Supreme Court Rulings on Same-Sex Marriage-Compete!

Competition can be a wonderful thing.

Quick disclaimer, some of the worst things in my life have come from prideful and mean-spirited competition, where I am being very unloving.

In games, it can be a playful way to create a lot of energy. I am bored by sports-hence why I start wandering around aimlessly partway through the occasional game that I'm coaxed into playing. I would probably get better exercise if I was a little more competitive in that arena.

With competition in the market, an innovative company is rewarded for setting the pace for an industry. For example, Apple creates the iPhone, and then other phone companies are pushed to create similarly awesome phones. Those companies might also be pushed to find their own niche of people, like the practical low-budget niche where I get my phones.

The allowance of competition (without which there would be a single seller/monopoly) leads to two benefits that I will discuss. 1. The incentive to improve a product at a given price (or decrease the price of a given product). 2. Increased variety of products.

1. If company A does not take advantage of opportunities to improve their product, when the benefit of that improvement would exceed the cost, then their competitors will do so, and company A will go out of business, leaving only the better companies.

2. Competition leads companies to look for niches, groups of people to whom only they will sell. Interestingly, this means that they're looking for a way to avoid the competition. As they go searching for these groups of people, they find unique ways to really please the customers that they find.

Now for the tie-in to the rulings. At a recent BYU Religious Freedom event, Alexander Dushku presented the idea that supporters of traditional marriage should try to make it so that these rulings end up like the Roe v. Wade ruling, not like how civil rights ended up. Meaning, we don't want supporters of traditional marriage to be outcast from from the public square for discriminating, but rather we want their views to be heard as reasonable, like how you can be pro-life or pro-choice and still be seen as a reasonable person.

This can be accomplished if traditional marriage supporters continue to publish their well-thought-out and loving views, rather than letting their views disappear.

I see two benefits from promoting an open discussion of gay marriage, connected to my comments on competition:

1. Both the supporters of same-sex marriage and the supporters of traditional marriage have the incentive to thoroughly analyze what they're doing and improve their purpose.

2. Both sides are incentivized to consider how each group of people in society is affected by their actions as they strive to win increased support.

I believe that an open and understanding discussion will invite the Spirit to help us learn.

quote from The Book of Mormon

My support for traditional marriage stems largely from my testimony of the principle that bodies are "of God, and ye are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19).



I know that I have a lot to learn on this topic though, and I hope to hear your comments to help me! : )

Obediences of Scope

An economy of scope has lowering average costs per good as the variety of goods produced increases. For example, it could be that leather and beef production experience economies of scope. That would mean that the average cost of producing the two goods is lower if both are produced by the same firm, perhaps because only one cow needs to be used to get both of those things. This is the case for many goods; a company that hires a high-tech design expert might want to produce several goods to use that expert as much as possible.

A similar thing can happen when we increase the variety of principles that we obey. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke of a lesson his wife learned: "Jeanene confirmed early in her life that those who consistently read the Book of Mormon are blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a greater resolve to obey His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the divinity of the Son of God." Obeying the commandment to study the scriptures helped with obedience to other commandments.

 :)

Think about two "goods". One is nice thoughts and another is nice talk. Say that I decide that instead of just saying nice things to a friend, I will think nice things about him too. This makes saying nice things easier since they are on my mind. And when I say the nice things, that makes my thoughts more positive. So although it takes more total effort to do both, the average cost of each thing is lower than when I was only doing one of the two things.

President Russell M. Nelson gave an example a few months ago about how keeping the commandment to do family history research became easier, or less costly, for his wife as she kept the Sabbath day holy by doing family history on Sundays.

Keeping the commandments blesses us in many facets of life. If I am determined to be a good disciple of Christ, this will lower the average cost of being a good brother, son, friend, etc.

I am grateful that when I get caught up in a selfish or self-deprecating world, the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps me to remember that by putting my will in line with God's, I can be something better.

Hope and Patents

JK Rowling was writing the first Harry Potter book as a single parent. She really needed money in order to keep the series going at first. Most people do need payment in order to be working, something that may seem obvious. In order for it to be worth it for a people or companies to put effort into creating something, they need to know that they will receive payment from those who are benefitted by their creation. Engineers inventing new products or authors with new works can charge people for using their work if they have a patent (or copyright) for that work.

Without patents, the motivation to work will quickly dwindle, even if there is a love for the product being created. What makes it even more appealing to work hard is if a person knows that a certain company is sure to purchase the patent.

Without any patents, anybody capable of reproducing a certain book or invention will reap the benefits that are due to the person who had to spend the resources necessary to creating the product. Thus productions that require research and development would be produced far less frequently.

As we strive to be good people, we meet some resistance. Much of this resistance comes in the form of simply feeling sadness and not wanting to help others. As the movie "Inside Out" teaches, sadness is not necessarily the enemy, so we need something that will help us stay focused, amidst all our emotions, on our end goal of being more like Jesus Christ so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again.

A solution is hope. We need hope that will allow us to keep working in faith. "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you, ye shall have hope through the Atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."


-Moroni 7:41

From what I understand in the scriptures, hope is a prerequisite to having faith, and faith motivates righteous works.


Knowing that one can get a patent is like knowing that there is hope of receiving eternal life. And knowing that someone will buy your patent once you get it is like knowing that at least God will appreciate our works dedicated to him.


I know that if we stay in the path of the gospel, God will grant us eternal life.