[Archaea]

I guess the lesson learned from this debate is, the time is past when the morals which the Church considers important are held by the more part of the people and the people will continue to wickedness.

The Church should just advise its people of correct conduct and stand by the wayside advocating nothing.

The missionary work is already on the decline. Our temple attendance is down. And we don't engage in emergency preparedness. President Hinckley is correct, he is the prophet that nobody listens to.

Politically speaking, there are not many issues that the more part of the people care about. That is why the parties seek polarizing issues to galvanize a base.

The nation is so diverse that no substantial majority cares about something. So it becomes necessary to scare constituents into buying into a need for particular leglislation. The Right does it with Anti Gay legislation. The Left does it with Social Security. W's decision to add prescriptions will come back to haunt us financially.

We experience 9-11, so W and all others scare us into a need for the Patriot Act.

Somebody claims there is a trend of global warming, so there is a rush for legislation addressing that issue.

Unfortunately our nation is governed through scare tactics, rather than sound debate.

Mike raised the standard issue of 1%, when he full well knows not to trust political leaders for sound and legitimate political argument and policy. These policies don't make for good speeches in political stumping. A sound policy would usually be boring to listen to.

The Church is probably on the downside right now, as our nation is becoming more agnostic, more sinful and less cognizant of the Spirit. We will become a smaller minority rather than larger. Religion will decline here as elsewhere. Has anybody spent time in Europe? Religion is not viewed seriously in most countries there. It's usually viewed as something old women do, and nobody else.

I wager the Church will engage in the political arena even less, now that is has received a solid loss. It will become as Mormon, refusing to participate, until we are destroyed.