I've spent so much time going over the problems of dominator culture, and have only barely touched on what could be with partnership culture... that could be a good area to explore.
However, there's an election rapidly approaching and early voting has already started. For vote-by-mail, we are doing our ballots tonight.
That makes this a good time to focus on the election. I have a couple of things that apply specifically to members, though the principles could certainly have a broader application.
First of all, I speak of the king-men.
That term specifically comes from Alma 51, where there is a group of Nephites that want to move away from having judges and appoint a king. That may be the part we have most in mind because there were wars going on anyway, and the lack of unity complicated those wars. However, we also see that happening with Amlici in Alma 2, and Jacob in 3 Nephi 7.
It's not that unusual, that someone will want more power than the law gives them.
It's not that unusual that such a group will try and overthrow the government. They fail a lot, which is helpful, but the problem doesn't really go away.
It might seem weird that other people -- who are not going to be the king -- will support it.
We get a partial explanation in Alma 51:8:
Now those who were in favor of kings were those of high birth, and they sought to be kings; and they were supported by those who sought power and authority over the people.
There shouldn't have really been people of high birth, but there would have been people who had more money and thought they were better (that is the most frequently repeated problem).
In addition, once you start establishing ranks, then there are always people who might not be that high, but will still be over someone and love that, the crux of dominator culture.
If you are thinking that does not apply to Trump and his supporters, well, I have seen people referring to Barron as their future king, I have definitely seen a worsening of dominator culture whenever he is running and ruling, and some of that hagiographic art and the gold statue at the 2021 CPAC... I mean, the signs are there.
I know it sounds very dramatic to say that if you don't vote for Harris now you won't get a chance to vote for president again, but I'm very concerned that it is true.
I know there are church members who were there on January 6th and I know there are members who defend them, and they are wrong. If there are any questions about that, this is a time to ponder.
That leads to the other thing.
Some of you may be familiar with the so-called White Horse prophecy, and unsubstantiated prediction that the constitution of the United States would hang by a thread and it would be upon the Church to save it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Prophecy
It is important to note that it is unsubstantiated. If something was actually said, we are not sure what or how or in what context.
However, we very well may be in that position now. Remember that we had people ready to hang the vice-president of the United States because he would not refuse to certify election results, his actual constitutional duty.
Fake "Captain Moroni" had it completely wrong.
In fact, our constitution is flawed, like the people who created and ratified it. There is a process for amending it, and there can be good things to do with that, but they are not throwing out everything because it gives a result that we don't like, part of which includes movement toward greater equality.
If there is a time that church members can save the constitution, it may very well be by Utah, Idaho, and Arizona voting for Harris.
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