When the early church began to grow in power and influence and worldliness, the ancient doctrine of the Two Ways was quickly replaced by the doctrine of the Two Parties. The former specified that there lies before every mortal, at every moment of his life, a choice between the Way of Light and the Way of Darkness; but the latter doctrine taught that righteousness consisted in belonging to one party (ours), and wickedness in belonging to the other (theirs). — Hugh Nibley
It should be obvious to say that the Doctrine of the Two Parties is a false, corrupt, perversion of the true doctrine, except for the fact that it is far more commonly believed, talked about, and followed among the Saints in the US than the actual true doctrine. Far too many Latter-day Saints believe that the political clash of right and left is synonymous with the moral clash of right and wrong (or the religious clash of good and evil).
The ever pious and moralistic Republican Party has deceived members of the Church of Jesus Christ into believing that Republicans are “righteous” and Democrats are “evil” by the simple fact of their political affiliation. Decades of right-wing propaganda, from the John Birch Society in the 1960’s, the Freeman Institute in the 1970’s, the National Center for Constitutional Studies in the 1980’s, Fox News starting in the 1990’s, and Sean Hannity since the early 2000’s, have blinded, confused, and, yes, brainwashed, several million politically naive people into a state of assertive, narrow-minded, self-righteous, tribalism.
Once people become ensnared in tribalism, they become closed-minded. They stop listening to information and ideas that are outside their framework, they demonize people they see as outside their tribe, and they become prone to stubbornness, anger, rage, and eventually violence, against their perceived “enemy.”
This is not a description of a “Zion people.” This is not who we want to be. In fact, not only are there good members of the LDS Church who identify as Democrats, there are good members of the LDS Church who identify as Communists. One’s political party has absolutely nothing to do with one’s righteousness. The true struggle in this world is not between left and right, but between good and evil. God does not judge a person based on their political party, but upon his or her actions, whether sinful or righteous.
It is not where we stand, says Ezekiel, that makes us good or evil in God’s eyes—no one has reached the top or bottom in this short life—but the direction in which we are facing. There we have only two choices. The road up and the road down are the same, says Heracleitus. It all depends on the way you are facing. You are taking either the up-road or the down-road; there is no third way, for if you try to compromise and go off at an angle, you will never reach either goal. You are either repenting or not repenting, and that is, according to the scriptures, the whole difference between being righteous or being wicked. — Hugh Nibley
Righteousness (or wickedness) has nothing to do with what party (or tribe) you belong to. Many people misread the Book of Mormon as a story of “good guys vs. bad guys.” It is actually a story of how righteousness leads to prosperity and wickedness leads to destruction (over and over again) and how repentance can prevent destruction. (And the much-maligned Lamanites are actually often the “good guys” in the story.)
Readers of this blog know that I blame the Republican party, and their propaganda arm, Fox News, for the current extreme political polarization in the United States. Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Sean Hannnity, and Alex Jones created the climate that gave us the demagogue that is Donald Trump. Their relentless, decades-long, hostility to truth and civility has broken our national ability to dialogue and find compromise with each other. Civic discourse has now devolved into praising our side and demonizing the other side.
But, as the Book of Mormon shows, as a country becomes more polarized the two sides begin to look more and more alike. It is critical that the LDS members of either party keep their priorities straight. Our LDS morals, values, and testimony must guide our political beliefs and actions, and not the other way around.
So it is indeed the Way of Light or the Way of Darkness, but when two ways were identified with the two parties by the churchmen—ours and yours—the doctrine was exploited with inexorable logic: Since there are only two sides, one totally evil and the other absolutely good, and I am not totally evil, I must be on God’s side, and that puts you on the other side. This doctrine has been worked for many years in Utah as a political ploy. With withering contempt, Isaiah denounces the comfortable logic: It is not for you to say who is on the Lord’s side, says the Lord; that is for me to say, and those who most loudly offer me their support and cry “Lord! Lord!” are those of whom I most disapprove (Matthew 7:21).– Hugh Nibley
Sources: “Why Toxic Tribalism is Destroying Our Society & What To Do About It,” Zaid Dahhaj, Medium, February 18, 2018.
“The Prophetic Book of Mormon,” Hugh Nibley, Chapter 20, The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Deseret Book Company, 1989.
Both parties disgust me because they represent a party system that was warned against by early patriots and which has become corrupt. In the future I will register for neither, but continue to vote independently.
This is why I have felt for years that we should leave the parties out of it all together. Encourage voting based on who most closely aligns with our own morals and values.
Once again the gutless Deseret News will not let me make the rock solid connection between Trump and fascism. The local establishment is scared of Trump but cannot articulate it, so we get a constant line of happy talk, with no guidance at all in how deal with him.