LATTER DAY POLITICS FOR LATTER DAY SAINTS    A site dedicated to befriending the U.S. Constitution , fulfilling prophecy and bringing souls to Christ
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The Prophets

Modern-day prophets have had a lot to say about the Constitution, politics, and our role in supporting both righteous principles and good government. The following are just some of my favorite quotes...

Joseph Smith:

"I am the greatest advocate of the Constitution of the United States there is on the earth." (History of the Church, 6:56-57.)
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David O. McKay, Conference Report, Oct. 1939, p. 105

"Next to being one in worshiping God there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States."
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Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Times in Which We Live," Ensign, Nov. 2001, 72

The Constitution under which we live, and which has not only blessed us but has become a model for other constitutions, is our God-inspired national safeguard ensuring freedom and liberty, justice and equality before the law.
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Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1967, p.62

Those who hesitate to get into this fight because it is controversial fail to realize that life's decisions should be based on principles, not on Gallup polls. There were men at Valley Forge who weren't sure how the revolution would end, but they were in a much better position to save their own souls and their country than those timid men whose major concern was deciding which side was going to win, or how to avoid controversy.
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J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1941, p.19

"Knowing as we do that God set up this Constitution of ours and that He has declared it "should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles," (D&C 101:77) it is the duty of every member of the Church to protect and defend the Constitution against any and all attack. In this country our lawful political allegiance runs not to any man, not to any party, not to any "ism," but to the Constitution of the United States and to the free institutions set up under it. There can be no tampering with the "just and holy principles" of the Constitution. No true Latter-day Saint can or will do other than reverence the Constitution; each will do all in his power to save it from pollution or destruction."
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Wilford Woodruff, (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, sel. G. Homer Durham, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946, 51:801, pp. 188-89.)

"As far as constitutional liberty is concerned, I will say, the God of heaven has raised up our nation, as foretold by his prophets generations ago. ... as long as the principles of constitutional liberty shall be maintained upon this land, blessings will attend the nation."
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Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1963, p.113

"The Prophet Joseph Smith said the time would come when the Constitution would hang as it were by a thread. Modern-day prophets for the last thirty years have been warning us that we have been rapidly moving in that direction. Fortunately, the Prophet Joseph Smith saw the part the elders of Israel would play in this crisis. Will there be some of us who won't care about saving the Constitution, others who will be blinded by the craftiness of men, and some who will knowingly be working to destroy it?"
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David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1961, p.6

Sixty or seventy years ago, when United States history was an essential course in elementary public school teaching, many a boy was thrilled by Patrick Henry's dramatic declaration: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death !"
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Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p.403

"...eternal are the principles that underly the Constitution of our country, and all just laws. Joseph Smith, the prophet, was inspired to affirm and ratify this truth, and he further predicted that the time would come, when the Constitution of our country would hang as it were by a thread, and that the Latter-day Saints, above all other people in the world, would come to the rescue of that great and glorious palladium of our liberty. We cannot brook the thought of it being torn into shreds, or destroyed, or trampled under foot and ignored by men. We cannot tolerate the sentiment, at one time expressed, by a man high in authority in the nation. He said: "The constitution be damned; the popular sentiment of the people is the constitution!" That is the sentiment of anarchism, and has spread to a certain extent, and is spreading over "the land of liberty and the home of the brave." We do not tolerate it. Latter-day Saints cannot tolerate such a spirit as this. It is anarchy. It means destruction. It is the spirit of mobocracy, and the Lord knows we have suffered enough from mobocracy, and we do not want any more of it...and we cannot afford to yield to that spirit or contribute to it in the least degree. We should stand with a front like flint against every spirit or species of contempt or disrespect for the constitution of our country and the constitutional laws of our land."
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David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1952, p.130

"We are all united in admonishing the members of the Church to register. We confirm the admonition already given from this pulpit regarding that important duty. We advocate the necessity of all members of the Church showing appreciation of your franchise, your citizenship, by voting, exercising your right to say who shall be your leaders. They become our servants. That is the spirit of the Constitution."
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Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1967, p.61

"Today you cannot effectively fight for freedom and not be attacked, and those who think they can are deceiving themselves. While I do not believe in stepping out of the path of duty to pick up a cross I do not need, a man is a coward who refuses to pick up a cross that clearly lies within his path. We are going through the greatest, most insidious propaganda campaign of all time. Even the character-destroying "credibility gap" seems to be gaining respectability. We cannot believe all we read, and what we can believe is not all of the same value. We must sift. We must learn by study and prayer."
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Charles W. Penrose, Conference Report, October 1912, p.65

