heavenly Father, we believe things can be better. A short list of our frustrations includes the following:

Why do many of our fellow Latter-day Saints seem blind to many of the injustices in today’s America?

How can a people who read the Book of Mormon every day think that a political philosophy that worships wealth, idolizes rich people, demonizes poor people and whose religious base consists of fundamentalists who deny Mormons are Christian somehow reflects their values? How can these same people read King Benjamin and complain about ‘welfare moms’ taking their pittance away from us ‘hard working people’ while ignoring the vastly larger sums the rich and powerful are pilfering to line their already fat pockets?

How can the one predominantly Mormon state in the nation, whose people supposedly value families and children so much, consistently be rock-bottom in support for public education?

How can the descendants of the loyal followers of Brigham Young not be outraged at the environmental mess we have made of Brother Brigham’s Zion?

I could go on, but you get the point. Yeah, we’re frustrated.

It’s time we do something besides sit around the table and complain to each other. An election is coming up, and it’s time to put our shoulders to the wheel and get to work. The LDS Dems have experienced explosive growth the last few years, and we’re all excited about that, but this is more than a social club. Pick a few Democratic candidates that share your values. They don’t have to be Latter-day Saints. Donate to their campaigns. Volunteer to walk with them in your neighborhoods. If your health doesn’t permit that, make phone calls. Hold a house party and get a roomful of people together to meet your candidates.

Most importantly, speak up. I was getting my recommend signed several months ago by a wonderful councilor in our stake presidency. We got to talking afterwards and he asked about my plans for running for the Utah Legislature. After learning I was running as a Democrat, he leaned in and whispered (even though we were alone): “My son and I have been discussing this for a year now, and we’ve decided we’re Democrats!”

My response was simple: My good friend, stop whispering!

 

I still remember the replies when I told people I was going to the Sweden Stockholm Mission:

“Oh, that’s a hard mission!  I’ve heard everyone is a socialist there!”

“Isn’t that the country that has universal healthcare?  I’ve heard from my friends that it’s absolutely horrible.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that’s a really hard mission.  Will you be speaking German?”

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A little over a year ago, President Uchtdorf met with other faith leaders at the White House to discuss immigration reform with President Obama. Today he attended a similar meeting and again made headlines.

Photo courtesy of lds.org

Last March, President Uchtdorf was quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune as saying,

"[President Obama] was talking about his principles and what he said was totally in line with our values."

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The Supreme Court of the United States struck down aggregate campaign limits for individuals in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. This, combined with their decision in Citizens United v FEC, represents what some have suggested is a bit of a problem. But why should we care? What is so bad about people being able to give money to the candidates and causes they believe in?

I hope to explore, if not answer, these questions in this post. As has been well documented in previous posts, Mormonism is a faith especially attuned to issues of the negative social and spiritual effects of income inequality. Mormon scriptures routinely decry income inequality and preach about the importance of fighting against it. And when big money is allowed to not only participate in, but dominate, the system of creating laws and regulations in this country, there is little doubt whose interests will be served by those laws and regulations.

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This is a bit dated, but I think it is still relevant.

Note: Although my comments relate to President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union, I could do something similar for every president. Politically speaking, I think President Obama hit a home run.

The State of the Union, in my opinion, highlights some of the worst aspects about American politics. Over the course of my 25 years of existence on earth, the world has witnessed the birth of several breakthroughs in communication. The growth of the internet, mobile phones, consumer video conferencing, and tablets have completely changed the way most live. To give you some perspective, using a basic high speed internet connection, I just downloaded the entire Wikipedia database onto my computer...in just over 20 minutes. Never has communication been more instant.

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First posted at McAffee's Machinations.

It has been almost two years since I reviewed a book by tea party constitutional guru, Cleon Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap:  28 Great Ideas That Changed the World (Ann. Ed. 2009).  See Cleon Skousen, the Tea Party, and Equal Rights Before the Law, April 12, 2012, in McAffee Machinations.  In that book Professor Skousen referred approvingly to the founding era’s harsh penalties for “the crime of ‘homosexuality,’” considering that it was—appropriately—viewed as a crime “against ‘the whole people,” virtually the equivalent of treason, cowardice, and desertion.

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The Mozilla CEO just stepped down. Here's the Economist on what happened:

MOZILLA, the outfit behind the Firefox web browser and other software, has just lost its chief executive, Brendan Eich (pictured), who resigned on April 3rd after spending little more than a week in the job. His departure raises thorny questions about where lines should be drawn between leaders’ personal beliefs and their corporate roles. Mr Eich quit after a controversy blew up about his views on gay marriage.

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Since the crisis in Ukraine took center stage in the news a little over a month ago, we could have added to the list of death and taxes another absolute certainty of life: that Republicans would blame the whole thing on Obama.

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