As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney could become the first Mormon president of the United States. Questions about how a candidate's religious faith may impact his presidency are always a topic of discussion during campaign season but when the candidate belongs to something other than an established mainstream American Church, people are more curious.
The vast majority of Americans have been mostly unfamiliar with the history or teachings of the Mormon Church so a little investigation seems warranted. The Church has an interesting history and some rather odd teachings when compared to those of Protestant Christianity.
Founded in 1830 in the United States by its first prophet, Joseph Smith, the LDS Church is now the fourth largest denomination in the United States, with some 14 million members. Because of its early promotion of polygamy, belief that it is the only true Church based on the model established by Jesus and its inclusion of the Book of Mormon as a scripture in addition to the King James Bible, Americans have not been particularly accepting of Mormonism. Add to that the mystery surrounding Temple worship, which is not open to the public, and it becomes evident why Americans have questions about their potential next president.
There is one piece of information I find particularly interesting, given everything unfolding in the United States at the moment. Before his death, Joseph Smith supposedly issued the White Horse Prophecy, which stated that at some time in the future of the United States, evil men and secret combinations would combine to destroy liberty, freedom and free agency in the United States. It is true that we do see this happening today by secretive power elites, politicians and the Federal Reserve.
This prophecy claimed that through political or educational actions Mormons would see the Constitution hanging by a thread and rescue the Constitution and nation from strife, evil control and destruction. Many in the Church support this prophecy while the leadership today backpedals from such an extreme statement.
Somehow, we can't see Mormon GOP candidate Mitt Romney as the leader to rescue this nation from destruction as he has far more in common with the wealthy power elites on domestic issues and with Obama on foreign policy than a man out to fulfill a questionable 160-year-old prophecy to save America and the Constitution.
So is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day just another vibrant institution created by a charismatic leader to later fall victim to an institutional bureaucracy? Is it like thousands of other religions, political movements and belief systems that rise up, moderate to expand and later join the establishment system to control people, capture wealth and expand its power base? Is it just like all other bureaucracies?
Most religions, like politics and other institutional endeavors, all too often begin with the best of intentions but later morph into something very close to what they were opposed to in the first place. Therefore, I'm not supporting or opposing the Mormon Church. But if the White Horse Prophecy is to be believed, at least Joseph Smith was either inspired or guessed right about the US Constitution. It is indeed hanging by a narrow thread and I don't care who saves America or the Constitution, even with all its carefully crafted defects.
Millions of devout Christians believe we are in the last days, or to use the Mormon term, the "Latter-Days," before Jesus Christ returns to the Earth. Likewise, millions of Shi'ite Muslims in Iran and elsewhere believe the Mahdi, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final imam of the Twelve Imams, is about to return.
I know my private and personal beliefs and I question if the White Horse Prophecy is real or accurate. But I do know, dear readers, beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are in the last or latter-days of the American Empire. Prepare and get ready, for this will not be pleasant; most empires go down quickly in war, economic calamity and destruction.
So if someone is going to ride in on a white horse to save America and much of the world from a horrible future, he or she had better get here quickly. Personally, I believe individual human action, free-market thinking and an end to elite institutions like central banking, fiat money and our closed political system is the best solution.
But heck, I'll take anybody, including Mitt Romney, who can lead the people of the US and the world away from the one-world control of the elites and the terrible future they have planned for us. Still, I question the premise that we through a controlled monopoly political system depending on the will of a propagandized, illiterate majority and voting can save America. But my money would be on Tom Woods, Jesse Ventura or another leader not yet in the spotlight rather than the establishment-supported, empty philosophical suit that is Mitt Romney.
This is not a slam at Romney, as all leading politicians are only out to win elections and maybe this is the nature of the system today, though not the intent of our founding fathers. Romney appears to be a very spiritual person, a moral family man and a successful business leader and I admire all of this.
But for me, it's all about the corrupt system and neither Romney nor Obama can change it. They are only the front men without power or real opportunity to oppose the power elites who use the government as a tool to expand their wealth, control and power over us.
Until then, while I'm waiting for the slight chance the Mormon prophecy is true and a man on a white horse will lead us to victory, I'm using my individual human action as described by Ludwig von Mises to safeguard my family, friends and readers from a frightening future and wait for 2016.