Why Should You Vote Against Ranked Choice Voting?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is ranked choice voting, which will be on November’s ballot in several states. Fred Lucas wrote about ranked choice voting in his article published at The Daily Signal. 

According to Lucas, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and the District of Columbia will vote on some type of ranked choice or “jungle primary” that includes ranking the final candidates. Alaskans have enough buyer’s remorse after adopting ranked choice four years ago to have it on the ballot again. Ten states have already banned ranked choice voting.

In most states, supporters and opponents of ranked choice voting don’t break down along traditional party lines. In several states, in fact, both the Democratic and Republican parties oppose the process….

Ranked choice voting has been implemented in marginally different ways in various jurisdictions. Generally, though, voters are asked to rank their first, second, and third choices on the ballot.

If no candidate gets more than 50% to finish in first place, a second round of counting occurs. Gradually, candidates who come in last place after each round are eliminated.

The voter’s second choice will be counted if his or her ballot lists an eliminated candidate as the first choice. More rounds of voting continue until one candidate has a majority.

I am among the Alaskans who do not like ranked choice voting. However, I do not have buyer’s remorse because I voted against it four years ago. It did not sound like a good system to me then, and now I know that it is not a good system. Any system that gives Alaska a liberal representative when two-thirds of the population is conservative is bad for Alaska!

Mary Peltola is a Democrat representing a Republican state, and liberal Republican Lisa Murkowski is our senator – all because of ranked choice voting. Murkowski would have lost in a Republican primary race four years ago if it had not been for ranked choice voting, and Peltola would have never been elected in a majority Republican state.

Only Republicans should be able to choose who will representative their party, and only Democrats should decide who will be their representative. Ranked choice voting is not a fair way to choose who will win elections. People who wish to remain independent or to belong to other parties should have no say in a Republican primary election or a Democrat primary election. This Alaskan will be voting to get rid of ranked choice voting!

 

Why Does Paying Tithing Open the Windows of Heaven?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to 3 Nephi 20-26 in a lesson titled “Ye Are the Children of the Covenant.” This scripture block is a continuation of a discourse by the resurrected Jesus Christ to ancient Americans. The lesson was introduced with this paragraph. 

When you hear people use terms like house of Israel, do you feel like they’re talking about you? The Nephites and Lamanites were literal descendants of Israel, “a branch of the tree of Israel,” and yet they felt “lost from its body” (Alma 26:36; see also 1 Nephi 15:12). But the Savior wanted them to know that they were not lost to Him. “Ye are of the house of Israel,” He said, “and ye are of the covenant” (3 Nephi 20:25). He might say something similar to you today, for anyone who is baptized and makes covenants with Him is also of the house of Israel, “of the covenant.” In other words, when Jesus speaks of the house of Israel, He is talking about you. The instruction to bless “all the kindreds of the earth” is for you (3 Nephi 20:27). The invitation to “awake again, and put on thy strength” is for you (3 Nephi 20:36). And His precious promise, “My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,” is for you

(3 Nephi 22:10).

Like most scripture blocks, this lesson included numerous principles, all of which would make a good discussion. Principles included in this lesson are (1) In the latter days, God will perform a marvelous work (3 Nephi 20-22), (2) God is merciful to people who return to Him (3 Nephi 22; 24), (3) Recording spiritual experiences can bless my family (3 Nephi 23:6-13), (4) The Savior wants me to search the scriptures (3 Nephi 20:10-12; 23; 26:1-12), and (5) The Lord send Elijah to turn my heart to my ancestors (3 Nephi 25:5-6). However, I feel prompted to discuss another principle, Paying tithing opens the windows of heaven (3 Nephi 24:7-12). First, I will share the scripture block.

7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye say: Wherein shall we return?

            8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee?             In tithes and offerings.

            9 Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

            10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and    prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of          heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

            11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of     your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the fields, saith the            Lord of Hosts.

