Here in Blogtopia, there’s nothing wrong with writing something just to pay off a nice alliterative headline. It should be different in the majors though. I’m not expecting a missionary discussion in Newsweek, but I do expect them to distinguish slippery parody from actual doctrine. We’ve survived a number of Mormon Moments already; by now we should be well inured to any predicted glory that might come from this one — or the next.
Formal complaints aside, there is a moment to savor here, though not the one Newsweek is talking about: Mitt Romney is at a point when past screwups are temporarily forgotten, and he has yet to re-yoke himself to the plow. Until the capitulation begins, he’s the most principled national figure the Republicans have right now — a bar set so low I guaran-goddam-tee you Obama loses no sleep at all. All it takes to appear rational among Republican presidential aspirants is to tell the camera that Sharia law will not be applied by U.S. courts. As Chris Rock says: what do you want, a cookie?
Also, sir, the devil is in the details. At Mormon.org, this tax-exempt group articulates its core values, many of which are hard to not share: strong families across past, present and future generations, education, freedom of choice and good citizenship. Setting aside the elevation of proselytism, you have to wonder about the fine print, though — that is, how you get from the glory of the immortal spirit to Bruce McConkie and his unique brand of self-esteem, or from “unselfishness, honesty and loyalty” to a concerted effort to deny millions of people their civil rights. In the nineteenth century, it took that tribe twenty years, give or take, to go from one end of the rifle to the other. If they had an Internet, they’d have been on both ends simultaneously.
Among religions, doctrinal nuttiness only differs in the language and the iconography, which makes Romney’s private practices and rituals irrelevant. He might as well identify himself as model minority and accuse Pawlenty of exercising white privilege. But honestly, even the Mormons’ ethnic cleansing at the hands of the very gangsters who ultimately started the Civil War* matters far less than the actual executive decisions of an actual 21st-century governor. As a citizen, what moves me is the extent to which an individual adheres to or diverges from political party doctrine. Measured thusly, Romney deserves credit for drawing the ire of those who would keep everyone on the same script, and taking mavericky stances on human-generated climate change or building a functioning statewide healthcare system.
* The Wiki does an excellent job of recreating Missouri’s 1830s political climate, and provides a lesson in how to breed a generation of thugs and victims: The governor, Lilburn Boggs, “passively saw community leaders and officials sign demands for Mormon withdrawal, and next force a gunbarrel contract to abandon the county before spring planting…anti-Mormon goals were reached in a few simple stages. Executive paralysis permitted terrorism, which forced Mormons to self-defense, which was immediately labeled as an “insurrection,” and was put down by the activated militia of the county. Once Latter-day Saints were disarmed, mounted squads visited Mormon settlements with threats and enough beatings and destruction of homes to force flight.”
Tags: Lilburn Boggs · Romney · Sympathy for the Devil
