A mother has made a practice of collecting and laminating for her children pocket-size copies of "Mormonads," colorful posters published for the past generation or two by the New Era magazine that use photography or art and minimal text to convey to youth one or more LDS values or teachings.

One of the children, a 10-year-old, was looking at a Mormonad that pictured the legs and feet of a young adult visible beneath the canvas curtain of a polling booth. The text with the photo was "Have a choice experience. Choose to Vote" (See New Era, November 1988).

"Dad, what does that mean?" the boy asked his father.

"It means that we should exercise our privilege to vote," the father replied. Explaining the message's play on words with the common phrase "choice experience," he said, "When we vote, we make a choice."

"But how does that apply to the scriptures?" was the boy's follow-up question.

This was more challenging to answer. Typically, Mormonads contain scriptural references; this one did not.

But the father recalled a passage of scripture. "I'll show you how it applies," he said, as he turned to Doctrine and Covenants 98:8-10. Together, they considered these words:

"I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.

"Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.

"Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil."

"Do you understand now?" the father asked. The boy replied that he did.

Early in this gospel dispensation, the Lord Jesus Christ endorsed the fundamental principles of democracy as sustained by the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights.

In the above Doctrine and Covenants section, He declared:

"Concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.

"And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind and is justifiable before me" (verses 4-5).

The phrase "belongs to all mankind" is vital. The United States government is not the only one that upholds principles of freedom. Around the world, many Latter-day Saints are blessed to live under governments that protect civil liberties and the freedom of religion, speech, the press, the right to assemble and the collective privilege at the polling place to choose governmental office holders and occasionally affirm or reject public policy.

Why would the Lord so endorse such a governmental system? The answer may be derived by considering the eternal doctrine of agency.

In Section 101, Christ speaks of moral agency in the context of another passage about the U.S. Constitution, which He "suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

"That every man may act in doctrine and principle, pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment" (verses 77-78 emphasis added).

Older than the earth itself, the doctrine of agency was at issue in the war in heaven, where Lucifer and his followers sought to destroy the agency of God's children (see Moses 4:3). From the creation of Adam and Eve, agency has been a gift from God to mankind (see Moses 7:32). This ability and privilege the Father gives people to choose and act for themselves is necessary to the growth of God's children, that by choosing for themselves to obey His commandments — and assuming accountability for such choices — they can attain the attributes necessary to become like Him.

Through the ages, despots and tyrants have sought to hinder people's agency. Philosophers such as England's John Locke and France's Jean Jacques Rousseau formulated and championed ideas about democracy in government. Their thoughts influenced American statesmen such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in developing the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution and similar documents of other nations protect citizens in the exercise of liberties by which one pursues and ascertains truth: freedom of speech, the press and religion. The privilege to vote places the protection of those freedoms squarely upon the shoulders of citizens.

It is an awesome responsibility, carrying with it the duty to study, ponder and comprehend issues and to make one's choices accordingly, perhaps becoming involved oneself in government and community affairs as opportunity allows.

Church leaders have long maintained a policy of not endorsing individual candidates or parties. Rather, they have encouraged members to prayerfully do just as the Lord enjoins: to seek diligently for and uphold wise public servants.

In a recent speech in Salt Lake City to the Sons of Utah Pioneers, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve warned that a fundamental liberty, the freedom of religion, is being eroded, not just in the United States but elsewhere in the world (see Church News, May 14, 2011, p. 4). In some segments of society, that freedom is not given the reverence that it was a generation ago. Freedom of religion, not just in worship but in all of its aspects such as the right of people of faith to have a say in public discourse, is being threatened.

Exercising one's privileges and responsibilities pertaining to government has never been more vital than today.

The Mormonad was right: Voting is a choice experience — and one never to be taken lightly.