The Daily Utah Progressive goes a step further, pointing out that when Glenn Beck disses Socialists, he disses his own people:
Yes, Glenn Beck is an LDS convert. But I don’t really want to focus on that. After all, that would be like tearing down half my family. I want to focus on some good things about the Mormon culture, that as a convert, are now apart of Glenn Beck’s supposed religious ideals. If he converted for the right reasons in the first place. Mr. Beck, how well do you know your LDS history? I don’t believe you know anything about them. Did you know that Deseret was a state of clustered socialist communities that worked and lived for their church. They, to this day support all of their kind who are in dire need. The LDS church has a fine history of charity and well fare system. They worked to support ALL of their members. That is by definition, Socialist; working for the good of the WHOLE. ZCMI, a famous department store in SLC for a long, long time. Until a couple years back it was sold two times and is now called macy’s. ZCMI stands for Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution. It was Americas 1st department store. Its true, look it up, ZCMI used to be known as “the people’s store”. Im not going to give you all a history lesson you can look it up here : Utah History Encyclopedia
Mr. Beck, I suggest you take it easy on the “socialist” rhetoric. Little did you know, you were actually tearing you’re own people down. You see, if you really are LDS, then you have “socialist” blood. Take time to look at your people’s history sir
8 comments:
Socialism means the government tries to take care of people, not a private entity, but I'll let the Church speak for itself:
http://emp.byui.edu/WILLIAMSG/talks/mgr_unitedorder.htm
Church or charity is not a government program. Try again, my friend.
Socialism refers to various theories of economic organisation advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterised by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation. Contrary to popular belief, socialism is NOT a political system; it is an economic system distinct from capitalism.
You are correct. The LDS Church is absolutely a socialistic institution. Tithing, church welfare, bishop's storehouse, etc, etc. Christ's teachings were explicitly communistic (i.e. give all that you have and you'll be given that which you need).
The Republican party is diametrically opposed to the core beliefs of Mormonism. Pity so many members have been swept up by the rhetoric of the evangelical right-wing (who hates us by the way).
Both Eric and Anonymous of September 23 are correct. I love winding up Utah Mormons by reminding them of the Church's communitarian history - usually evokes a great splutter of protest, and is great fun to watch!
Furthermore, I find it hard to swallow when people make such a fuss about big bad "government". While theories of government vary (widely), I prefer to think of government as an expression of the community that constitutes it - in short, WE are the government, and the government we choose is an extension of us.
What would the early saints have said about, say, the government organised by Joseph under the city charter of Nauvoo? Or the territory government headed by Governor Brigham Young? Were these awful, terrible things?
Be it a public or private entity, the church still conduct socialist experiments. Such as the small town where everythign was owned by the group of people in the church. I'm sure anyone who's been within the church for a number of years has heard speak of it where there was the young man who wanted to wear the new and expirmental fashion of "Jeans" saved his pennies and bought some. They were later confiscated by the church elders and used as a pattern so everyone in the community would have the same thing, all things being shared, and going against the community with his selfishness. Though Ezra Taft Benson spoke against things such as Marxism I clearly recall a talk to where he spoke of the fact that socialsm was an ideal but people's selfishness caused it to fail. Honestly none of us here can truly understand scocialism since we've never lived under it. What the goverment is now implimenting is not true socialism. I still make a wage I age to and shop and buy in the amounts I want, what I want. The goverment does not dictate to me where I live, and my belongings are not part of a community pot or coming from a community institution. The argument that the church is a "Charity" is banal, frankly. It's one of the largest corperation in the country having investments in many buiness ventures. The thites go into a community pot for help for the poor as well as to support the church leaders (the first presidency don't have other jobs, and travel, etc. from the communal pool of funds) as well as the money going to build and maintain church structures (like the fountains at Temple Square which you may notice flow even in sub zero temperature and are heated to do so at a great expense of funds and energy). You are welcome to spin it however you like however under the same arguments that the goverment is socialist, you can also argue the church to be scocialist.
I swear. Socialism and Communism are government and economic imposed standards that force and require through policy, the means of production be controlled and regulated by government. The truths taught in the early days of mormonism had nothing to do with mandatory obedience. Most lived those experiments by choice. Even today, to say that the churches wellfare program is socialist is rediculous. It is in complete opposition to the fundmentals of socialsism. 1. it is private. Privately funded by the members of the church AS WELL AS the privately owned companies and interests of the LDS church. Even then the donations for that program are NOT funded by LDS tithing, they are funded by the voluntary donations of church member. 2. Church members are in no way REQUIRED to donate to the fast offering. Under socailism, it is the law and enforced through government thugs. Under Mormonism all things are done though choice.
3. To call the churches colony experiments socialist are the same as colling the puritan and quaker colonies socialist. There have been from time to time throughout the history of the world similar such commuinities. by saying that mormonism is socialist, you must therefore catagorize all other simlar experiments as such. and that would be a far stretch of generalization.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GET EDUCATED. ECON, POLY SCI? Dont any of you have degrees? I mean come on. this is why the electoral college was created, to keep uneducated people like yourselves from makeing decisions and implementing policy in America. Wow
To govern is to to exercise a directing or restraining influence over; I believe this qualifies.
Post a Comment