Where did they go? Asia, Europe, and Africa all have civilizations that have existed continuously for thousands of years. Worms, Germany, as well as Jerusalem, have held 5000 year anniversary parties. Chinese and Indian cultures argue primacy, with records reaching back into untold eons. Egypt is synonymous with antiquity. Where are North and South Americas' equivalent establishments? Even the American natives took a beating, and were driven and scattered by the dominant culture of North America.
The Book of Mormon is many things, most important of which is another witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the accuracy of the Bible. It is also an owner's manual for North and South America. It describes the conditions that must be observed by those who want to live here successfully. It also gives accounts of previous civilizations, and specifically what brought them crashing to a halt. They were eradicated because of "secret combinations," conspiracies within the upper echelons of government. Much has been said recently about the open existence of such forces in our own government. How did a hick farmer in the 1820s know that murderous and corrupt politicians conspiring in dark rooms would be the big problem facing America 200 years later?
President Eisenhower gave this harrowing farewell warning in 1961:
"Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions...We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Here is a passage from The Book of Mormon:
"Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
"Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up" (Ether 8:23-24).
Is there a secret combination, a conspiracy, "above" us? Let's review a few events of the last ten years or so.
9-11 conspiracy theories range from the sensible to bizarre and baroque, but there are some things that everyone can agree on. Larry Silverstein, who owned the Twin Towers, was eligible to collect $4.6 billion insurance money. George Bush derived two terms in office from the wave of popularity 9-11 induced. His oil industry friends raked in record profits as oil prices hit record highs in 2008 (Bush's last year in office). Exxon posted the largest profits of any company in the history of the world that year. Cheney's friends in Halliburton made billions contracting construction in Iraq. Manufacturers of weapons made billions as Iraq became a testing field for new and old technologies.
Who paid for this corporate/political bonanza? Over 100,000 Iraqis and over 5000 American troops have paid with their lives. American tax payers have footed the bill for two wars as trillions of dollars were siphoned off from an already shaky economy. The value of the dollar, tied by transportation of all goods to the price of oil, has fallen to parity with the Canadian dollar. Since every extra penny lining every sofa cushion has been slurped up by the oil industry, people who were once middle class are moving from homes to apartments. At the beginning of 2008, the housing bubble burst, and now you can see empty homes with FOR SALE signs dotting the suburbs of almost every American city. Thanks to the ambiguous and open-ended definition of the war following 9-11 ("War On Terror" makes about as much sense as "War On Left-hand Turns"), many constitutional freedoms have eroded and been assaulted directly. Privacy is nonexistent, and military dictatorship-esque checkpoints are now a prominent feature at airports. America is still relatively prosperous compared to the rest of the world, but we are definitely stifled in our growth. Unemployment in the US is officially about 1 in 10, while underemployment is more rampant, about 1 in 4. Meanwhile, corporations are sitting on $2 trillion. We have been sold to China by corporations (such as Walmart, whose labels used to brag MADE IN THE USA) and their puppet politicians. I saw a picture in Fortune magazine of Chinese oil workers in Iraqi oil fields. Who let them in?
This brief overview of where money went as a result of 9-11 makes the kooky theories seem plausible. There is nothing new here; prospering at the expense of others has been standard procedure from time immemorial. It seems, at least to me, that secret combinations are definitely "above" us.
What shall we do?
Article of Faith 12 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states, "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared this insight: "Our doctrine commits us to work from within. Even an oppressive government is preferable to a state of lawlessness and anarchy in which the only ruling principle is force and every individual has a thousand oppressors."
Hearing a description of power being abused can stir feelings of anger, but would the ultimate outcome of acting on such feelings lead to a correction of the problems of corruption and conspiracy we face now? To put it bluntly, could we assassinate and arrest our way to good government? No. In the first place, if an organization were brought into existence to perform such an exercise, it would simply become the monster it was designed to eradicate. In the second place, even if all corrupt politicians and murderous businessmen were to suddenly cease to exist through some magical means, their empty seats would be filled immediately by their henchmen, and their henchmens' henchmen, etc.
Violent means were used to no avail to eradicate secret combinations in the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon was prescient in labeling the problem; maybe it is also prescient in its prescribed solution. The solution it proposes is simple: Repent. If we, as a nation, collectively repent of doing what we know is wrong, and turn to God for forgiveness, God Himself will intervene on our behalf, and raise up leaders who will benefit us as a group, rather than themselves and crooked businessmen. How do we repent? No one can repent for someone else--it is an individual activity. (Searching for solutions that involve forcing others to change their behavior, and scapegoating groups and individuals, are mere inches away from the extreme solution discredited above.) Search your conscience, and locate those behaviors you believe are wrong, but that you still engage in, and commit to stop doing them. Pray for forgiveness for them.
Drink less. Yell less. Be faithful to your spouse mentally as well as physically. Treat you children well. Be honest in all your business dealings. Be patient and forgiving. Set aside time to ponder, pray, and read from sacred books. Appreciate nature on its own merits, rather than looking for ways to exploit it for money. Be grateful for what you have instead of craving more. Stop worshiping the evanescent material possessions and honors of this world.
These things sound like New Year's resolutions, or nondenominational injunctions, but they comprise the essence of the Ten Commandments. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. If America will do these things, then God will actually bless us with more righteous leaders, or at least leaders who serve us instead of under-the-table interests. In Acts 2:37-38, the group of people asks, "...what shall we do?" Peter replies, "Repent." The greatest thing about this solution is that it can be tested empirically. If millions of people repent, and prosperity, peace, and freedom ensue, then it works. Let's be the first great civilization in the history of the Americas to NOT be eradicated.
