Thoughts on the FLDS Situation

My aunt asked my opinion on the FLDS situation a while back. I've been watching coverage of it and reading news stories about it with interest, but had not taken time to really organize my thoughts to have an opinion that was worthy of writing about.

Stimulating my thoughts, a lady at work asked me about the LDS connection to FLDS. She asked if LDS people secretly approve of the FLDS's polygamy just as many muslims outwardly oppose terrorism but secretly support and fund the actions of the extremists. I thought it was a brave question and a good one. My answer was that the FLDS are in no way connected to the LDS Church and that the practice of polygamy is currently not sanctioned by God. I also made it clear that Mormons do not tolerate any form of child molestation or child rape.

I fully support government intervention in religions when it comes to prosecuting those associated with child rape, whether they are polygamists or whatever type of -ists they are... they are still rapists.

I feel, as the courts have now ruled, that pulling all those kids away from their mothers was the wrong action to take. The justification for the invasion of the Texas compound seems pretty flimsy...a phone call from someone they could not confirm was in the compound or not. Any person off the street could have made that phone call. The lawmen in that area seemed so ready and willing to pounce that any shred of information would trigger their zealousness to bring down that crazy religious community, which seems to be the true motive. If they really wanted to "protect the children" from rapists, they would have pulled out all the men. They would have had a more valid reason to arrest all the men...conspiracy to commit rape of a child...because we know that all the men there sustain their leaders and freely give their children over to their fellow rapists.

I admit that I am curious and anxiously concerned about how the government intervenes with the FLDS people. My concern is soley based on the principles of freedom of worship. That line of freedom of worship seems to be crossed by the goverment with too much frequency. Every religion should be concerned and on high alert.

I find it interesting that the government is not interested in upholding the anit-polygamy laws, just as the government doesn't enforce laws against homosexuality and fornication. Now that gay marriage is sanctioned in Massachusetts and California, logic follows the polygamy should then be acceptable too.

When it comes to arranged marriages in the FLDS community...I don't know if I have a problem with that or not. In the early Salt Lake days, daughters were often "given" to church leaders in pre-arranged marriages. I read in Wilford Woodruff's journal that in a meeting of the leaders someone joked that there wouldn't be a 14 year old girl left in the valley, to which Brigham Young rebuked the men and told them that they were violating God's will. He reiterated that although the men could be wed to these teenage girls, that intimate relations should wait until the girls were 18.

My problem with arranged marriages, especially those where the bride and groom are forced together by civic/religious leaders under threat, is the violation of the most important principle of agency. Any tenet that contradicts the principle of agency is not of God. Submition of one's will to that of God's must always be the freewill and choice of that individual.

Thoughts from Cicero

I chose to read some of the works of Cicero because of John Adam's love for Cicero. Reading these works has helped me better understand the minds of our founding fathers. Cicero may not be reliable as "gospel truth", but generally I really appreciated his words, especially considering they were written in the century before Christ. Cicero has helped awaken a desire in me to be active in political matters. Perhaps one day if or when family dynamics allow for it, I may venture into public service and offer myself as a sacrifice to the brutality of the media.

Allow me to share with you all some of the golden nuggets I discovered from Cicero:

Quotes from Cicero...

...On the need for good people in politics:

"As if good, brave, and high-minded men could have any stronger reason for entering politics than the determination not to give into the wicked, and not to allow the state to be torn apart by such people." (Republic, Book One, 9)

"Nor, indeed, is there any occupation which brings human excellence closer to divine power than founding new states and preserving those already founded." (Republic, Book One, 12)

What should we learn? "Those skills which make us fit to serve the community. That, in my opinion, is the finest duty that wisdom has, and the greatest proof and function of moral excellence." (Republic, Book One, 33)

"If...a free people chooses the men to whom it will entrust itself, and if, with a genuine desire for security, it chooses only the best men,...especially as nature has decreed not only that men of superior character and ability should be in charge of the less endowed, but also that the latter should willingly obey their superiors...And indeed there is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best. But what can be more splendid than a state governed by worth, where the man who give orders to others is not the servant of greed, where the leader himself has embraced all the values which he preaches and recommends to his citizens, where he imposes no laws on the people which he does not obey himself, but rather presents his own life to his fellows as a code of conduct?...[Leaders] must protect [the state] and not give the people cause to complain that their interests are being ignored by the leaders." (Emphasis added, Republic, Book One, 51-53)

"The art of governing and training peoples, an art which in the case of good and able men still produces, as it has so often in the past, an almost incredible and superhuman kind of excellence. If, then, someone thinks...the he should add scholarship and a deeper understanding of the world to the mental equipment which he possesses by nature and through the institutions of the state, no one can fail to acknowledge his superiority over everybody else. For what can be more impressive than the combination of experience in the management of great affairs with the study and mastery of those other arts?" (Republic, Book Three, 4-5)

"Nothing could be more fortunate than a state in which several good men are in charge of affairs." (Republic, Book Three, 46)

"Corrupt leaders do a more deadly disservice to their country in that they not only contract vices themselves but also infect the community. They do more damage by their example than by their misdemeanors. (Laws, Book Three, 32) (Sorry Bill!)

