Thoughts and stories, by Pal

It will be wonderful when people are taught true laws of freedom, and obey those same laws!  The Prophet Joseph taught true principles, and the pioneers governed themselves -- at least those who followed him and his teachings. Joseph Smith on Government By  Craig R. Frogley  · August 27, 2020 Cover image: Portrait of Joseph Smith by Walter Rane. In a time when we all struggle with questions on government, it is noteworthy that Joseph Smith also struggled with it.  He visited Washington DC, many senators and congressmen, and interviewed with the president of the United States.  After Missouri, where the state government seemed to be fully invested in the problems forcing the Saints from their homes and lands contrary to the expectations and rights of U.S. citizenship, it isn’t surprising to find the prophet working with the Lord to understand government’s role as a vessel for the restoration of the global Kingdom of God on earth....

The Second Reason Socialism is The Anti-Agency By  Gary C. Lawrence  · August 23, 2020 The first reason,  as discussed last time , is excessive government control – control, if not outright ownership, of the means of production; a centrally planned economy; and wage and price controls.  By their very natures, all diminish individual choice and freedom.  The second reason, out of the seven we will discuss in coming weeks, has to do with wealth.  Socialism’s goal is a more equal distribution of wealth.  I submit such efforts stifle the incentive to work and run counter to agency as a commandment to act and do. Socialists suppose wealth to be a self-existing and finite commodity.  So for someone to have more means others have less.  What could be more fair, the thinking goes, than to make sure everyone has an equal slice of that miraculous pie and no one goes hungry? Oh, the things that go wrong. More t...

This was published on July 30, 2020, and I missed seeing it!  I'll publish this today in my blog, and tomorrow I'll post the followup article. Last week we had the Democratic convention, and this week the Republican convention, in the United States of America.  It is really on our minds today! Why Socialism is The Anti-Agency By  Gary C. Lawrence  · July 30, 2020 In my previous column, I related the story of Mikhail Gorbachev asking Margaret Thatcher who in the UK economy tells producers how much to charge.  It never occurred to him, or to socialists in general, that pricing can be left to the seller and the buyer – to supply and demand – to hammer out a mutually agreeable price.  Nope. Government has to be involved, socialist thinking goes.  If a third party such as government gets involved in what should be a two-party dance, you can be sure that one party will get a better deal than the other party.  Or tha...