You are talking about two different things… laissez fair individualism and federalism. Under our constitution, state governments can tax as much and spend as much as they want on anything they want. Federal powers are more limited, but they too have power to tax and spend on the general welfare.

But like so many other things, the water we drink and air we breath cannot be protected in a piecemeal fashion. Child labor cannot be regulated state by state. Competition breeds a race to the bottom.

Bourgeoise individualism is naive… much like Marxism. It relies on an absurd notion of an invisible hand guiding the morals of the economy.

Society requires regulations and investments in its people for the purposes of its own success and security. We have elections to decide what the proper balance is.

None of this has anything to do with the gospel, other than that each of us has the “free will” to decide with our own conscience how our country should treat the least of these. We have a collective voice and will as much as we have individual needs and will. Our collective voice has the right to choose how we will act to better our collective state.

I grew up in a Republican household. I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh and even taped his TV show so I could watch it when I got home from school. In college I had a friend who convinced me that Democrats weren’t evil, but just had different experiences that made them look at things differently. Eventually he convinced me to do more research and I realized I had been misled to about many things. I still wanted to be involved in politics and I started going to meetings of both Democrats and Republicans. I quickly found that I was more comfortable with the Democrats. This doesn’t mean I agree with every Democrat on everything, just that I agree with more Democrats more often than Republicans. A list of things I agree with Democrats on:

Funding for education, and support of public schools
Environment
Social Security/Medicare
Health care for those too sick to work
Sex education
Transparency
Compassionate Immigration Reform
Anti-discrimination laws

Related links:
https://www.lds.org/topics/environmental-stewardship-and-conservation?lang=eng
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-encourages-principled-approach-health-care-coverage-needy-utahns
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865601049/LDS-Church-reaffirms-stance-on-immigration.html
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865623399/Utah-lawmakers-unveil-anti-discrimination-religious-rights-legislation.html

I also support the constitution, but recognize like the founding fathers that it wasn’t perfect and never will be perfect(Alexander Hamilton said so in the federalist papers). It’s better than it used to be after all it now blocks slavery, state sponsored religion, and grants universal suffrage. You and I interpreter Article I Section 8 Clause 3 differently. Which is fine, the founding fathers didn’t even agree on it(look up A Bill For Manufactures in the Americas). Conveniently for me the Supreme Court tends to agree with me rather than you.

It’s interesting you refer to “since Woodrow Wilson”. While he’s often identified as a progressive, he wasn’t a very good one. He fired many federal employees simply because they were black. The president you should have started with was Teddy Roosevelt, since he supported many policies being moved to the national level. Some of this was because of how trains had made interstate commerce so much more common, but mostly it was because he believed a good law is a good law no matter what level it is passed at.

Personally I’m much more involved in state politics than I am in federal politics. I would like to see my state legislature allow more control at the local level than at the state level. State Democratic politicians generally support more local control than state Republican politicians.

I could say since I don’t always agree with the party, I don’t belong to it, but what does that get me. By participating in caucuses, being a delegate(for the last decade), participating in party leadership(precinct chair, leg sec, leg chair, regional director), running as a candidate(twice), and serving in caucus leadership(LDS Dems executive commitee member) I am able to help shape the party and have far more influence than I ever would by sitting out side throwing stones.

Government is necessary, that is why we have a Constitution here in the United States. There is no other place in Earth that was prepared at the time of the First Vision for the restoration of the Gospel. I believe in a CONSTITUTIONAL, Article I Section 8, 10th Amendment Federalist national government. That is how the Lord intended governance for our nation. That is not “no government”. There is nothing contradictory in my belief. This is no different than President Lee, Kimball, Benson, Elder Maxwell, Ballard have stated in the past. The tenant of progressivism that states they can use Government to tax citizen A for the purposes of Citizen B under the guise of charity is what I think is wrong. Forced charity is not charity. I think that would be a true statement with eternal insinuations. They also have to go outside of government authority to do so. Christ has both of his hands extended out to everyone. When government has a hand extended to one citizen, it also has the other clinched in a fist to another citizen. I use PP because it is a pet peeve. So explain to me, as a Mormon progressive, what government policies are important to you? But I’d like to also get an understanding of the government mechanics to make them work. Where does the federal government gets is power to spend money. Should be limited in their scope or are you OK if it spends on what ever it wants? So long as an issue is Constitutional, I have no problem. 90% of what the federal government has taken on since Woodrow Wilson would be better handled at the state and local level. Being a democrat is different than being a progressive. How do you define yourself?

You do state you just want to be left alone to live your life as you believe with out government interference. That this is the public policy that comes about from applying the plan of salvation. This is contrary to the church’s support for anti-discrimination law which prevents businesses from firing people for being gay. I don’t need scripture to explicitly state each government policy is OK, but the example of the current church leadership is contradictory to your beliefs.

My bishop and stake president both know I am a Democrat. In fact I was invited to speak at stake conference specifically to assure members of my stake that it OK to be a Mormon Democrat. Here’s a story about a meeting two other LDS Democrats meeting with their bishop:
http://ldsdems.org/2017/01/s2-e17-a-meeting-with-the-bishop-a-podcast-mini/

For now I’m going to listen to my priesthood leaders over you. I’m sorry for the insults other liberals have directed towards you and other conservatives. I posted this an attempt to change the dialogue and focus on policy.

These are great values to believe in. I think it would be a false statement to assume that Republicans and others don’t believe in the same things. I’m not affiliated to any party, and I believe in the list above. What progressives fail to understand is that the confrontation comes in the ways democrats/liberals/progressives implement these values. All I have to do is refer to Bernie Sanders. We are not compassionate enough because we don’t tax enough. Progressives, even the Mormon one’s, have to implement their policies through what Lincoln Chafee called in the first democrat debate, the “mechanisms of government.” What is that? Force. Progressive policies are so great, they need to be mandated. They don’t believe in the free will of the individual. Plain and simple, maybe too simple. And because I do, I am deemed as not as smart as them. I hear it over and over. Free will is based in the Plan of Salvation, yet progressives believe they are justified in taking the free will of the individual to tax them for their purposes. It’s interesting to me that as a conservative, the only thing I require from the progressive is that he/she leave me alone. Yet, the progressives progress would suffer without my forced participation in it. You need me, I don’t need you. So which point of view is actually more enlightened? And if one thinks I am ridiculous, please explain to me as Kyle failed to do in a previous post. If I were to go and buy a box of condoms for a woman that is not my wife, I would be breaking faith with her, you could say that I would have adultery in my heart. YET, some of my income is taxed away from me for and laundered to Planned Parenthood for that very purpose. Now, explain to me what I did for government to decide that I owe some woman that I don’t know, funding that I help her access birth control so she could enjoy a recreational activity without consequence? Show me the Gospel principle, the conference talk, or the scripture that justifies it. I can back my point of view with President Monson’s three R’s of choice. The progressive doctrine here is that she has the right, I have the responsibility, when both are hers. My intention is not to prove right or wrong, I want a good explanation of how this lines up with the Gospel.