In the last chapter of Mosiah, chapter 29, there is a big change in the Nephite form of government. King Mosiah knows his reign is coming to an end and all of his sons have left to preach the gospel to the Lamanites so he has no heir to pass on the kingship. Via inspiration, he realizes it is a time for a change and that unless you can guarantee to always have a righteous king (Mosiah 29:13), a wicked king will cause “much iniquity to be committed” (Mosiah 29:17).

So the days of the Nephite Kings come to an end and the reign of the judges will begin. This is such a fundamental change that even the time and date tracking in the Book of Mormon will change to the number of years since the start of the reign of the judges. King Mosiah teaches that for this type of system to work it needs to be a balance between two key principles:

1)      The importance of each person having “rights and privileges” (Mosiah 29:32) and an “equal chance” (Mosiah 29:38).

2)      The importance of each person to “bear his part” (Mosiah 29:34) and “willingness to answer for his own sins” (Mosiah 29:38).

These two principles must be kept in balance and can’t override the other or you will have very bad consequences. The government needs to protect and honor the “rights and privileges” of its citizens. All should have an “equal chance” at justice, employment, protection, etc.  Just as important, every citizen needs to be accountable for his or her actions, to “bear his part” or work for his/her sustenance. If governments don’t hold their leaders and citizens responsible or accountable for their actions then equally bad consequences will follow.

If you take away the “rights and privileges” then we fall into slavery, if you take away the principle of accountability then we fall into anarchy. Both are bad and both destroy societies, history has proven this over and over again.

Hence, we need to keep a balance of “rights and privileges” vs. accountability. We need to feel free to express ourselves, free to choose what kind of education and career, free to travel, free to protect ourselves, free to worship as we please. On the other hand, we need to be willing to accept the consequence of every choice we make so that we can keep others and ourselves free. If we break the law, we need to bear our part, if we say something that offends, apologize. With every right and privilege comes attached accountability of the choice selected from the right and privilege. If we side step this process the scale becomes unbalanced and we begin to deteriorate into less freedom or more chaos in our neighborhoods, cities, states and country.

We need to elect leaders who understand and support the balance between these two principles. We need to practice in our own lives the balance between these two principles. We can’t have complete freedom without consequence or accountability; it is not possible and can only lead to our government and society falling apart.