"Reduced to its lowest terms, the great struggle which now rocks the whole earth more and more takes on the character of a struggle of the individual versus the state"
About this Quote
J. Reuben Clark distills a century of turmoil into a stark moral contest: the dignity and agency of the person against the ambitions of the modern state. Reduced to its lowest terms suggests a stripping away of ideological labels and geopolitical complexity until the essential conflict remains. Across fascism, communism, and even well-meaning administrative democracies, he saw a growing tendency to absorb the individual into a comprehensive apparatus that plans, surveils, educates, and disciplines. The state promises security, equality, and efficiency; the cost can be autonomy, conscience, and the space where private convictions and voluntary associations flourish.
Clark spoke from unusual vantage points. As a U.S. diplomat and later a prominent Latter-day Saint leader, he knew both the reach of governmental power and the centrality of moral agency in religious life. The phrase rocks the whole earth evokes World War, the rise of totalitarian regimes, and the subsequent Cold War, when governments claimed unprecedented authority to mobilize economies, regulate speech, and define loyalty. Under such pressures, the person risks becoming a unit to be managed rather than a soul to be respected.
Yet his warning is not an anarchic rejection of governance. It is a constitutional appeal: limit power so that rights precede policy, and society can mediate between person and state. Families, churches, local communities, and markets provide buffers where responsibility and character form. When the state occupies all those spaces, even benevolently, citizens become dependents and dissent turns into deviance.
The line he draws remains contemporary. Technology amplifies administrative capacity; crises invite emergency measures; welfare and security programs expand with good intentions. The question is not whether the state acts, but whether its actions preserve the irreducible realm of personal liberty and accountability. If that realm shrinks, the great struggle is decided not by tanks or treaties, but by quiet habituation to being ruled.
Clark spoke from unusual vantage points. As a U.S. diplomat and later a prominent Latter-day Saint leader, he knew both the reach of governmental power and the centrality of moral agency in religious life. The phrase rocks the whole earth evokes World War, the rise of totalitarian regimes, and the subsequent Cold War, when governments claimed unprecedented authority to mobilize economies, regulate speech, and define loyalty. Under such pressures, the person risks becoming a unit to be managed rather than a soul to be respected.
Yet his warning is not an anarchic rejection of governance. It is a constitutional appeal: limit power so that rights precede policy, and society can mediate between person and state. Families, churches, local communities, and markets provide buffers where responsibility and character form. When the state occupies all those spaces, even benevolently, citizens become dependents and dissent turns into deviance.
The line he draws remains contemporary. Technology amplifies administrative capacity; crises invite emergency measures; welfare and security programs expand with good intentions. The question is not whether the state acts, but whether its actions preserve the irreducible realm of personal liberty and accountability. If that realm shrinks, the great struggle is decided not by tanks or treaties, but by quiet habituation to being ruled.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|
More Quotes by Reuben Clark
Add to List