            12 And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the      Lord of Hosts. (Emphasis added.)

God’s people have always been commanded to pay tithing. Genesis 14:17-20 tells us that Abraham paid tithing to Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Malachi 3:8-11 gives us the same wording as verses 8-11 given above.

Do you have any idea why God requires His people to pay tithing? I can assure you that it is not because God needs our money. He knows where all the wealth of the earth is hidden, and He could direct His prophet how to get that wealth. In fact, the law of tithing is given by God to His people to bless His people.

The law of tithing is explained in Doctrine and Covenants 119. The scriptural verses are preceded by this explanation:

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Far West, Missouri, July 8, 1838, in answer to his supplication: “O Lord! Show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing.” The law of tithing, as understood today, had not been given to the Church previous to this revelation. The term tithing in the prayer just quoted and in previous revelations (64:23; 85:3; 97:11) had meant not just one-tenth, but all free-will offerings, or contributions, to the Church funds. The Lord had previously given to the Church the law of consecration and stewardship of property, which members (chiefly the leading elders) entered into by a covenant that was to be everlasting. Because of failure on the part of many to abide by this covenant, the Lord withdrew it for a time and gave instead the law of tithing to the whole Church. The Prophet asked the Lord how much of their property He required for sacred purposes. The answer was this revelation.

Then the verses are introduced and explained as follows: Verses 1-5, The saints are to pay their surplus property and then give, as tithing, one-tenth of their interest annually: verses 6-7, Such a course will sanctify the land of Zion.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion,

2 For the building of mine house, and for the laying of the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the Presidency of my Church.

            3 And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.

4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

5 Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you.

6 And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy, behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you.

7 And this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion. Even so. Amen.

The world “interest” in this revelation means income. All members who have income should pay tithing. Tithing is different than other kinds of donations in that there is a specific amount stated for tithing – one-tenth of all income.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give their tithing donations to local leaders – the bishop of the ward or the president of the branch. The local leaders transmit tithing funds directly to Church headquarters where a council comprised of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Presiding Bishopric determines specific ways to use the sacred funds. Acting according to revelation from God, they make decisions as they are directed by the Lord.

Tithing funds are always used for the Lord’s purposes – to build and maintain temples and meetinghouses, to sustain missionary work, to educated Church members, and to carry on the work of the Lord throughout the world. I have been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I have enjoyed the blessings of having meetinghouses for Church meetings, temples for worship, and blessings of missionary work and education. At the current time, I am gaining more education through a Church-sponsored university and am grateful for the tithing paid by many members of the Church.

I have also been blessed for living the law of tithing. Temporally, I have always had a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to cover my body. Educationally, I have been placed with having numerous members of my family – children, children’s spouses, grandchildren, and grandchildren’s spouses – attending Church-sponsored universities. One of the greatest ways that my family has been blessed by paying tithing is the way that the Lord helps us to stretch our funds to cover our needs and some of our wants. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared other ways that tithing blesses our lives. 

The imagery of the “windows” of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing.

For example, a subtle but significant blessing we receive is the spiritual gift of gratitude that enables our appreciation for what we have to constrain desires for what we want. A grateful person is rich in contentment. An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment (see Luke 12:15).

We may need and pray for help to find suitable employment. Eyes and ears of faith (see Ether 12:19) are needed, however, to recognize the spiritual gift of enhanced discernment that can empower us to identify job opportunities that many other people might overlook—or the blessing of greater personal determination to search harder and longer for a position than other people may be able or willing to do. We might want and expect a job offer, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.

We may appropriately desire and work to receive a pay raise in our employment to better provide the necessities of life. Eyes and ears of faith are required, however, to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity (see Luke 2:52) to do more with less, a keener ability to prioritize and simplify, and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the material possessions we already have acquired. We might want and expect a larger paycheck, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else….

Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals. And when we plead for relief from physical, mental, and spiritual difficulties, He may increase our resolve and resilience.

 

 

How Do We Protect Our Families from the Government?

