Articles

Issue Two

PDF Version of Issue Two Will be available soon.

Am I an Anarchist?

By David Forrest

For a few years now I have been giving much thought to living “off-grid” and asking any family and friends who would want to join me to do so. I have felt that this would further separate me from the world I am growing to dislike.

In Defense of Blackwater, Gangs and Neocons

By Ron Madson, Attorney at Law

Unfortunately for Blackwater, this war, like all wars, will end some day. But even as we have breakthroughs in science from the innovations that go into space exploration that can be applied on planet earth, seemingly meaningless foreign wars can create wonderful domestic breakthroughs in the field of ethics.

Borders from an Eternal Perspective

By Tyler Bushman

Ignorant compliance is the price of nationalism because it creates the illusion of a unified front, while informed dissent is always labeled anti-national. Creating this false identity distorts our understanding of who we truly are and what it means to live in a democracy; patriotism means suppressing our agency and replacing our intrinsic identity.

Cooperation: A Common Principle of Mormonism and Anarchism

By Jason Brown

In the late 1800’s, the Mormon pioneers, exiled to the Utah territory, implemented one of the largest experiments in cooperative living that the United States has ever known. They wanted to create a society with no rich and no poor. This society would be built, among other things, on the principle of cooperativism.

Economic Democracy and Mormon Workers

By Warner Woodworth, BYU

In my years as a professor at the Marriott School, Brigham Young University, I’ve experienced the meaning he articulated as I’ve marched in solidarity with tens of thousands of workers in my travels around the globe—from New York to Los Angeles, from France to India, from Brazil to Kenya. We’ve called for justice, protested against oppression, fought for better wages, and countered racial discrimination.

Killing for Gain: American Intervention in Iraq

By Will Vanwagenen

Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, American Mormons have been among the staunchest supporters of the war, as well as its executor, President Bush. As a Mormon who has lived in Iraq and witnessed first hand the tragedy that has befallen that country, such support for the bloodshed amongst my fellow Mormons, whom I know to be otherwise good-hearted and kind, is saddening.

Nephi’s Vision – Honesty in Time of War

By Joshua Madson

We must never forget that the Book of Mormon begins with the destruction of Jerusalem and ends with a horrible scene of blood and carnage even the destruction of the Nephite civilization. From its opening pages until its conclusion it pleads with us to be wiser than our Nephite forebearers, to learn from their imperfections, and to come unto Christ.

A Brief History of Peasant Tolstoyans

By Cory Bushman

Tolstoyans, also known as “Free Christians,” were devout followers of the Russian literary genius Leo Tolstoy. They opposed the Russian Orthodox Church because of its perceived corruption and its relations with the tsarist regime. Instead of practicing Russian Orthodoxy, the Tolstoyans followed a “ pure” religion through the “revelation” of Tolstoy.

Means and Ends in a post 9/11 world

By Joshua Madson

We are told that the world changed on September 11, 2001. Under this rationale, our nation has curtailed individual liberties, invaded foreign lands, pre-emptively attacked another nation, detained individuals indefinitely, sent other individuals to secret black sites to be tortured or worse, and even engaged in torture itself.

Why I am Serving in Iraq

By J. Dawkins

I am a sergeant in the United States Army currently serving a fifteen-month deployment in an area west of Baghdad. We go on daily missions among the local Sunnis and right now our focus is almost completely counter-insurgency. I joined the army in 2004 with the specific intent of deploying, and now that I’ve been in Iraq for about six months, I wish to write somewhat about why I am here.