American Anarchism is Full of Surprises

In this paper I wish to show that the consistent application of the principles expounded in Mormon scripture, should lead a person to become an anarchist. In other words, every Mormon should look forward to the abolition of government and the building of a socialist society based on free association and mutual cooperation. Attempting to argue such a case may seem perplexing, given the generally pro-capitalist, pro-government, pro-war stance of many American Mormons today.

By arguing that every Mormon should be an anarchist, I am not attempting to imply that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is currently in a state of "apostasy" because its membership does not openly strive for the establishment of an anarchist society. Governments and capitalist economies constitute the reality in which Mormons must live, making some degree of cooperation with government necessary for the Mormon Church to simply exist and evangelize. In the decades following the founding of the Mormon religion in 1830, the federal and state authorities directly threatened the Church's existence various times, in the form of imprisonments, expulsions, land confiscations, and so forth. The most notorious example of this came in 1838 when the then Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, issued an executive decree stating, "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace."1 Even after the Mormons finally found a safe haven in the deserts of Utah, the US government threatened the existence of the Church several times. In 1856, President Buchanan sent 2,500 soldiers to Utah to put down the "Mormon Rebellion," while the entire leadership of the church was at one time either imprisoned or forced into hiding by federal authorities due to the Mormon practice of polygamy. As a result of such persecution, it was necessary for Mormons to come to some kind of an accommodation with the State. Further, it is the responsibility of Mormons to care and provide for their families, making participation in capitalist economies largely unavoidable.