Why I am A Democrat

I was talking to a family member on the phone the other day and she had just finished listening to Glenn Beck and man was she on fire! Not only did she seem extremely angry but she was also not willing to let me get a word in edgewise in our conversation. Now, let me tell you a little bit about this family member; she’s sweet, kind, loving (unconditionally) and giving. She has always been a Christ like example to me so naturally after seeing the way that she was acting I got a little worried. I decided to investigate this phenomenon a bit further by talking to other people who I know listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I was a bit of a brat about it actually and expressed sentiments that differentiated me from those who are politically “right” saying things like, “I love our president” and “I completely support health care reform.” I was expecting to get a reaction but I did not expect there to be so much anger and hate in their reactions. I was puzzled. The people that I asked were all LDS and I was curious as to whether their strong angry views were something that was justified or not. I was going to go to the book of Mormon to try and find references as to how people should act when political weather is stormy but instead I decided to narrow it down even further. I decided to figure out how Jesus Christ would act if he were here. When Jesus Christ walked the earth, he was living in a period of time where the political climate was extremely hot and how did he respond to it? When the people asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be Gods.” (Luke 20:25) He also say’s to “Judge not”, don’t be angry with your brother, “agree with thine adversary quickly”, “swear not at all”, “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” If you get sewed, and they “take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also”, “ And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain” and the most important, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the only true church and more importantly, I believe that we have a true prophet. If the prophet stood up tomorrow and said that we need to start to fighting to protect our rights and freedoms; I would do it, but unless I missed something, he hasn’t done that. And until I hear otherwise, I will continue to pray for, and support our government because how in the world does slandering them do any good? I have no doubt that there is corruption within our government but how does being hateful and hotheaded help any situation? If we the people expect to get heard; we need to learn the proper way of going about it. Coming across as being obnoxious and irreverent just makes a person look like an idiot. If we want to get heard as a people we need to start off by having love and a prayer in our hearts. If we are feeling angry or hateful thoughts to those in which we oppose, it will always show through. We must have a genuine love for our brothers and sisters with different political views if we are ever to get our points across. “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.”(3: Nephi 18) I think that in this day and age we, especially Latter-Day-Saints need to constantly be checking ourselves that we do not fall into the many snares that are waiting for us; but I am confident that if we pray always, read the scriptures; especially the ones that describe to us how to be like Christ, and follow the leaders of the church that we will be able to act like people who have truly taken on themselves the name of Christ.