Nero has been mocked for centuries as the man who allegedly fiddled while Rome burned. Fiddler or not, he apparently benefited from the Great Fire of Rome because it opened up significant areas that he could use to expand his huge personal residence. The fire also served as an emergency to justify greatly raising taxes to rebuild Rome and further expand his power. He was able to deflect public anger over the fire by blaming the Christians, leading to horrific state-sponsored persecution. But for all his flaws, and in spite of some harmful rumors against him, at least there is no solid evidence that he funded or cheered on the Great Fire or actively resisted firefighters (see Tacitus, Annals 15.38–44). Would that the citizens of all disastrous governments were so lucky.
The United States faces great internal conflicts today that are expressed in massive protests that sometimes become violent and lawless. There are legitimate reasons for concerns about the way immigration laws or enforced or some of the actions taken or not taken by our political leaders. At the same time, there are legitimate concerns about the well-organized, highly funded masses that have carried out “peaceful protests” in Los Angeles and other cities—the kind of protests where, as an L.A.-based reporter for ABC observed, there isn’t really violence, it’s “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.” It seems that cars and buildings sometimes just accidentally erupt in flames when peaceful protests occur. The peaceful activities include hurling large stones at police cars in an attempt to gently inflict peace on law enforcement officers, or peacefully throwing Molotov cocktails and launching fireworks to bring harmony to the streets.
As we see foreign flags raised over recently pacified vehicles (the smoldering kind that brought a few blissful moments of fun to those who just enjoy watching cars burn peacefully), some viewers might mistake the exuberant harmony for a war scene where invaders have just won a battle. Fortunately, the mainstream media brought clarity to the confusion by assuring us this is peaceful, normal, and something we should support. But the violence in the streets and the professional organization of the supposedly “organic” uprisings leaves me concerned about the intent and direction of these protests.
Some of the thanks for the funding of the L.A. uprising goes to the taxpayers of California, who kindly gave $34 million last year to CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles), a major organizer of the mob action in L.A. Special thanks also go to Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American billionaire and ardent supporter of the Chinese Communist Party, according to Wikipedia, who may be backing the L.A. uprising through the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), based on concerns raised in the House Oversight Committee. PSL, which is playing a significant role in promoting the L.A. protests, is openly a Communist Party, also according to Wikipedia (and PSL’s publications):
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a communist political party in the United States. PSL formed in 2004, when its members split from the Workers World Party.
PSL describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party, as the party believes that only a revolution can end capitalism and establish socialism. PSL pursues this goal by participating in local protests, running candidates in elections, and conducting political education….
PSL is a Marxist-Leninist party…. PSL describes its primary goal as the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the institution of socialism….
PSL supports the Communist Party of China, criticizing only Chinese economic reforms into a “market socialist economy”. PSL argues that “militant political defense of the Chinese government” is necessary to stave off “counterrevolution, imperialist intervention and dismemberment”.
Beyond CHIRLA and the PSL, there are many other organizations involved.
While it is socially unacceptable to mention Communism in a negative light these days, it’s hard not to take notice of some potential conflicts of interest (or conflicts of loyalty) among the people encouraging the L.A. riots or at least refusing to quench them. In particular, consider the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. There was a brief kerfuffle in 2020 over a 2016 statement she made supporting Fidel Castro. This came up as she was being vetted as a potential running mate for Joe Biden. See “Karen Bass, VP contender for Biden, renounces her praise of Fidel Castro” by Ebony Bowden, New York Post, Aug. 2, 2020. Bass apologized for her sincere mistake, said she had learned her lesson, and promised she would not make that mistake again. When she praised Castro, she simply had no idea that he was disliked by many of his people for being brutal. (This is apparently something that California schools don’t teach.) Apology accepted. That was the end of the non-story.
But some journalists dared look a little deeper. Her alleged ignorance of Fidel Castro makes little sense given just how long she has been involved with Cuba and how actively she has supported the Cuban government at least during the 1970s. Some basic information that still seems unknown to the mainstream media was shared by Armin Rosen in “Biden VP Favorite Karen Bass’ Journey from the Radical Fringe,” Tablet, July 27, 2020:
In the mid-1970s, California Congresswoman Karen Bass, who is now under consideration to be Joe Biden’s running mate, was an organizer for the Venceremos Brigade, according to several contemporaneous media accounts and an interview with the future congresswoman published in a 1996 Ph.D. dissertation. The brigade organized six-week work trips for American leftists of all tendencies who wanted to visit and support Cuba….
