Monday, May 13, 2013

The Wrong Kind of Socialism

In the 1960's, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie attempted to write an unofficial dictionary of Latter-day Saint doctrine.  Not meant to be authoritative, the results were somewhat uneven though the effort was sincere.

One blind spot was regarding politics.  Here, in the "Signs of the Times" article, McConkie described the famines, depressions and economic turmoil supposed to precede the Second Coming of the Savior Jesus Christ:

Because of iniquity and greed in the hearts of men, there will be depressions, famines, and a frantic search for temporal security--a security sought without turning to the Lord or obeying his precepts.

So far, so good.  But things take an odd turn here:

We my expect to see the insatiable desire to get something for nothing result in further class legislation and more socialistic experiments by governments.

As if "socialistic experiments" were any problem at all right now.