Submitted for your consideration are these numbers: Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons including two of the most influential, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Ten signers of the Articles of Confederation were Masons. Four presidents of the Continental Congress were Masons Thirteen signers of the Constitution were Masons. Thirty three of Washington's generals were Masons including Marquis de Lafayette and 'Baron' Von Stuben. The secret society played a significant role in organizing and financing the Revolution in its early stages. Silversmith and rebel Paul Revere was a Mason. It is not known if his horse was also a Mason.What is more significant that the disproportionate number of Masons involved in fomenting and prosecuting the American revolt is that it's leaders were men of the Enlightenment committed to the interrelated principles of religious freedom and separation of religion from the state. They wanted the young America to avoid the devastation Europe experienced during the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their forefathers had experienced religious oppression in England as members of dissenting Protestant denominations from the established church. They did not want their descendants subjected to the same treatment. Given the close connection between early Mormonism and Masonry, the fervent support for religious freedom, and the form of government that guaranteed it, continued undiminished in the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Senator and Saint Orrin Hatch was running for the Presidency in 1999. In November of that year he participated in a local radio talk show where he made this revealing statement while complaining about Democrats' "political correctness": "They tolerate everything that's bad, and they're intolerant of everything that's good. Religious freedom is going to go down the drain, too," Hatch said. "I've never seen it worse than this, where the Constitution literally is hanging by a thread." [emphasis mine] The radio interviewer, also a Mormon, recognized Hatch was using a phrase loaded with meaning for fellow Saints. When interviewed himself after the broadcast, he said "It just caught me by surprise. It was worded carefully, I'm not sure he saw himself as the one who would fulfill the prophecy, but I thought it walked a fine line. It's such a well-recognized phrase." The reference Hatch used was to a lesser known oral tradition of Joseph Smith known, inaccurately, as the "White Horse Prophesy". Although some church leaders have tried to debunk the tradition recent research has verified that the tradition is based on a discourse given by Smith. Many of Smith's utterances where transcribed by Mormon faithful. One of the Saints, Martha Jane Knowlton, was apparently an ear witness to comments by Smith shortly after he returned from Washington, DC to complain about the mistreatment of Mormons in Missouri without redress: "A few Item[s] from a discourse delivered by Joseph Smith July 19 - 1840....Even this Nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the constitution is upon the brink of ruin this people will be the Staff up[on] which the Nation shall lean and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction." Mormon critic Sandra Tanner demonstrates that this stream of thought has percolated through the minds of Mormon leaders for over a century indicating both it's durability as sound doctrine and the importance placed upon it by Church elders. This statement is by a Church elder in 1964: "Our government is an organization which was to, and since has, enacted, judged and enforced law through and by legislative, judicial and executive departments. It is encumbent on the American people to steadfastly maintain the historic balance of power by the three branches of government if our political system is to be preserved. If this is not done then the thread by which it has been predicted the Constitution will hang, will be clipped and our form of government will disappear." Joesph Smith declared himself to be an independent candidate for president in 1844. The historical record shows that the Mormon Church and at least some of it's political representatives believe that it will be a messianic Mormon Church that saves American democracy from its enemies, foreign or domestic.
Which brings me, at last, to Mitt Romney and his campaign for the most powerful political office
on Earth. There is nothing new in a politician appealing to voters who share their religious beliefs. JFK did the same. So did the current incumbent. But the Mormon Church is a male dominated, corporate autocracy and Mitt Romney's connection to the Mormon hierarchy are top level and familial. His father George Romney was CEO of General Motors as well as Governor of Michigan. His cousin Marion Romney was a member of the First Presidency, a triumvirate of the most powerful members of the LDS. The Romneys are the Mormon version of the Kennedys. There are 66 million U.S. Catholics and only 5.7 million Mormons. But the cohesive Mormons make the Catholic Church look like school yard recess when it comes to political action. The significant church service and missonary obligations imposed on faithful Mormons make them good political workers and organizers. Ever since Jerry Falwell made religion a parameter of the American political calculus with the founding of Moral Majority in 1979, the LDS has wielded significant political power. Mormon political clout in western states like Idaho contributed to defeating the Equal Rights Amendment. By 1976 only four more state legislatures needed to approve the constitutional amendment for it to become law. The Idaho legislature had approved the bill by a two thirds majority. Then the First Presidency came out publicly against it. The measure was defeated by a popular referendum in a state with a large Mormon contingent. The Mormon's organizational ability to dominate state conferences despite small numerical representation also killed the bill in Montana and Washington. Romney wants to use this power in his campaign.The Boston Globe reported in 2006 that Romney's campaign organization consulted with LDS leaders to plan a nationwide network of Saints to support his candidacy. Officially the church claims neutrality, but the LDS President and current prophet Gordon Hinckley was made aware of the plans and expressed no opposition. The plan was to use the church affliated BYU business school alumni groups as a grass roots politicial organization dubbed MVP (Mutual Values & Priorities). A former BYU president suggested that the BYU Management Society be enlisted to form an off the shelf support infrastructure. The Society has 40 chapters and about 5,500 members. As tax exempt organizations the church and the affiliated Marriott School of Business are prohibited from engaging in political organizing under federal tax law. Mormon officials called
allegations of church involvement in Romney's campaign "nonsense" and the the meeting between church leaders and Josh Romney "a courtesy call". Romney's PAC is nevertheless reaching out to other prominent Mormons and church leaders for help to win the White House.During the Cold War there was a brief case carried by a uniformed U.S. military officer that contained the launch codes for the obliterating U.S. nuclear arsenal. The officer accompanied the President everywhere and sat just beyond the door of the Oval Office ready to do his duty. The President literally had "the button" to hand. Whether the briefcase of Armageddon still exists in this post Cold War world, I do not know. Some other equally efficient means of military command and control may exist now. However, every thinking American should be asking themselves what are the contents of the personality upon which we would bestow the godlike power to destroy the world. If we are not discriminating in our evaluations, we might find ourselves in the situation of Equatorial Guinea. There, state radio announced that President Obiang is 'in permanent contact with the Almighty' and 'he can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to Hell.' Will Mitt Romney become God? My answer is, we cannot risk the fragile health of our democracy to find out.