An event blurb in an October 1975 issue of the communist Daily World newspaper describes Bass, then 22, as “leader of the Venceremos Brigade in southern California.”
By the way, the word “Venceremos” can be translated as “We will triumph or conquer.” When your radical neighbors start declaring that they will conquer, you may wish to consider exactly who they are planning to defeat. Maybe the PSL can supply the answer.
Rosen also explains that Bass told a Ph.D. candidate that in her role as a “brigadista” and “then organizer for the Venceremos Brigades, Karen visited Cuba every 6 months.” Bass’s ties to Cuba and her involvement in the Communist Venceremos Brigade suggest ignorance of Castro was not the reason behind the “mistake” of praising him. Students of modern Marxism and its influential Critical Theory development – something that is pervasive in our educational system these days, though many parents remain unaware – should understand that the goal is not to reform aspects of the U.S. that they don’t like, but to overthrow our hopeless society to root out its “systemic” evils. To grasp just how pervasive, well developed, and influential Critical Theory has become in the U.S. educational system in recent decades, I recommend reading the scholarly and dispassionate survey of Critical Theory by Professor Carl R. Trueman, To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024). A much shorter but excellent overview of the rise of Critical Race Theory and its relationship to Critical Theory and Critical Legal Theory is provided by Jonathan Butcher and Mike Gonzalez, “Critical Race Theory, the New Intolerance, and Its Grip on America,” Heritage Foundation, December 7, 2020.
A total revolution is the goal of Critical Theory and for this, many aspects of society may need to be overturned. For example, before the Black Lives Matter website was scrubbed in 2020 to remove some controversial material, it had this statement as of April 8, 2020, documented at Archive.org:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
There may be many who applaud these ideas, but very few of the African Americans I know think the nuclear family concept is a barrier to their happiness and progress. Most agree that strengthening the nuclear family is a key need for their community or any community, for that matter. But Critical Gender Theory sees the traditional family as a part of the unjust norms of our systemically oppressive society. Simon de Beauvoir, a key figure of modern feminism who helped shift it toward Marxist social criticism (Trueman, To Change All Worlds, 101) and laid the foundation for gender is a social construct in The Second Sex (1949), said that simple reforms such as allowing women to work or gaining equal pay were inadequate, for the goal must be “change the whole value system” of society and “to destroy the concept of motherhood” (Simon de Beauvoir, “The second sex 25 years later,” interview with John Gerassi, Society, Jan-Feb. 1976, available at Marxists.org).
Apart from esoteric theory, of course, a strong, free nation can best be weakened prior to conquest by undermining the strength of families, breaking down faith in God, demeaning patriotism and loyalty to the nation being conquered, confusing people about who they are and what it means to be human, and dividing the nation into small angry groups who feel they are victims of the injustices of economic freedom (mistakenly called capitalism). The indoctrination that occurs by practitioners of Critical Theory is well designed to achieve these goals, in my opinion, whether those being indoctrinated have any awareness of the Marxist manipulation at play.
Given the all-out media blitz supporting BLM in 2020, many of us considered donating to BLM. After clicking on the donate button, I was surprised to be redirected to ActBlue.org, a site dedicated to funding candidates for the Democratic Party. Today users can donate directly through the BLM website, but the funds still go to ActBlue Charities, Inc. If that’s your goal, fine.
Sadly, some donors later learned that most of the millions donated did not go to help African American families in any verifiable way but were used with little oversight for other purposes. An example of controversial spending was the purchase of a mansion in California that was at least occasionally used for personal purposes by at least one of the founders, who, incidentally, self-identify as “trained Marxists” (see the video of the admission or read the more complete New York Post story). Many sympathetic people who wanted to help a minority community may have been played, I’m afraid. The same likely applies to many other areas influenced by the various branches of Critical Theory. Our sympathies and our donations may in the end support causes, even cartels, that we would have rejected if only we knew better. I have made this mistake more than once.