Families, communities, states, and nations are stronger when parents are allowed to make decisions for their minor children. However, parents are in danger of losing their children if they reject a child’s gender identity. Gender activists are even saying that transphobia is abuse of children. Katelynn Richardson and Megan Brock published an article about this topic in The Daily Signal. 

While crafting its foster care rule finalized in April, HHS officials took inspiration from social workers in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, who spent years pioneering a program that strong-arms parents into affirming whatever confused beliefs children express about their gender. Parents who decline risk losing a voice in their child’s life.

The program developed in Cuyahoga County using federal grant funds provided the HHS’ Administration for Children and Families with an ideal model for infusing gender ideology into foster care and social services, the Daily Caller News Foundation discovered in reviewing hundreds of documents and emails obtained via public record requests.

The Biden-Harris administration’s new federal rule directs states to ensure foster children who identify as LGBTQ+ are placed in affirming homes. These “designated placements” must commit to creating an environment that supports a child’s “status or identity,” including through access to age-appropriate “resources, services, and activities.”

To gender activists consulted by the Biden administration, being “affirming” means assuming the child knows best about his or her identity – even if what he or she claims to want is life-altering medical procedures like hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to appear more like the opposite sex.

To Cuyahoga County child protective services, being affirming often means providing kids access to items like chest binders or prosthetic packers that mimic a penis, according to an information sheet for caregivers on the Cuyahoga County Division of Children & Family Services website.

When the rule was announced in September 2023, it quickly faced resistance. A coalition of 19 Republican states slammed the proposed rule, arguing it would infringe on religious liberty and free speech protections. Religious groups warned it would restrict faith-based providers.

Those concerns were well-founded: In states like Washington and Vermont, Christian couples have lost their foster care licenses due to similar state regulations. But as the activists consulted in the development of the federal rule show, these objections only scratch the surface of problems with the rule.

Parents in a handful of states have already sounded the alarm, claiming local authorities deemed them unfit guardians for refusing to allow their children to undergo a gender transition. In light of federally funded programs, like the one operating in Cuyahoga County, stories like these sound more like harbingers of an organized effort to undermine the family than one-off incidents….

The article is much longer, but the above quote shows that the Biden-Harris administration is willing to take children away from foster parents who do not support gender changes. A Harris administration could go further and take children away from natural or adoptive parents. We can strengthen our families, states, and nation by preventing another four years of Harris’ policies. Elections have consequences. Any parent who wants more of the past four years should vote for Harris. If you want to protect your children, vote Trump.

How Do You Feel About Being Gaslighted by Your Government?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the deluge of gaslighting taking place in the United States. Politicians outright lie – not stretch the truth or make a mistake. One case in point is what is happening in Aurora, Colorado, where a vicious Venezuelan gang has taken over several apartment properties.

The mayor of Aurora and the governor of Colorado deny that there is a big problem in Aurora. However, CBZ Management, a company that owns several apartment complexes in Colorado, says something different. Last Friday, the company confirmed that the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA) has taken control of several properties. Candace Hathaway shared the following in her article published at The Blaze. 

The company started an account on X to share its side of the story after many local officials and the media reported that the claims of TDA’s takeover were overblown.

“Yes, gangs did take control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That is the real story.”

Rumors of the transnational gang’s expanded presence in the area became seemingly undeniable in late August when Cindy Romero, a former tenant at the Edge at Lowry, a property owned by CBZ, released a video showing a group of armed men storming through the complex, Blaze News previously reported. Another video the then-tenant captured showed a man using a hammer to destroy the deadbolt lock on the same apartment unit.

Cindy Romero and her husband, Edward, were desperate to leave the complex, saying it had become “a nightmare” since the gang had moved in. Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky ultimately helped find the Romeros another place to live.

At the time, Jurinksy told Fox News Digital that it was “like pulling teeth to get anyone, the media, other elected officials … to acknowledge the presence of this trend and to acknowledge that there is even a problem.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) called the TDA invasion” largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.” …

In 2023, one of CBZ’s representatives was viciously attacked when he attempted to perform an inspection at one of the properties, the company stated. When he arrived, he found “a group of men” inside a three-bedroom apartment that should have been vacated.

