Thanks for that SS.Stella Solaris wrote:After a quick search online, I found it sourced to these -jnjnelson wrote:Could you provide the source of this quote, please? I've searched for it, but I haven't been able to find it. I'd like to use the quote, but I want to include the source.
The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 614
America at the Crossroads, August 30, 1969
Address delivered on June 21, 1968, at the Farm Bureau Banquet in Preston, Idaho
In addition it can be found in "An enemy hath done this", page 151:
"There is one and only one legitimate goal of United States foreign policy. It is a narrow goal, a nationalistic goal; the preservation of our national independence. Nothing in the Constitution grants that the President shall have the privilege of offering himself as a world leader. He’s our executive; he’s on our payroll, if necessary; he’s supposed to put our best interests in front of those of other nations. Nothing in the Constitution nor in logic grants the President of the United States or to Congress the power to influence the political life of other countries, to “uplift” their cultures, to bolster their economies, to feed their peoples or even to defend them against their enemies. This point was made clear by the wise father of our country, George Washington:
“I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one had a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves; and that, if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict neutrality and thereby preserve peace, it was bound to do by motives of policy, interest, and every other consideration.”
The preservation of America's political, economic and military independence—the three cornerstones of sovereignty—is the sum and total prerogative of our government in dealing with the affairs of the world. Beyond that point, any humanitarian or charitable activities are the responsibility of individual citizens voluntarily without coercion of others to participate.
The proper function of government must be limited to a defensive role—the defense of individual citizens against bodily harm, theft and involuntary servitude at the hands of either domestic or foreign criminals."