From what I’ve seen of Marxism, it’s not the way to make a community prosperous or better off, though there are always a few winners at the top who will become wealthy and powerful. In fact, it was abandoning central planning and allowing a degree of economic freedom that transformed starving China into the economic powerhouse it has become. See my article for the Foundation for Economic Education, “How Eighteen Hungry Farmers Beat Collectivism and Helped China Succeed: Lessons from the Village of Xiaogang,” FEE.org, Dec. 27, 2022. The Marxist ideology behind the current protest movement is a red flag about the purpose and direction of these revolts, though some sincere and compassionate people participated in a desire to do good. Well-meaning compassion can be misdirected by the wicked, leading to even the very elect lending their support to corrupt causes.
Knowing Bass’s past activities related to a broad movement that often promotes violence in the streets as a way of achieving revolutionary change, one can wonder if there might be dangerous conflicts of interest impeding her willingness to support law and order. It’s not just her, of course. Journalist Michael Schellenberger observes in an 8-minute video from June 8, 2025 that what is happening in California is not viewed as a crisis by the leaders of the State, but in their ideology is seen as a necessary “cleansing” from the sins of civilization. Toward the end of the video, he offers this cogent point which makes even more sense in light of Marxist Critical Theory:
To them [the leaders of California], the entire American project is a centuries-long atrocity masquerading as democracy.
In their view, public order is not something to protect — it’s something to dismantle. The violence we see in the streets is not a failure of their leadership. It is the fulfillment of their ideology.
They believe the very existence of American law enforcement is an expression of white supremacy. And the burden of all this doesn’t fall on the celebrities, influencers, or politicians who created it. It falls on the working people and poor, on the elderly, on the law-abiding immigrants, on the single mothers trying to keep their kids safe — on the nurses, teachers, cashiers, and delivery drivers who can’t afford to leave.
It falls on the people who believed that if they worked hard and followed the rules, the state would protect them. Instead, the state has turned its back on them.
And all the while, we’re told that the law is the enemy. But the truth is: the law is what makes life livable. It’s what allows strangers to live alongside one another. It’s what allows parents to send their kids to school, to open a store, to walk home at night. (6:27 to 7:32; a longer version of his eloquent remarks is also available)
A somewhat different mix of organizations and political theories may be behind the broader effort of the No Kings movement (nokings.org). But they, too, enjoy power and influence at least in part through the misuse of taxpayer dollars. That effort is supported by numerous organizations, nearly two hundred based on one estimate, including the AFL-CIO, which recently received $72 million from the U.S. government (in fact, a majority of their funding may be from taxpayers). This union is playing a major role in organizing and leading the No Kings protest. Keep those tax donations coming!
Insights from the Book of Mormon
In a recent Meridian Magazine series on the application of the Book of Mormon’s extensive teachings on “secret combinations” to modern organized crime and political corruption (see Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four), I noted that the actions of a leader that seem to defy their duty in ways that bring great benefit to another group can be circumstantial evidence of a conflict of interest. This is a fundamental aspect of the illicit collusion that the Book of Mormon condemns in its diverse teachings on “secret combinations” or “works of darkness.” Many Book of Mormon teachings regarding secret combinations may be useful in evaluating the developments in days to come of these well-planned and funded riots with leaders seeming to turn their back on their duty to provide law and order for their citizens, while doing that which benefits them politically or brings gain to powerful organizations (cartels included) or adversaries.
Apart from explicit information and warnings about secret combinations, one episode in the Book of Mormon may have particular relevance to the growing crisis America seems to face from organized lawlessness and revolt. For all their handwringing about the danger of kings, some of the forces who are promoting uprisings or rejoicing over lawlessness while refusing to enforce the law may have some noteworthy parallels to the Book of Mormon’s account of the group called the “king-men” in Alma 51.
The king-men “were those of high birth” in Nephite society (Alma 51:8), viewing themselves as nobility (likely descended from the Mulekites, with many descendants of King Zedekiah). At a critical time for the Nephite nation, as the traitorous Amalickiah’s mostly peaceful army had invaded the borders of Nephite lands and had begun conquering Nephite cities, the king-men should have been terrified by that invading army. Instead, “they were glad in their hearts; and they refused to take up arms, for they were so wroth with the chief judge, and also with the people of liberty, that they would not take up arms to defend their country” (Alma 51:13). Why would any Nephite be glad that a violent invading army of Lamanites led by a treasonous Nephite had crossed the border and was coming to attack them? In my opinion, this only makes sense if they were already in league with Amalickiah and knew that they would be rewarded for their support of the invasion.