“When he refused their $500 bribe to overlook the situation, they brutally attacked him,” CBZ wrote.

The company released a short surveillance video of the attack and a photograph taken shortly afterward showing the victim’s injuries. In the picture, the representative’s face and shirt were covered in blood, and he appeared to have bruising around his eye.

Unfortunately, it did not end there for the CBZ representative, the company said.

“After the attack on our CBZ representative, he began getting threatening text messages,” the company continued. “These criminals revealed his home address and his spouse’s name.”

According to CBZ, law enforcement officials confirmed that those sending the messages and occupying the complexes were TDA members.

“They also mentioned that our situation was just ‘a blip on the radar,’ as this gang is causing significant problems nationwide,” CBZ said.

After effectively taking over three complexes, gang members allegedly presented CBZ with an ultimatum to split the rental income in half or “lose the buildings permanently.” …

Even after local reports surfaced of authorities arresting 10 confirmed TDA gang members with ties to the apartment takeovers, the media and local officials continued to call others’ concerns overblown.

Last week, former President Donald Trump held a political rally in Aurora to call attention to the illegal immigrant problems there. Trump’s choice for vice president, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), was on the Sunday show with ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz and the situation in Aurora was brought up. Raddatz claimed that Trump’s claims that TDA had taken over parts of the city have been debunked and asked Vance if he supported Trump’s claims. She claimed that the TDA takeovers “were limited to a handful of apartment complexes.”

“Martha, do you hear yourself?!” Vance fired back. “Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border?!”

CBZ continued to post on X about the situation: “Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation, sometimes using us as scapegoats. That’s why we are no longer staying silent. We will continue to counter falsehoods with simple facts and evidence.” The posts continued, “Yes, gangs did take control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That is the real story.”  

The media is minimizing the situation. The city and state governments are denying that there is a big problem and is acting against the company, calling them “delinquent property owners, managers, and/or ‘investors’” In fact, the banks took the company to court, and the judge gave legal authority to a third party to manage the properties. The actual owners will be required to compensate the new “managers.”

I wonderful if the new “managers” are members of the TDA gang. The FBI has not commented on the situation.

How many properties will the foreign gangs take over before the government will act to protect the rights of the American property owners? How would you feel if gangs took over your property or your home or your subdivision?

Do You Stand for Truth and a Better World?

According to Star Parker, a press conference was held last week on October 7 to express solidarity with Israel and to commemorate October 7, 2023. More than 50 pastors with Michigan Lighthouse Ministries joined with Parker’s Center for Urban Renewal and Education to hold the press conference. 

The press conference was held at a church in Michigan “because the state is home to the largest Arab American population in the country.” Michigan is also home to Democrat Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in the U.S. House of Representatives and “one of the nation’s most strident voices against Israel.”

The clergy, mostly black, were not there to oppose Arab Americans. They were there to support the Jewish state of Israel and its values and to express “support for the welfare and betterment of all mankind.”

Parker explained that the clergy are concerned about “the cloud of darkness spreading and enveloping so much of our world today.” She continued:

The miraculous return of the Jewish people to their historical homeland after 2,000 years in dispersion and their transformation of desert and swamp into a thriving modern state, with per capita income higher than most European countries, shines laser-like light into the thick dark cloud of evil around us.

Hamas terrorists noted the first anniversary of their Oct. 7 attack by firing missiles into Israel, saying that, given the opportunity, they would commit the same atrocities again and again.

By atrocities, we’re talking about murder, rape, beheadings, burning of babies, mutilation of corpses.

How is it that there is sympathy for this depravity?

Iran, which provides the billions financing Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations, had a gross domestic product of just $5,740 per capita in 2023, according to tradingeconomics.com. This is only 13.5% of Israel’s $42,674 per capita GD, despite Iran having the fourth-largest holdings of oil reserves in the world.

