On the night of the 2024 US presidential election, I was camping in the Grand Canyon National Park. While there was an internet connection available, I deliberately chose not to give it my time that night (a decision I do not regret).
I made a couple of notes to try to capture my thoughts at the moment so that I could write them up in detail later. The general idea is this: Mormons have a unique set of resources and perspective on political happenings due to modern scripture. As a result, we should probably always or almost always refrain from either experiencing euphoria or despair in reaction to elections.
Understand that I say this as a politics junkie myself. After one election, I was so stressed at the result that I gave myself a (thankfully mild) case of shingles. I have definitely, in the past, failed to live up to the standard that I am here proposing, in both directions.
If you follow political news, the first thing you need to do is to take a step back and think about the financial incentives of the news channels, web sites, podcasts, and social media accounts that you get your news from. From their perspective, it is important for YOU to think the the election is important. "The most important election in our lifetime" is used over and over again, in election after election, because they NEED you to think that. Their business model depends on it. So, it's imperative that you realize that a lot of what you think "rides" on this election probably doesn't.
As you read this, your brain is arguing against that with all the arguments you've heard to the contrary and you're listing everything that makes it the most important election of our lifetime. Try to quiet that down for a sec. They're going to say it next election, and if you've let them convince you of it now, chances are you'll also believe it then. But it's unlikely that elections just keep getting more and more important over time. And that whole "if X doesn't win, we won't get another chance because there won't be another election" thing? They roll that out over, and over, and over again as well. It's hard for a thinking person to accept this, but it's almost certain that some of the importance you are placing on the outcome of this election is due to the financial incentives of your news sources.
Camping on the south rim of the Grand Canyon may have affected that perspective for me :).
However, let's just say for the sake of argument, that this really was the most important election of our lifetimes, just like the influencers are telling us. Well, then in that case, shouldn't we be either very excited or extremely worried about the outcome?
No.
As members of the church, we have particular reasons that we should answer "no" to that question. Let's look at a few.
First, let me propose something that I hope we would all agree with. Shouldn't it be the case that, wherever possible, our opinion of a thing should match God's opinion of that thing?
With that question in mind, let's see what God thinks about the importance of political leaders:
Doctrine and Covenants, Section 124
3 This proclamation shall be made to all the kings of the world, to the four corners thereof, to the honorable president-elect, and the high-minded governors of the nation in which you live, and to all the nations of the earth scattered abroad.
4 Let it be written in the spirit of meekness and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be in you at the time of the writing of the same;
5 For it shall be given you by the Holy Ghost to know my will concerning those kings and authorities, even what shall befall them in a time to come.
6 For, behold, I am about to call upon them to give heed to the light and glory of Zion, for the set time has come to favor her.
7 Call ye, therefore, upon them with loud proclamation, and with your testimony, fearing them not, for they are as grass, and all their glory as the flower thereof which soon falleth, that they may be left also without excuse.
We are arguing about...what kind of grass should be planted. That's God's view of the prestige, the importance, the significance of these people. Yes, yes, I am familiar with the advice in section 98, and I do think we should take it seriously. And I'm not saying, at all, that it "doesn't matter who wins" or anything like that. If we're going to agree with God about his opinion that these people are "like grass," we have to also agree with his statement in Section 98 that "when the wicked rule, the people mourn." It IS important who is given power, and a LOT of damage can be done by even one poorly placed person. But still. God has assured us, specifically, in latter-day revelation, of this fact:
Doctrine and Covenants 117:
6 For have I not the fowls of heaven, and also the fish of the sea, and the beasts of the mountains? Have I not made the earth? Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth?
In America, every four years we elect a new Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. There has never been a military with a bigger budget, in the history of the world (the budget keeps growing, so maybe every new election IS more important?).
But.
Do we believe what it says in that scripture? If the Lord "hold[s] the destinies of all the armies of the nations", do we need to be filled with worry about who the world thinks holds their destiny?
Now, because the whole of mortality revolves around us being able to use our agency, the mortal leaders of armies are able to choose their own actions and they may (and often do) choose very, very wrongly. But having faith in God as the actual holder of those destinies doesn't mean that we have faith that he will direct the actions of the armies of the nations in the way we want, on the timeline we want. If we believe what he's saying in that scripture, we believe that, if necessary, he will intervene. That the biggest budget in the history of the world is laughable in comparison to God's power. That his hand may not be visible, and may not intervene according to what our wisdom would dictate, but that we can trust his judgment completely. This is a hard thing to have faith in, given the history of conflict (including present conflicts). But this is what we are called to do.
And, speaking of what we are called to do, there's an even more powerful call to calmness. Just for the purposes of this discussion, assume that it really was The Most Important Election Of Our Lives and The Worst Possible Person got selected. Furthermore, let's make it worse by recalling Mosiah 29:27's warning about what happens when the majority of the people choose wrong:
And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land.
So, that hypothetical would mean we're ripe for destruction--pretty bad deal, right? OK even IF it is that bad, THEN what does God tell us to do? The following verses from Doctrine and Covenants 45 (I'm collecting the worst of them, note the elisions) describe rather dire circumstances:
26 And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth.
27 And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.
...
31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.
...
33 And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another.
These verses are suitably apocalyptic descriptions of the sorts of things that might happen should we imagine our country to be ripe for destruction. But one of the verses I cut out tells us what our reaction is to be in these situations (emphasis mine):
32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
Now, there is more than one way we could interpret "not be moved." Given the magnitude of the unrest that is described, it could really mean that the calamities have no physical power to remove us physically from the place that God wants us to be. Another interpretation, which does not necessarily conflict with that, is that we are unmoved spiritually, in the sense of Psalms 46:10's "Be still, and know that I am God..."
The world is calling us to panic, worry, and distraction. The Lord calls us to calmness, faith, and focus:
Doctrine and Covenants 88:
67. And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
The work and glory of God is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life (Moses 1:38). If our eyes are single to that glory, we will recognize that whichever variety of metaphorical grass is planted by the voice of the people, it is still grass, and powerless to interfere with the fundamental, core reason for our time here. Whether we celebrate and revere or denigrate and revile them; whether we do either of those correctly or incorrectly; the fact remains that they are mortals, same as us, with the same mission as us, and we should pray that they accept the Lord's influence to do it as correctly as they can, and then leave it in His hands. Neither euphoria nor despair are appropriate reactions to an election when the Lord has given us this much light and knowledge.
We should be able to see far, far past the timeline of these kinds of events, and set our intellectual, emotional, and spiritual focus beyond them. Being involved in politics and political advocacy is explicitly endorsed in the scriptures; being possessed by them is not. Examine your actions, check your assumptions, open your mind to the possibilities that a changed political landscape opens up. But don't let it control you. We have a mission that is infinitely more important than any individual result at the polls.