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can that be duplicated, annotated?

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he didn’t pass the all incompassing “I could have a beer with this person” test.

Aha, but he did win as Candidate Most Voters Want To Get Into Bar Fight With.

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For some voters, yes, it was his religion that made their decision.

But I also heard from many people who were concerned that he “flip-flopped” on previous positions. He didn’t come across (to many people) as genuine – he didn’t pass the all incompassing “I could have a beer with this person” test. GWB (in 2004) I think passed that test – despite the fact that he is a recovering alcoholic. Whether or not the politician drinks beer isn’t important.

“Flip-flopping” is a classic criticism of political figures/presidential candidates – and it dooms them. In general, I think we’d all like to see politicians who change their minds when new/better information comes available. Sticking stubbornly to a position is just as harmful as continually changing one’s mind.

Just like the label “liberal” helped doom Dukakis in 1988.

Those labels are powerful, and some of them stick.

As far as the big gov’t thing – I think that’s another reason why many LDS will continue to vote Republican. Not that the Republican party has been reducing taxes or gov’t recently. But – in theory, most LDS that I remember (and many republicans) still vote and believe strongly that gov’t is too big and is not the answer. (i.e. We should be able to make up our own minds where our taxes go).

Again, I’m not defending these positions. Just wanted to bring up additional points.

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“My point is not that Mormons should be in favor of abortion. Everyone opposes abortion. My point is that Mormons needn’t have adopted the hardcore pro-life position of Evangelicals, when they might just as well have adopted the view that the government should allow everyone to exercise their free agency in this matter (i.e., being against abortion but being pro-choice).”

I think that the problem with most abortion rhetoric is that it fails to separate the moral issue from the legal issue. It is entirely possible for an act to be legally permissible, yet morally prohibited. Adultery comes to my mind. To my mind, abortion should be legal, but it is a bad choice to make except in certain circumstances. I wish the debate would move past “a woman’s right to choose” and move more to what impact abortion has on those who undertake the procedure and other consequences. It’s not an easy decision and the resources that are currently spent on opposing or favoring abortion could be better spent on the people who must ultimately make a really tough choice.

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That’s why Mormons love state’s rights even more than Southerners. And we were just as much concerned about racial integration as white folk in Alabama.

The fact of the matter is, however, that the “love” has always been one-sided. No one who ever listens to Christian talk radio can seriously believe that Christian right wingers respect us. They cannot mention the word Mormon pointing out that attributing cult status to us.

Instead of confronting intolerance against Mormons at the hands of Baptists in Texas, our leaders have chosen to malign the ACLU as public enemy number one, even though it is only the ACLU that will support Mormon children against government sponsored Baptist bigotry.

The Romney campaign was a valuable object lesson for many Utah Mormons what it is like to be a member of a religious minority. May be, we will think twice before we impose Christian kitsch on Jewish kids in Utah public schools and then blame liberals for defending religious freedom.

We need to realize that we are throwing rocks in a glass house when we are approaching our gentile neighbors with distrust, demanding school prayer and try to impose the tyranny of the majority on gays and other minorities.

Those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword. Gordon Hinckley helped to legitimize religious bigotry in politics during the campaign against the ERA and took it to a new level with the anti-gay referenda.

Mitt Romney is now reaping the fruits of the culture that Hinckley has embraced and promoted.

To be sure, Romney’s failure is a relatively small matter. I am much more concerned about the Mormon children in the Santa Fe ISD and elsewhere that have had to endure the ridicule not only of their peers but also of their teachers.

I hope that our community will take the Romney episode as an occasion to reflect upon the importance of tolerance, respect for difference, and the separation of church and state. That would be much more important than switching parties.

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Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. The Confucian Analects

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Yeah… So what?

Welcome to the world Guy. Glad you noticed that you’re here.

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but…Mormons have the inside track on right/wrong…Don’t They???

don’t tell me/anyone that others doing it (whatever it is) is justification/rationalizatoin.
I never said it was LDS exclusive, either; the Amish are first to mind.

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