...On Liberty:

"Nothing can be sweeter than liberty." (Republic, Book One, 47)

"If the equalization of wealth is rejected, and the equalization of everybody's abilities is impossible, legal rights at least must be equal among those who live as fellow-citizens in the same state." (Republic, Book One, 49)

"Despots can be benevolent, just as kings can be oppressive. So, as far as the people are concerned, the only question is whether they are the slaves of a kind or a harsh master. Either way, they must necessarily be slaves." (Republic, Book One, 50)

"...when it comes to preserving the people's freedom, no one is just a private citizen." (Republic, Book Two, 46)

"...by giving [people] permission just to taste freedom you have not satisfied their hunger for it but only whetted their appetite." (Republic, Book Two, 50)

...On Anger Management:

"Scipio: ...when you are angry, do you allow anger to control your mind?

Laelius: Certainly not. I take my cue from Archytas of Tarentum. Once, on arriving at his country house, he found that all his instructions had been ignored. 'Why, you worthless wretch!' he said to his agent, 'if I weren't angry I would have beaten you to death on the spot!'

Scipio: Very good! So evidently Archytas rightly looked on anger (that is, when it was at variance with his judgement) as a kind of revolt within the mind, and he was anxious to quell it by rational reflection. Bring in greed, bring in lust, bring in the desire for power and glory; then you realize that if there is to be a ruling power in the human mind, it will be the sovereignty of a single element, namely reason (for that is the best part of the mind). As long as reason is supreme there is not room for lust, anger, or irresponsible behaviour." (Republic, Book One, 59)

...On the best form of Government:

"...a principle which should always be observed in politics, namely that the greatest power should not rest with the greatest number." (Republic, Book Two, 39) (Our founding fathers were very concerned that the rights of the minorities be protected and that they have a voice. This principle is part of the reason each state has an equal number of Senators.)

...On the dangers of living in a coastal city:

"Furthermore, the moral character of coastal cities is prone to corruption and decay. For they are exposed to a mixture of strange talk and strange modes of behaviour. Foreign customs are imported along with foreign merchandise; and so none of their ancestral institutions can remain unaffected. The inhabitants of those cities do not stay home. They are always dashing off to foreign parts, full of airy hopes and designs." (Republic, Book Two, 7) (I seem to remember reading or hearing about Brigham Young's similar struggles with the evil influences that arrived in the Salt Lake valley along with the railroad. Interesting concept, anyway.)

...On the importance of Religion to Government:

"...two factors which, above all others, ensure that states will last, namely religion and humane behaviour." (Republic, Book Two, 27)

"we have learned from [religious ritual] 'initiations' things which are in fact the first principles of life, and we have been taught a way of living happily and also of dying with brighter hopes." (Laws, Book Two, 36) Does this sound familiar to you LDS temple attenders? Studying the rituals they observed shows many interesting similarities.

...On seeking the Truth:

"...digging for the truth, a thing far more precious than all the gold in the world." (Republic, Book Three, 8)

...On War:

"...wars are unjust when they are undertaken without proper cause. No just war can be waged except for the sake of punishing or repelling an enemy...no war is deemed to be just if it has not been declared and proclaimed, and if redress has not previously been sought..." (Republic, Book Three, 35)

...On the Ideal Statesman:

"On ancient custom and old-fashioned men the state of Rome stands firm." - Ennius (Just like the LDS Church!)

"Long before living memory our ancestral way of life produced outstanding men, and those excellent men preserved the old way of life and institutions of their forefathers. Our generation, however, after inheriting our political organization like a magnificent picture now fading with old age, not only neglected to restore its original colours but did not even bother to ensure that it retained its basic form and, as it were, its faintest outlines. What remains of those ancient customs on which he said the state of Rome stood firm? We see them so ruined by neglect that not only do they go unobserved, they are no longer known. And what shall I say of the men? It is the lack of such men that has led to the disappearance of those customs." (Republic, Book Five, 1-2)

"The good life is impossible without a good state...So the aim of our ideal statesman is the citizens' happy life - that is, a life secure in wealth, rich in resources, abundant in renown, and honourable in its moral character. That is the task which I wish him to accomplish - the greatest and best that any man can have." (Republic, Book Five, 7-8)

...on Term Limits

"No one shall hold the same office again until a period of ten years has elapsed." (Laws, Book Three, 9)

...On Corruption by Eloquence:

"Nothing in a state should be so free from corruption as a vote and a verdict. So I fail to understand why a man who corrupts them by money should deserve punishment whereas one who does so by eloquence should actually win applause. For my own part, I think that a man who corrupts a judge by his speech causes more harm than one who does it by a bribe; for no honest man can be corrupted by a bribe, but he can be by eloquence. (Republic, Book Five, 11)

...on the Law:

