"Going John Galt" the Mormon Way

Here's a surprisingly fair and honest SF Chronicle story about the Mormon's system of "Bishops' Storehouses," the LDS church's nationwide collection of food banks that struggling Mormons can rely on in times of need. It is surprising because Mormons have become the left approved objet d'hate because of the  supposed Mormon conspiracy to pass Prop 8. 

What makes the 110 storehouses around the country remarkable is that they are part of a system run almost entirely by volunteers. They grow the food on Mormon-owned farms, and package it at the storehouses. Volunteers drive trucks and deliver the food to distant wards - what Mormons call their sanctuaries - if recipients live more than 30 miles from a storehouse. As the recession has deepened, the church says it has seamlessly kept up with demand that increased 20 percent over the past year. But the intensely private church declined to say how many people or how much food that represented.

I have to object to the Chron's description of this as "private welfare," as if it is some sort of alternate universe version of food stamps and AFDC payments. It is charity work on the one hand, but it is also a form of communion for the Mormon community which is taught to support one another in good times and bad. Mormons are also taught to maintain their own private storehouses at home "just in case."Also, I could be wrong, but I believe non-Mormons can use storehouse facilities, but you would undoubtedly be proselytized for your troubles. 

The origins of the storehouse concept is interesting and instructive both about our present and our future. 

The origin of the storehouses stretches back to the church's early roots. Fleeing persecution, church members in 1847 began a series of journeys to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. They created storehouses of grains and other goods along the trail to ease the journey for later groups.

During the Great Depression, the current concept of storehouses was formally established. The then-president of the church, Heber J. Grant, said that he had a revelation from God about the welfare system created by the New Deal.

"Our primary purpose was to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people," Grant said, according to church officials.

Self reliance and thrift? Why that's just crazy talk!

Not everyone sat around in the Thirties waiting for FDR to come to town with the WPA after all.  And no one should be sitting around waiting for Obama to reduce the principal on their mortgage. You can't spell "indolent" without "dole."

Religion in general, and Mormons in particular, are forever under assault from the Left because religion is self-sustaining and provides a superior alternative to gov't "help" in times of need. We should all remember that next time a professional atheist shows up demanding that we take down our Christmas decorations. 

UPDATE: I just noticed that I am getting a spike in traffic from Utah. Welcome all! Feel free to look around. Don't bring any kids to the midnight show, please. It gets a little blue.