Mormon, a meticulous historian who relied on trustworthy sources and did not like to speculate, apparently did not have written sources confirming the existence of a secret combination between Amalickiah and the king-men, but their behavior provides strong circumstantial evidence for their collaboration.
Ten chapters and several years later, suspicions of a secret alliance between the king-men and Amalickiah are confirmed. The surviving king-men (four thousand were executed in their initial violent resistance to Moroni in Zarahemla, as reported in Alma 51:19) had used flattery to stir up many more supporters. They staged a coup in which they drove out Pahoran, the Chief Judge, and took over Zarahemla (Alma 61:2–8). Pahoran also writes to Moroni about an alliance with Amalickiah that he may have learned about from informants or spies:
They have got possession of the land, or the city, of Zarahemla; they have appointed a king over them, and he hath written unto the king of the Lamanites, in the which he hath joined an alliance with him; in the which alliance he hath agreed to maintain the city of Zarahemla, which maintenance he supposeth will enable the Lamanites to conquer the remainder of the land, and he shall be placed king over this people when they shall be conquered under the Lamanites. (Alma 61:8)
Treason by elites supporting the disaster of an invading army is found in Alma 51 and 61, and perhaps in our current events. The Book of Mormon once again is becoming more relevant than ever. Will we learn from its warnings against corruption and secret combinations?
Moroni swiftly returns to team up with Pahoran, raising the standard of liberty and gathering support from many thousands, and then using clever strategy, is able to defeat the traitorous army in Zarahemla (Alma 62:2–9), with the traitors being judged by the law in a trial and condemned to death (v. 9). This rebellion had cost the Nephites dearly, leading to great hardships and long delay in finally defeating Amalickiah. But through swift action, the Nephites put down the dangerous “secret combination” (my terminology) of traitors colluding with an invading enemy and cheering for the violence being unleashed on their nation.
Another Book of Mormon Teaching: A Time for Generosity Toward Apparent Enemies
In spite of the great struggles the Nephites had with attacking armies of Lamanites, they had learned an important lesson from the Lamanites who became known as the people of Ammon or the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (see Alma 24). Many of the men among these faithful converts had been fierce warriors who had killed Nephites, and some of them experienced the horror of killing some of their own Lamanite brethren when stirred up to anger by corrupt leaders to attack the new converts. Stung by the murders they had just committed against the unarmed converts, they too dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, prostrate before the other soldiers, willing to join the converts even at the cost of their lives. More of the attackers joined the converts than the 1,005 who were killed (Alma 24:17–27). As a result, this new group of converts included the killers of some of the fathers of mourning families. The love and forgiveness within this group must have been incredibly strong such that they could stay together and become known as a remarkable community of faith whose members never fell away (Alma 23:6). This can only happen with an outpouring of forgiveness to weld such bonds of love that overcame the natural grievances among themselves and the inevitable offenses they must have experienced as refugees in Nephite territory.
What the Nephites learned from this is that bitter, violent enemies may be saints waiting to be cleansed and healed. The Nephites welcomed and to some degree learned from the great example of these humble converts, and that lesson may have influenced Captain Moroni. After defeating the king-men and restoring order in Zarahemla, Moroni and Pahoran head to Nephihah in hopes of retaking it. On the way, the encountered and fought “a large body of men of the Lamanites,” taking many prisoners (Alma 62:15). What happens next is a pleasant surprise in the midst of the tragedy of war:
And it came to pass after they had taken them, they caused them to enter into a covenant that they would no more take up their weapons of war against the Nephites.
And when they had entered into this covenant they sent them to dwell with the people of Ammon, and they were in number about four thousand who had not been slain. (Alma 62:16–17).
