“ I simply cannot be part of a political party that is in thrall to the false doctrines of selfishness, materialism, environmental destruction, militarism, science denial, gated communities, voter suppression, withholding medical services, racism, sexism, union busting.” This is why I cannot be a Democrat. This man knows he is lying, we know that he is lying, he knows that we know that he is lying—yet he continues to lie. Selfishness? Of hundreds of surveys it’s conservatives, without a single exception, who give far far more to the poor than do Democrats. That’s a fact. Environmental destruction? I guess he’s referring to the CULT RELIGION of “climate change.” Fact, NASA data shows there is no warming. Check out phd, Tony Heller’s page for proof of this statement (he works for NASA). Withholding medical services – that’s a lie. A pure lie. The USA hasn’t withheld medical services in decades. What he’s trying to hide is that he’s demanding “socialized medicine” of single-payer insurance if you will. Here, he’s just too ignorant to know that when you give away something for free, you destroy it for everyone. That’s why a knee surgery in Canada takes over a year. That’s why a follow up visit after an emergency room visit for a heart attack takes two months. And that’s why the new Alzheimer drug is being rejected by Medicaid as too expensive. People need to stand up to these Marxist bullies.

Brian Ferguson, I agree with your statements. I believe that regulations are necessary to level the playing field for the protection of the common citizen from the powerful. We are to protect the vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, the children, and the disabled. It is our moral obligation. We, as God’s children, are to rise about the mentality of "survival of the fittest’, or in this modern day ‘the wealthy’. We know from the teachings of Jesus that He reached out to the poor and all the vulnerable in liberal charity. He fed the hungry, etc. As we also know, those who have more should give more. ‘To whom more is given, more is expected’. Our tithing is fair and equitable with the 10%. That is greater for those with greater income. Our nation, as any nation, is not just a business. It is a nation of people, who need a government to represent them. At this time, I observe that many of the policies being proposed will hurt the most vulnerable. This great nation is for all of us, the people, not just for the rich and powerful. We are all God’s children.

Republicans routinely trample the 4th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. I’m more interested in social justice than your freedom to exploit people.

I must admit, I have never seen someone base their political philosophy on statements as incoherent and dishonest as you have. I am neither a Democrat or a Republican because neither party represents Christ’s teachings and my own moral and philosophical foundation. While I can go on for hours with my disagreement with Republicans, your description of their views are ignorant at best but more than likely are intentionally deceptive.

First of all, your attempt at separating freedom from agency is absolutely incorrect. In fact, most explanations of agency in scriptures use the word free or freedom. We are ‘free to choose’ (2 Nephi 2:27) No where in the scriptures or in modern revelation have we been taught that we are free in the gospel but captive in all other aspects of life.

The Doctrine and Covenants does say that governments were given for the benefit of man and the good and safety of society. I challenge you to find a knowledgeable Mormon that would argue that the Lord didn’t have a hand in forming the ideas and principles of the constitution. All of us believe that document is divinely inspired. My issue with the Democratic position and the government in general is that we have strayed far from the constitution. The Book of Mormon is full of examples of faithful followers of Christ upholding the government when it stood for liberty and standing apart or even against it when the will of the people or the direction of government was to gain power or abuse liberties. In Alma 59-60, Moroni threatens to overthrow the Nephite government unless they recommitted to ‘freedom.’ Mosiah said that it was only a benefit to have a king if he was a righteous king. Mormon left his post as general when the will of the people was against the doctrine of Christ.

You are absolutely incorrect in your assessment of freedom in society and the economy. Just so you know, the establishment Republicans are better than democrats on the economy but are far from advocating a free-market. But because this comment is already too long and any argument I give you would probably go over your head, I will forego a critique on your assessment of free-market economies and instead issue a challenge. I challenge you to go and find one instance in which someone advocating, Republican or Free-market, advocates an economy with no laws or protections where everyone is free to cheat, lie to, and steal from anyone for any reason. If you want to be a Democrat, fine be my guest. But to get there through a set of dishonest and incorrect premises is shameful and in direct opposition to Christ’s teachings.

To say that the institution of government can regulate the economic marketplace is to say the government has the power to regulate freedom. Government is nothing more than a small group of people. The citizenry is nothing more that a large group of people. So the small group of people somehow believe that just because they see themselves as the most clever, the most enlightened, the most intellectual among us, they somehow get to regulate the behaviors of the larger group of people, all the while exempting themselves from the very edicts that they subject the population to, and enrich themselves and their elitists friends through their connection to government. A great example is the Clintons. They are now wildly rich because of their connection to government. Mormon liberals also love to tout their academic pedigree to flaunt their pseudo intellectualism. And yet, I never get a thoughtful response on my point of view or questions. In the United States, we have a Constitution. When the federal government and the people within it operate outside of the Constitution, how can government be defined? If the law is broken to create a law, and those that create the illegal law exempt themselves from the illegal law, and the only legitimacy of the illegal law is to enforce it through the threat of force, how then can you define law and why should I respect or obey the law? Because you say so or you can site some official document to demonstrate your standpoint?