Tag: United States

Taxation/Representation

The Revolutionary War slogan “no taxation without representation” should be reconsidered for our present plight. The new slogan should be “no representation without taxation.” Unless a person actually bears the burden of paying the required tax, they should have no right to vote and impose the burden on anyone else.

Democracies fail because of human weakness. There will always be a majority of people willing to let others sacrifice, ask others to pay, and avoid responsibilities if they can manage it. Nobility and greatness are rare and precious things. The mob wants to sit in the coliseum, eat free, and watch gladiators battle for their amusement.

When the mob realizes they need not do anything more than vote higher taxes on others to pay for their bread and entertainment, society is doomed. Greece is facing a complete national failure because of human weakness. All western socialist societies are headed into the same dark end.

The United States does not have the leadership required to change, the population with the self-discipline required to change course, nor enough educated people able to see or understand our doom. If you can see the problem, you should speak up. Help others to understand the path we are on will end with collapse and violence.

3 Nephi 21: 12-14

3 Nephi 21: 12-14

“And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.  Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;”
Notice again the distinction between the gentiles and the remnant.
The “remnant” will behave in a way which will “tread down and tear in pieces” the gentiles. As they do this, “none can deliver” the gentiles.
Unlike the previous slaughter of the remnant by the gentiles, this time it is the gentiles who are slaughtered at the hands of the remnant. Those who are “enemies” to the remnant will all be “cut off.” What does “cut off” mean?
The woes of that coming time can all be avoided by the gentiles – predicated upon their willingness to “repent.” So we return again to the recurring question of what it means to “repent?” How can “repentance” be the only means by which the gentiles survive the slaughter? What is it about gentile repentance that spares them from the wrath that is to be otherwise poured out upon them?
What symbol comes to mind when you think of “horses?” What does cutting out the horses symbolize?
Does the symbol of the “horses” and the symbol of the “chariots” go together? That is, does cutting out the horses and destroying the chariots express a single thought? If it does, what do the horses and chariots symbolize? How vulnerable is the American military might to destruction? What effect would symbolically destroying the horses and chariots of the American population have?
If the United States is to be engulfed in domestic violence, will it continue to have foreign military influence? Economic influence? Social and cultural influence?
Assuming the gentile population is swept away, trodden under foot and torn in pieces, what culture and social influence will remain?
What symbol does the lion among the beasts of the forest suggest? The young lion among the sheep? What is the difference between the beasts of the forest and the sheep? If both beasts and sheep are gentiles, then are the beasts different than the sheep? What sort of person called a gentile “beast” will be swept away? What kind of person called a gentile “sheep” will be torn in pieces? Why would both gentile beasts and gentile sheep need to “repent?” Does repentance of a “beast” and repentance of “sheep” take the same form?  Why would both need repentance when they are so remarkably different in symbol? Is it enough alone to be a gentile sheep?
What message is being sent by this warning?