Perhaps we can infer that for the young Lamanite warriors, the effects of a long and increasingly futile war may have been taking a toll, making them readily open to the possibility of a new life. They may also have been harboring doubts about the bloodthirsty leaders of Nephite descent, Amalickiah and his brother, Ammoron, who now held the Lamanite throne. These weary, possibly disillusioned soldiers were given a chance for freedom by simply making a covenant and walking away to join a community of peace and acceptance. In a world where the mistreatment or even unnecessary slaughter of captured enemies is commonplace, I am touched that the Nephites would even consider this and trust those men to honor their covenant. Moroni and others surely had realized that even bloodthirsty opponents might be a few short steps away from becoming fervent saints and brothers in Christ. I find that remarkably hopeful and hope all of the released prisoners found joy in a new community. I wonder if any were able to return home and bring family members back with them.
After this, Moroni and Pahoran retakes the city of Nephihah with clever strategy (Alma 62:18–26). Once again, they now had many prisoners of war who receive the most humane treatment imaginable: freedom and a new productive life surrounded with loving people. It sounds like it did not take a lot of persuasion for the captured soldiers to take the merciful offer:
Now it came to pass that many of the Lamanites that were prisoners were desirous to join the people of Ammon and become a free people.
And it came to pass that as many as were desirous, unto them it was granted according to their desires.
Therefore, all the prisoners of the Lamanites did join the people of Ammon, and did begin to labor exceedingly, tilling the ground, raising all manner of grain, and flocks and herds of every kind; and thus were the Nephites relieved from a great burden; yea, insomuch that they were relieved from all the prisoners of the Lamanites. (Alma 62:27–29)
All the prisoners of war accepted the offer to leave peacefully and go live and work with the people of Ammon. This is such wonderful news from a war: captured people treated humanely and allowed to leave of their own volition to join a community of saints. It’s astonishing to me and a testament to the power of love and freedom in the community of Lamanite converts—former mortal enemies, blessed with the healing power of Christ, touched by the mercy and kindness of a great Nephite general who despised bloodshed, and welcomed with life-changing love by their converted peers.
Through whatever tragedies may come from insurrectionists among us or newcomers from other countries who may be enticed or ordered to commit acts of violence, let us not lose sight of their humanity and their potential as sons and daughters of God. Let us remember Moroni’s wisdom and seek for opportunities to invite them to reject evil influences and walk away to freedom and true peace with us in our communities of faith.
During His ministry to the Nephites, Christ twice gives a prophecy of the latter-days about a remnant of Jacob that would be among the Gentiles like a lion among beasts of the forest, with great destruction to the cities of the Gentiles, but after which the remnant of Jacob shall join with faithful Gentiles to build the New Jerusalem. See 3 Nephi 20:15–22 but especially 3 Nephi 21:12–25:
And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.
Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;
And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;
Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands;
And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.
And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.
For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel;
And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;
And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst. (3 Nephi 21:12–25)
One reading of this is that some of the descendants of the House of Israel in our midst may be part of great violence against our wicked society if we the Gentiles do not repent, but then the Gentile Saints will assist many of the remnant of Jacob — perhaps some of the same ones who were like a violent lion – in serving God and building a holy city and a community of faith perhaps much like the people of Ammon. Past bloodshed and anger may then be swallowed up in love as we work together to prepare for the powers of heaven to come down among us. There may be pain and some non-peaceful destruction ahead, but what hope lies before us if we endure and can love in spite of past conflicts.
In this fractious moment, it may be a good time to further cultivate a spirit of forgiveness and love toward nominal enemies, looking for opportunities to be merciful or to do good even to those who now seem hostile or may have broken laws to come here. (That certainly also includes all those whose politics strongly differ from ours, whether diehard Marxists, extremists in any direction, or those who might aggravate us the most by not caring at all.) Whatever happens, those we fear, those who are angry with us, those we may fight, those we may flee from, are children of God. Some may already be genuinely good people just seeking a better life or fighting against what they see as injustice. Some may be violent with great need of repentance. But one day, we may be honored to serve with them in building something wonderful. Meanwhile, there are vile secret combinations and evil designs that must be resisted in appropriate ways. Thus, we must be wise as serpents in dealing with the Amalickiahs of our era, but gentle as doves, when possible, in dealing with those whom others may have stirred up to great anger.
These are complex times when we need the power of prayer, the power of forgiveness, the power of charity, and the teachings of the prophets and the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, more than ever