"Law was not thought up by the intelligence of human beings, nor is it some kind of resolution passed by communities, but rather an eternal force which rules the world by the wisdom of its commands and prohibitions...that original and final law is the intelligence of God.
What is right and true is also eternal, and does not come into force or lapse with the letters in which enactments are written down" (Laws, Book Two, 8 & 11)

...on Mankind as created by God:

"The creature of foresight, wisdom, variety, keenness, memory, endowed with reason and judgement, which we call man, was created by the supreme god to enjoy a remarkable status. Of all the types and species of living creatures he is the only one that participates in reason and reflection...There is a primordial partnership in reason between man and God...men must also be thought of as partners with the gods in law." (Law, Book One, 22-23)

"-their mind was implanted in them by God. Hence we have what can truly be called a lineage, origin, or stock in common with the gods. That is why, out of so many species, no creature apart from man has any conception of God; and why, within mankind itself, there is no tribe so civilized or so savage as not to know that it should believe in a god, even if it is mistaken about the kind of god it should believe in." (Law, Book One, 24)

"Nature has lavished such a wealth of things on men for their use and convenience that every growing thing seems to have been given to us on purpose; it does not come into existence by chance. And I don't mean just what shoots forth from the fertile earth, but also domestic animals; for they were obviously created for man's use or his enjoyment or his food. Again, countless skills have been discovered thanks to nature's teaching. By copying her, reason has cleverly acquired the necessities of life...Nor is there any member of any nation who cannot attain moral excellence by using nature as his guide." (Laws, Book One, 25-26, 30)

"[Nature] made man alone erect, encouraging him to gaze at the heavens as being, so to speak, akin to him and his original home. She also shaped his facial features so as to express his innermost character. Our eyes tell out emotional state very clearly." (Laws, Book One, 26-27)

"The person who knows himself will first of all realize that he possesses something divine, and he will compare his own inner nature to a kind of holy image placed within a temple." (Laws, Book One, 59)

...on Friendship

"The essential feature of [that holy thing]friendship is that, the moment one partner prefers to have something for himself rather than for the other, it vanishes." (Laws, Book One, 34, 49)

...on Musical influence

"Nothing can so easily influence young and impressionable minds as the variety of vocal sounds. One can hardly express what an enormous power that exerts for better or worse. I do notice how in theaters which once used to be filled with the agreeable plainness, audiences now rock to and fro jerking their necks and eyes in time with the inflexions of the singer's voice. [This] deadly plague, gradually creeping into the citizens' minds and infecting them with pernicious crazes and pernicious ideas, would suddenly bring about the collapse of entire states. (Laws, Book Two, 38-39)

...on Self-Indulgence

"The similarity between human beings is evident in their vices as well as their virtues. They are all beguiled by pleasure, which, though it leads on to vice, bears some resemblance to what is naturally good." (Laws, Book One, 31)

"As for those who go in for self-indulgence and are slaves of their own bodies - people who measure everything that they should seek and avoid in life by the yardstick of pleasure and pain - even if they are right, let us tell them to preach in their own little gardens, and let us ask them to keep away for a little while from any participation in public life. To that extent he totally falls short of being a good man" (Laws, Book One, 39, 49)

"Justice which is established to serve self-interest is wrecked by that same self-interest." (Laws, Book One,42)

"Pleasure, which masquerades as goodness but is in fact the mother of all ills. Seduced by her charms, our minds fail to see clearly enough the things that are naturally good, because those things lack the sweetness of the exciting itch of pleasure. Justice looks for not price and no price; it is sought for itself, and is at once the cause and meaning of all virtues. But it is in the scorning and rejecting of pleasure that goodness is most convincingly revealed." (Laws, Book One, 48 & 52)

...on Goodness

"Goodness itself is good not because of people's opinions but because of nature. If that were not the case, happy people would be happy too because of opinion; and what could be sillier than that? (Laws, Book One, 46) (Well that goes against my policy of living my life by public opinion polls.)

Cheesy eAwards: a Key to Winning Friends and Influencing People

Most of the work I do is conducted by e-mail. Surprising for being in the construction business...I know...but its true. Even though our communications are mostly through a cold and heartless network of machines, there is still a human being on the other end that needs to feel appreciated for what they do.

A few years ago I started giving out extremely cheesy eAwards for a variety of reasons as you will see below. Its amazing how much the recipients enjoy them and how much people will do for me simply because I have given them an e-pat-on-the-back. Please feel free to save the pictures below and use them to reward the efforts of those you work with in the e-world.

"Speedy Gonzalez eAward" - Probably my most often given out eAward in recognition of someone who has replied to an e-mail very quickly with important answers or information.

Another favorite for people to receive is the "Git R Done eAward" featuring Larry the Cable Guy. This award is given for people who just seem to get the job done, not matter how hard or challenging.

I'll let you all guess what the following eAward is. (First one to get it will get the secret "Dizzying Intellect eAward):

I have about a dozen others, but I don't want to give them all away. If you have any creative eAward ideas, I'd love to see what you've come up with.

I am convinced that if you can find a way to sincerely compliment every person you interact with, the world would be a better place. Try it for a day!