Special Issue of BYU Studies Quarterly on Good Government

 

The new special issue of BYU Studies Quarterly (61.1) is, in my opinion, the best issue BYU Studies has ever published. This may sound like hyperbole, but I don’t think so, and my opinion should count for something. I have been the editorial director at BYU Studies for just short of 16 years. In that time, I have worked on 47 issues and have edited hundreds of articles. But this special issue on good government is indeed special. Not only is the material particularly timely right now in our hyperpartisan political environment, but the quality of article after article is truly impressive. Credit should go to the four guest editors: retired English professor and renowned poet Susan Howe, founder of Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) Sharlee Mullins Glenn, MWEG senior director and former editor of Dialogue Kristine Haglund, and founding MWEG member Linda Hoffman Kimball. Their interest in creating good government and their network of connections created a lineup of authors that is quite remarkable. A few boxes of the journal arrived at our office yesterday. These will go to MWEG for their conference tomorrow. The content will go live on our website, free to access, on Monday. And the print issues will mail to our subscribers next week. To give you a preview, though, I will briefly describe each article and essay in this special issue.

Following the guest editors’ introduction, the first article, by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, brings the question of good government down to the personal level by making the case that “Good Government Begins with Self-Government.”

In the second article, “Fellow Travelers, Brothers and Sisters, Children of God,” Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf reflects on insights he and his wife gained from their visit to Auschwitz—first, “We hate those we do not really know,” second, “We must speak up,” and finally, “Divine love is the answer.”

The next article is the only one not specifically solicited for this special issue. Rob Schwartz, author of a fascinating article we published a few years ago applying game theory to the Book of Mormon, submitted a brilliant retelling of Book of Mormon history through the lens of economic inequality, a serious problem not just in Book of Mormon times, but especially in today’s world. The guest editors asked us to hold this article for their special issue because its lessons are so integral to good government.

The fourth article, by Melissa Dalton-Bradford, examines how Nazi Germany borrowed the philosophy for its racial laws from Jim Crow America, then outlines the process Germany intentionally followed to transform itself from a world pariah to arguably the most respected country on earth, and concludes by showing how America can follow this same process to heal our deep racist wounds.

Susan R. Madsen, inaugural Karen Haight Huntsman Professor of Leadership at Utah State University and a sought-after speaker and trainer in business, education, government, and community, discusses the need for Latter-day Saint women to be involved in creating good government.

Following Madsen is a transcript of the Joseph Smith Lecture at the University of Virginia last November by President Dallin H. Oaks, who laid out a pathway to achieve both religious freedom and nondiscrimination. The key, he says, is legislative compromise, not winner-take-all lawsuits.

The next article is, I believe, one of the most important articles BYU Studies has ever published. Keith Allred, executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse and founder of CommonSense American, discusses what he calls the Commonsense Principle, an idea shared by King Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and father of the U.S. Constitution James Madison, which claims that the majority of citizens will almost always desire what is right. He cites polling that indicates Americans are not nearly as divided as our national politics might suggest and that there is a great deal of common ground where solutions to problems can be fashioned. CommonSense American carefully chooses policies to promote, then works with politicians of both major parties to make these bipartisan policies reality.

The eighth article is by guest editor Sharlee Mullins Glenn, who describes her motivation and philosophy behind the founding of MWEG and some of the issues they have tackled. If you are a Latter-day Saint woman and are interested in healing our broken politics, you need to read this article and get involved in the nonpartisan Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

The ninth article is by Jennifer Walker Thomas and Emma Petty Addams, co-executive directors of MWEG, who share the organization’s vision of a more peaceful, just, and ethical world. They also discuss three central principles of ethical government: rights, rule of law, and responsibilities. Many people want to claim certain rights, but they do not understand that these rights are only valid if restrained by the rule of law and guided by personal responsibility.

The next two articles are especially timely. First, Kristen Hansen, an emeritus professor of English at BYU, explores how we as citizens can improve the quality of our political rhetoric. In doing so, she describes Jonathan Rauch’s “Constitution of Knowledge,” a social operating system that allows experts to cooperate and create knowledge for the public good “on the basis of rules, not personal authority or tribal affiliation or brute force.” This Constitution of Knowledge allows us to create a “reality-based community,” the opposite of the widespread disinformation that is undermining our democracy in today’s America. This article is a must read.

