The White Horse Prophecy was attributed to Joseph Smith after his death by a prominent LDS member. The gist is that sometime in the future the US Constitution would "hang by a thread" and Mormons would join in with others to save it. The White Horse appears to be a symbolic reference to the LDS community. Back in the 1840s era, there were a number of sects developing here in the US which were not mainstream. Millennialists like the Millerites are an example. Back in that day prophecy and interpreting scripture linking it to contemporary conditions was popular. Today, this is standard fare with the Fundamentalists. Back then sectionalism was a problem in the US and the slavery issue was looming threatening the Union. Perhaps this is what Smith's followers may have had in mind. Who knows as they themselves are not agreed about it. Within the LDS church, the prophecy does not appear to be taken as "canonical" because there is debate about its authenticity and interpretation. That there is debate within a church on theological matters is not unusual. On the other hand, some LDS members feel strongly that it impels them to defend the US Constitution in troubled times. Both Romney's father and Romney are on record endorsing this type of interpretation. Some years ago I had an LDS friend and colleague who was quite conservative. An academic and a lawyer, he was very strongly pro-Constitution interpreted from a traditional Madisonian perspective. And he was quite strongly interested in the Federalist Papers and so on. His views seemed in line with general non-LDS conservative thinking and I detected no hint of a theocratic perspective. It seems to me reasonable that members of any religion in our country who find special reasons or spiritual inspiration to support the Constitution are within their rights. Proper support and civic activity may well be a positive thing. One problem, of course, would be if they took this idea in a theocratic direction as that itself would be unconsitutional. Naturally, Americans do not want a situation in which someone who became president thought of himself as a prophet of some kind. The closest we have come to this IMO was Woody Wilson, a delusional and easily manipulated type. GWBush seemed to be in this category also. Presently, the Fundamentalists espousing "Dominionism" have the clearest agenda to impose theocracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism
As Col. Lang has said, our country faces a real dilemma given the two candidates. If Romney is elected and does not dump the Neocons, then it will be more of perpetual war for perpetual peace. If Obama is elected, IMO it will be the same. Clifford Kirakofe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Horse_Prophecy
