To Vote for Wicked Men

We learned (more) today of the atrocious attitudes and actions of the Republican nominee for president.  The first thought that comes to my mind is this quote from Hyrum Smith that I’ve reflected on many times recently: “To vote for wicked men, it would be sin.”  To me today’s revelations made the choice even simpler since there is no doubt that wicked is an appropriate descriptor of the man: I don't know how a Latter-day Saint can vote for him.  I don’t care what it might mean about the other major party winning; in my mind a disciple of Christ simply cannot support in innocence that kind of blatant depravity.  Of course not voting for him does not mean that one has to vote for the other side of the aisle, and just because someone may not seem to have any chance of winning does not mean that our vote is “wasted” (as I hear people say) for voting for them.  It makes me think of the presidential campaign put forth by the Church leaders in 1844.  Joseph Smith had reached out to the two major parties running for president “asking each man whether he, if elected president, would help the Mormons get the lands back that they lost when they were driven from Missouri.  Two responded, and neither would commit to that action” (see here).  Because they felt they could back neither candidate, ultimately they nominated Joseph Smith himself to run for president so the Saints would have someone they “could vote for in good conscience.”  His run for president was of course cut short because he was assassinated.  I don’t know if the Saints truly thought he could be elected, but the important part is that they thought it important to “vote in good conscience.”  We don’t vote for the person that we think is going to win or to prevent someone else from winning—we vote according to our conscience. 

                I agree with Sister Susan Easton Black who recently said, “I sure wish Joseph Smith were running [for president] in 2016.  He’d get my vote.”  Turning to the Book of Mormon we see the kind of leaders that we should be looking for.  We have this description of King Mosiah and the Nephites’ feelings towards him: “And they did wax strong in love towards Mosiah; yea, they did esteem him more than any other man; for they did not look upon him as a tyrant who was seeking for gain, yea, for that lucre which doth corrupt the soul; for he had not exacted riches of them, neither had he delighted in the shedding of blood; but he had established peace in the land, and he had granted unto his people that they should be delivered from all manner of bondage; therefore they did esteem him, yea, exceedingly, beyond measure” (Mosiah 29:40).  Unfortunately if either of the major candidates gets elected, we can be fairly certain that this will never be the description of Americans’ feelings towards them.  What we need are leaders like Mosiah and his father King Benjamin, who was a “holy man” who “did reign over his people in righteousness” (Words of Mormon 1:17).  We need those like Moroni who “seek not for power, but to pull it down” and who “seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country” (Alma 60:36).  Unfortunately in our day we get a lot more like King Noah who “do that which [is] abominable in the sight of the Lord” and speak “vain and flattering things” to the people (Mosiah 11:2, 7).  The “voice of the people” indeed may choose iniquity as the Book of Mormon discussed, but as followers of Christ we do not have to agree with the voice of the people—no matter what the political party—while we wait for the “judgments of God” to come (Mosiah 29:27).