The difference is that Israel is about choosing life and personal responsibility and creativity, and Iran is about a government stealing the wealth of its citizens to finance a hateful, destructive ideology.

Similarly, the Hamas terrorists. The billions infused into Gaza over the years from Iran, but also from European countries and America, was used to fund terror rather than build a country and create wealth.

Parker explained that she visited Israel and saw similarities between the Palestinians and the people causing so much destruction in the inner cities of America. She noticed that both places had corrupt leaders who were “exploiting the worst tendencies in people by attributing their suffering to others, fostering a culture of blame, rather than taking personal responsibility for their own lives.

In comparison, the black clergy gathered in Michigan to “stand for truth and to stand for a better world….. The appeal of our pastors is unwavering support for the one Jewish state, for the Bible we have received from the Jewish nation, and to end, everywhere, the sick and evil culture of blame.”

 

Does Fake Kamala Plagiarize Also?

 More interesting news about Kamala Harris is coming out. According to reporter Christopher Rufo, a German plagiarism hunter named Stefan Weber discovered that Kamala Harris’s first book Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer (2009). Weber claims that the book is full of plagiarized material and even has a made-up citation.

To add to the interest in this discovery, Joe Biden’s 1987 attempt to run for President of the United States ended when he was discovered to be guilty of plagiarism. Now, his vice president and wannabe successor is guilty of the same vice. Andrea Widburg wrote about the alleged plagiarism in her article published by American Thinker. 

Stefan Weber has dedicated himself to hunting down politicians who plagiarize. In 2021, the New York Times wrote that, in Austria and Germany, Weber “is the undisputed terror of academics, politicians, celebrities ad a panoply of other potential culprits.” A man who was himself the victim of plagiarism, Weber, who has “a near-photographic memory,” has morphed into a business with full-time employees. He’s the real deal, and German-speaking politicians rightly fear him.

Now, perhaps, American politicians will start to fear him, too. That’s because Weber has gone after Kamala’s early foray into authorship….

Weber took his gimlet eye to the book and discovered that Kamala plagiarized at least a dozen passages, as well as making up a non-existent source for one passage. Christopher Rufo’s team confirmed that Weber’s findings are accurate.

Widburg’s article includes a picture of the cover to Kamala Harris’s book as well as a thread from X where “Rufo lists all the stolen passages, aided by a color-coding system that makes it impossible to miss that these were not coincidental verbal parallels.” Widburg also included three things “that are worth noting.”

First, this is more evidence, if needed, that Kamala is a fake and an intellectual lightweight….

Second, we’ve learned that, for decades, there has been a veritable plague of black academics and writers engaging in plagiarism….

Third, Joe Biden’s 1986 presidential campaign imploded when, after he’d already admitted to and groveled about plagiarizing a law review article while in law school, it emerged that he was at it again during the campaign. This time, he’d copied almost verbatim a speech by Neil Kinnock, a British politician.

It would make a lovely narrative package if Kamala’s campaign were to crash and sink on the same rocks.

Who Is Jack Phillips?

My VIP for this week is Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado. He “has been targeted for refusing to make cakes celebrating same-sex marriage and transgender transitions,” according to Blaze News. The article continued: 

A Christian cake baker has finally defeated legal harassment from the LGBTQ+ movement after fighting in court for more than a decade.

Jack Philips was sued in 2012 for refusing to create a cake for a same-sex couple at his Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado and then later sued for refusing to create a cake celebrating a transgender transition. Attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom have defended Phillips for 12 years…

On Tuesday the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the second lawsuit after saying that the attorney who filed the lawsuit did not follow the proper process to do so. Phillips won the first lawsuit in 2018 after a court found that officials acted with hostility against his faith.

Neither of the legal victories established Phillips’ constitutional right to free speech as a basis for dismissal.

The court’s decision leaves open the possibility that Phillips will be sued again. Until a court is willing to rule on a constitutional basis for free speech, Phillips and people who take a similar stand for freedom of religion and freedom of speech could face court cases. Kelsey Dallas at The Deseret News agreed with me. 

The Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in favor of Phillips left the door open for additional legal challenges, since it didn’t answer overarching questions about what should win out when religious freedom protections conflict with nondiscrimination protections for members of the LGBTQ community.

Instead, the ruling was focused on Colorado officials’ treatment of the Colorado baker. The court ruled 7-2 that officials had been unlawfully hostile about Phillips’ religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court again ruled in favor of a religious business owner in June 2023 in a case called 303 Creative. But that decision also didn’t fully resolve conflict over Phillips’ cakes, since it focused on business owners’ free speech rights and didn’t clearly define what types of products should be seen as expressive.

Nevertheless, Phillips’ attorney team felt that the 303 Creative ruling supported the Colorado baker’s position in the gender transition cake battle and kept fighting for that case to be dismissed, as it now has been.

Like the Supreme Court in 2018, the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday did not address key questions about balancing LGBTQ rights with religious freedom.

If and when other cases such as that of Phillips or 303 Creative reaches the Supreme Court, I expect that the high court will eventually rule on the constitutionality of such cases. It seems reasonable to me that a freedom guaranteed by the Bill Rights carries more weight than a more recent “right.” However, I have no legal training and could be wrong!

Why Do Democrats Want to Get Rid of the Electoral College?

 The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the Electoral College. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 gives the qualifications for electors for the Electoral College: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.” 

Last week Minnesota Governor and Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said publicly at a fundraiser with California Governor Gavin Newsom how he feels about the Electoral College: “I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go. We need, we need national popular vote, but that’s not the world we live in.” 

Besides wanting to get rid of the Electoral College and elect our President by popular vote, there are numerous other parts of the U.S. Constitution that Democrats do not like. They threaten to pack the Supreme Court, and they would like to do away with the First Amendment and the Second Amendment. Jarrett Stepman at The Daily Signal explained why the Electoral College works for the United States. 

The Electoral College is an integral, time-tested system of selecting American presidents. It preserves the federal nature of our system while not being wholly undemocratic. It’s one of the cornerstones of our remarkably stable republic.

Every state relies on a popular vote to determine who wins their electors, and each has done so since the early 19^th century.

The states are free to allocate the votes or award them in a winner-take-all system. Most have chosen the latter because that approach is slightly more appealing to presidential candidates. But that’s not set in stone.

By allocating presidential votes by combining the number of a state’s congressional representatives and the number of senators, the Electoral College ensures that the states with the largest population have the most votes. But that voting power is somewhat limited. It means that candidates still have to win over voters in small states and can’t focus only on the most popular ones.

Our presidential elections are therefore more likely to reflect the diverse viewpoints of this country and not just the highly populated urban areas.

There is no reason to think that switching to a national popular vote would be better for America, nor have proponents of abolishing the Electoral College ever really made the argument that it would.

They’ve always just gone with buzzwords about the popular vote being more “democratic,” but it’s clear that what they care about most is that the popular vote leads to more Democrats being elected. No surprise there.

However, getting rid of the Electoral College wouldn’t just be bad for Republicans – after all, there are plenty of small blue states too – it would be bad for the country.

What Do You Do To Remember Jesus Christ?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Third Nephi 17-19 in a lesson titled “Behold, My Joy Is Full.” The lesson was introduced with this information. 

Jesus Christ had just spent the day ministering in the land of Bountiful, teaching His gospel, letting the people see and feel the marks in His resurrected body, and testifying that He was the promised Savior. Now it was time to leave. “My time is at hand,” He said (3 Nephi 17:1). He was about to return to His Father, and He knew that the people needed time to ponder what He had taught. So, promising to return the next day, He dismissed the multitude to their homes. But no one left. They didn’t say what they were feeling, but Jesus could sense it: they hoped He would “tarry a little longer with them” (3 Nephi 17:5). He had other important things to do, but showing compassion for God’s children is always a high priority to Him. So Jesus stayed a little longer. What followed was perhaps the most tender example of ministering recorded in scripture. Those who were present could only say it was indescribable (see 3 Nephi 17:16-17). Jesus Himself summed up the unplanned spiritual outpouring with these simple and powerful words: “Now behold, my joy is full” (3 Nephi 17:20).