Now, the framers of that instrument had before them the history of the progress of civil government for ages. They knew something about the failings of the past; they knew something about the various kinds of governments that had been set up in the centuries that had passed away: they had learned the difference between that which is called popular government--the unguided will of the people, the masses, and a representative government carried on by persons chosen by the people. And, my dear brethren and sisters, if you will study the Constitution of our country as we all ought to do, for we form a part of the government, we are part of the people, and we are endowed as a State in the Union--I say "WE," I mean, of course, all the people of Utah--endowed by the power of the Constitution with all the rights and privileges that pertain to citizens of our country, we should become familiar with that instrument."
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Charles W. Nibley, Conference Report, October 1922, p.40

"My brethren and sisters, I hope that we will go home from this conference determined as a great body of people, to stand for law, order, righteousness, justice and peace on earth and good will among all men. I believe as the Prophet Joseph has written, that the day would come when there would be so much of disorder, of secret combinations taking the law into their own hands, tramping upon Constitutional rights and the liberties of the people, that the Constitution would hang as by a thread. Yes, but it will still hang, and there will be enough of good people, many who may not belong to our Church at all, people who have respect for law and for order, and for Constitutional rights, who will rally around with us and save the Constitution. I have never read that that thread would be cut. It will hang; the Constitution will abide and this civilization, that the Lord has caused to be built up, will stand fortified through the power of God, by putting from our hearts all that is evil, or that is wrong in the sight of God, by our living as we should live, acceptable to him."
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Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1950, p.148

"If we keep the commandments we'll be good citizens. We'll exercise our right to vote. We'll follow the counsel which the Lord has given in the revelations regarding our obligation to seek out "honest men and wise men" (D. & C. 98:8-10) who will stand for principle, men who will put principle ahead of political expediency. We will seek men of faith who believe the Constitution was inspired and that this nation has a spiritual foundation. If we are living the gospel, we will feel in our hearts that the First Presidency of the Church not only have the right, but are also duty bound under heaven to give counsel on any subject which affects the temporal or spiritual welfare of the Latter-day Saints, regardless of whether or not some men may think such counsel may have political implications."
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Joseph F. Smith, In Conference Report, Oct. 1912, p. 8.

"I hope with all my soul that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be loyal in their very hearts and souls, to the principles of the Constitution of our country. From them we have derived the liberty that we enjoy. They have been the means of guaranteeing to the foreigner that has come within our gates, and to the native born, and to all the citizens of this country, the freedom and liberty that we possess. We cannot go back upon such principles as these."
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Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, Oct. 1944, p. 12.

"I counsel you, I urge you, I plead with you, never, so far as you have voice or influence, permit any departure from the principles of government on which this nation was founded, or any disregard of the freedoms which, by the inspiration of God our Father, were written into the Constitution of the United States."
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J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1941, p.19

"Knowing as we do that God set up this Constitution of ours and that He has declared it "should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles," (D&C 101:77) it is the duty of every member of the Church to protect and defend the Constitution against any and all attack. In this country our lawful political allegiance runs not to any man, not to any party, not to any "ism," but to the Constitution of the United States and to the free institutions set up under it. There can be no tampering with the "just and holy principles" of the Constitution. No true Latter-day Saint can or will do other than reverence the Constitution; each will do all in his power to save it from pollution or destruction."
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Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, October 1950, p.96

"I hope and pray that this coming election will indicate to the world the steadfastness of the Latter-day Saints in their determination to move forward as an army of righteousness, to fight evil in all its forms wherever it is met by putting into office men and women who will stand for our highest ideals, morally and religiously. We should be discerning when we seek to exercise any of the rights that are ours. We should see that those rights are exercised intelligently, that we know whom we are voting for, and what they stand for when we vote for them. It is our privilege, yes, our duty, to know the position legislators will take on all matters of interest to us."
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Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1967, p.60

"An ounce of energy in the preservation of freedom is worth a ton of effort to get it back once it is lost."
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George Albert Smith, Conference Report, Apr. 1948, p. 182

"Our Heavenly Father raised up the very men that framed the Constitution of the United States. He said He did. He gave to us the greatest Palladian of human rights that the world knows anything about, the only system whereby people could worship God according to the dictates of their consciences without, in any way, being molested when the law, itself, was in effect. Now that is what the Lord gave to us. That is the Constitution of this country. Yet, we have people who would like to change that and bring some of those forms of government that have failed absolutely to make peace and happiness and comfort any other place in the world, and exchange what God has given to us—the fullness of the earth and the riches of liberty and happiness. Yet, there are those who go around whispering and talking and saying, "Let us change this thing." I am saying to you that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my feeling, I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution."
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