Very much related to Hansen’s article is Ed Carter’s discussion of how journalism contributes to good government. Using Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s experience as a young law clerk for Judge John J. Sirica (of Watergate fame) as a jumping off point, Carter, former director of BYU’s School of Communication, shows both how accurate journalism helps preserve our republic and that citizens have a responsibility to seek out reliable information. Perhaps the most memorable nugget of wisdom from this article is Carter’s warning that “while there is freely available information via social media and other digital channels, the content produced by reputable journalists generally requires subscription revenue. So, news consumers who want to support good journalism should prepare to do so with their wallets.” I couldn’t agree more and do support three different newspapers with my wallet.

The next article—authored by recently retired D.C. Circuit Court judge Thomas B. Griffith, a Latter-day Saint who this week introduced Supreme Court justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Senate—discusses the role of “the Article III judge” and outlines the constitution constraints that govern judges in our judicial system.

The final article is by Patrick Moran, who has twice won awards in our annual personal essay contest. Moran, we knew, works for the U.S. State Department, so we asked him to write an article on Latter-day Saints and foreign affairs. His article is a fascinating look at the history of LDS involvement in foreign policy and the opportunities and challenges experienced by the many Latter-day Saints who work in foreign affairs.

Rounding out the content of the special issue are two personal essays. The first is by current law student Tinesha Zandamela, whose father is a Mozambican immigrant. She relates her experience of active civic participation as a youth and her decision to run for the Provo city council as a BYU student. The second essay is by Jessica Preece, an associate professor of political science at BYU, who discusses how she finds hope for good government despite the great temptation to settle for cynicism.

Interspersed between the articles are several fine poems, and at the end of the journal are three excellent book reviews.

As you might have gathered, this special issue is longer than our normal journal. But it is filled with important articles on what good government is and how we can achieve it. Check it out on our website, byustudies.byu.edu. It will be accessible on Monday.

Be Glad Trump Is Not President

 

As bad as things are right now, at least we can be glad that Donald Trump is not president. So far, 993,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, by far the most of any country. Several other nations have passed us in deaths per 1 million population (many of them in Eastern Europe), but when compared with countries that took the pandemic seriously from the start, it can be argued that we have experienced hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. Our death rate is currently 2,971 per million population. By contrast, South Korea’s rate is 198 per million. If we had matched South Korea’s response to the pandemic, we would have suffered just over 66,000 deaths. If we had matched Taiwan’s response, we would have had just over 12,000 deaths. And if we had matched New Zealand’s response, we would have had 6,350 deaths. Obviously, our response to the pandemic has been abysmal, but imagine how much worse it would be if Trump had prevailed in the election. His inept administration would certainly have floundered in getting the vaccines into people’s arms. And there would have been no encouragement from the top for masking and other safety precautions. No telling how staggering our numbers would have been. As it is, the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have done a great job anyway in promoting the health and well-being of the virus, rather than the health of themselves and their fellow Americans.

But now we have even greater cause to be relieved that Trump lost the election. Can we even imagine how a Trump presidency would have responded to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Well, yes, we can. Trump has never had any empathy for suffering. His only concern has always been how events would affect himself. And Trump has always had Putin-envy. No matter what Putin has done, Trump has been not just fawning but openly jealous. Who can forget Trump’s obviously envious claim that Putin’s move on Ukraine was “genius.” Not immoral, not brutal, not criminal, not dishonest, not appalling, not tragic, but genius. Trump sees the world only through the lens of what the strong and the corrupt can take by force or by deceit.

And Ukraine has never been a country Trump has considered in any light except how it could help him win an election. Who can forget his “perfect” phone call, in which he extorted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to produce dirt on his perceived political rival? His attempt to use Ukraine for his own ends earned him an impeachment. Why would anyone think Trump would not remember this if he were in the Oval Office now? Would he be slapping severe sanctions on Russia for doing something he finds admirable? Would he be able to orchestrate a strong response not just among NATO nations but even among traditionally neutral nations? Fat chance.

Trump spent most of his presidency trying to alienate our allies and weaken NATO. He was Putin’s puppet in Washington. Would Trump have any standing among our allies to lead a swift and crippling economic response to Putin’s horrendous invasion of an independent nation? Certainly not. Would Trump have dared to cut off imports of Russian oil? Not if it would have caused inflated prices at the pump that might reflect poorly on his presidency. Thank goodness we have a president who cares about doing what’s right instead of doing what’s expedient or self-serving. President Biden is certainly not perfect, but at least he is not Trump.