There were several principles taught in this scripture block, including (1) The Savior is my perfect example of ministering (3 Nephi 17; 18:24-25, 28-32); (2) The Savior taught me how to pray (3 Nephi 17:13-22; 18:15-25; 19:6-9, 15-36); (3) I can “hold up” the light of Jesus Christ, and (4) Disciples of Jesus Christ seek the gift of the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 18:36-37; 19:6-22).

I feel prompted to discuss a fifth principle, “I can be filled with the Spirit as I take the sacrament” (3 Nephi 18:1-12). When we do something often, we can become casual with it or make it routine. In fact, we often do it without even thinking about it. The question for this discussion is, “How can you keep this from happening with the weekly ordinance of the sacrament?” Is it possible to be spiritually “filled” each and every time that we partake of the sacrament? Is the sacrament accomplishing in your life Christ’s purpose for instituting the ordinance of the sacrament? Why is the sacrament sacred to you?

Partaking of the sacrament is sacred to me because it is the way prepared Jesus Christ for me to renew my covenants with Heavenly Father. It is also an opportunity for me to review the life of Jesus Christ, particularly His prayer in Gethsemane, His death on Calvary, and His resurrection. I look forward to seeing His return to earth.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985) taught that the most important word in the dictionary could be remember. He said that “our greatest need is to remember” our covenants because we made them with God.

After reminding us of the words of President Kimball, President Henry B. Eyring gave “three suggestions about what you could remember each week when you partake of the sacred emblems of the sacrament.” Here are President Eyring’s suggestions: Always Remember Him (churchofjesuschrist.org)

Remember Jesus Christ.

First, remember the Savior. Remember who He was while on earth, how He spoke to others, and how He showed kindness in His acts. Remember whom He spent time with and what He taught. The Savior “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). He visited the sick. He was committed to doing His Father’s will.

Most of all, we can remember the great price He paid, out of His love for us, to remove the stain of our sins. As we remember Him, our desire to follow Him will grow. We will want to be a little kinder, more forgiving, and more willing to seek the will of God and do it.

Remember What You Need to Do Better

It’s hard to think of the Savior – His purity and perfection – without also thinking of how flawed and imperfect we are in comparison. We have made covenants to obey His commandments, yet we frequently fall short of his high standard. But the Savior knew this would happen, which is why He gave us the ordinance of the sacrament….

Remember the Progress You Are Making

As you examine your life during the ordinance of the sacrament, I hope your thoughts center not only on things you have done wrong but also on things you have done right – moments when you have felt that Heavenly Father and the Savior were pleased with you. You may even take a moment during the sacrament to ask God to help you see these things. If you do, I promise you will feel something. You will feel hope.

When I have done this, the Spirit has reassured me that while I’m still far from perfect, I’m better today than I was yesterday. And this gives me confidence that, because of the Savior, I can be even better tomorrow.

Always is a long time, and it implies a lot of focused effort. You know from experience how hard it is to think consciously of one thing all the time. But no matter how well you keep your promise to always remember Him, He always remembers you.

The Savior knows your challenges. He knows what it is like to have the cares of life press upon you. He knows how urgently you need the blessing that comes from always remembering Him and obeying Him – “that [you] may always have his Spirit to be with [you]” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77; emphasis added).

So He welcomes you back to the sacrament table each week, once again offering you the chance to witness before Him that you will always remember Him.

Here are some questions that you and I might ask ourselves: (1) What can I do to improve my worship during the sacrament and throughout the week? (2) What else can I do to worship more meaningfully? (3) Howe is the Savior’s sacrifice influencing my daily life? (4) What am I doing well as His disciple, and what can I improve?