Lessons on the Book of Mormon 2020
Lesson No. Twenty
Enlightened Government is Founded on the Principles of Agency and Accountability
In Mosiah 29 we learn that the rule of kings and other forms of authoritarian government restricts agency and causes inequality – In order to accommodate growth and diversity among the Nephites, king Mosiah proposed that their form of government be changed from a king to a democracy. He proposed a new constitution to eliminate the threat to freedom from kings or other authoritarian rulers, and where Alma became the first chief judge.
To prepare the people for that change he explained that if people “commit sins and iniquities they shall be answered upon their own heads. For behold I say unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings; therefore their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings. And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike” (Vs 30-32, emphasis added).
Mosiah was teaching that for a democracy to function people need to be free in order to exercise their agency, and having agency makes us accountable. Agency and accountability always go together.
Moral agency is the freedom to choose between good and evil - God given commandments are the basis of good and evil, right and wrong. We can choose to keep or break commandments, but we cannot choose the consequences of our choice. Keeping commandments brings happiness, breaking them brings misery. Sin is to knowingly choose to break a commandment.
The philosophies of authoritarian governments are inconsistent with the principles of agency, accountability, and equality – When authoritarian governments restrict freedom, which is the opportunity to exercise agency, the people cannot be held fully accountable. These governments also claim to promote equality, but by restricting agency and accountability they cause a serious inequality. True equality in the Lord’s way is that all people have the opportunity to make personal choices which allows us to learn from our mistakes, and to repent, improve, and grow.
Socialism and entrenched bureaucracies are forms of authoritarian government – “In perhaps the best book ever written about American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville warned that if this nation was ever to succumb to despotism, it would not be the familiar variety of a ruthless dictator. Rather, he warned of a steadily creeping 'soft despotism' where a large, sprawling and seemingly 'gentle' system of bureaucrats comes into existence to provide, in great detail, for every physical and social need, thus relieving the individual citizen of needing to think for themselves at all.
"As Tocqueville puts it, such a system 'gladly works for (its citizens') happiness but wants to be the sole agent and judge of it. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessitates, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principle concerns, (and) directs their industry....Why should it not entirely relieve them from the trouble of thinking and all the cares of living" (Matthew S. Holland, Deseret News, Viewpoint, February 22, 2011, p. G1).
Marriage and the family are the bulwarks of liberty against authoritarian government - Elder Dallin H. Oaks at Chapman University quoted from essay on the development of family law in America:
"The broad trend has been from a view of marriage as a social institution with binding claims of its own and with prescribed rules for men and women into a free association, easily entered and easily broken, with a focus on the needs of individuals. However, the ironic result of so expanding the 'freedom to marry has been to enhance the authority and sway of government.
"As the American founders understood, marriage and the autonomous family were the true bulwarks of liberty, for they were the principal rivals to the state....And surely, as the American judiciary has deconstructed marriage and the family over the last 40 years, the result has been the growth of Government" (Preserving Religious Freedom, February 4, 2011).
The Lord requires that we do many good things of our own free will – There are matters like public health and the national economy that the government must have a central role. But in today’s social and political environment there is great effort to shift many responsibilities from individuals and the family and give it to government. This restricts agency and accountability and limits an individual’s opportunity for growth.
The Lord puts the responsibility on individuals: “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves. And in as much as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (D&C 58:27-28, emphasis added).
A Prayer – I pray that as individuals, as families, and as a nation the Lord will increase our understanding of the threat of any form of government that restricts our freedom to exercise our agency; that we will have the faith and courage not to be seduced by the enticements of those who would restrict our freedom; that we will exercise our agency to do good; that we are willing to be accountable; that we will follow the example of the Lord and have "charity which is the pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47) towards those who stand in need.
In doing these things the Lord will bless us with happiness in this life and eternal life in in the world to come.