One True Political Party

[wired]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/69135/

Great job on the responses. I thought I would point out that Conner Boyack claims to be libertarian, but everything he has published tends toward a typical social conservative stance rather than classic liberalism. And for the record, I hate his dogmatic approach to politics. Guh

[bobtheenchantedone]

I appreciated the responses as well, especially Rating Pending. The ward I attend recently did an activity that had us focusing on the stripling warriors story, and what I got out of the story was basically everything that that blog post said. (Also I'm pretty sure that's not what I was "supposed" to get out of it...)

Also, since I literally cannot have a political discussion with most of my relatives without them getting angry and doubting how good of a person I am, it's nice to be reminded that the Church is politically neutral and that there is nothing wrong with me being a liberal Democrat. On a related note, Marduk is never allowed to go to work when I'm having a family reunion ever again. He's much more comfortable with lots of people yelling at him.

[Craig Jessop]

Eh... I just avoid politics as a conversation piece in general. When I'm with my conservative friends, I get frustrated at how smug and narrow minded they are. When I'm with my liberal friends, I also get frustrated at how smug and narrow minded they are. I wish that sometimes people would realize that parroting the same talking points over and over again really doesn't make them look smart or erudite at all!

[Marduk]

While I agree that there is no one answer to this question, I still think that if more Mormons would carefully analyze their religion and how it aligns with their political beliefs, the Mormon political landscape would look very different.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Craig, that is why you should have political discussions with me and Marduk. Politics is fascinating when the people involved are actually informed and willing to listen and debate calmly, or at least I think so.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

I personally can see why Mormonism seems to breed Republicanism. Nevertheless, simultaneously, I think that by no means are the two (Mormons and democrats) not compatible.

[yayfulness]

I tend to distrust the political views of anybody whose opinions align perfectly with any party's platform.

[krebscout]

I tend to distrust the political views of anybody whose opinions align perfectly with any party's platform.

Interesting. And I think I agree.

[UnluckyStuntman]

Can the Church still claim political neutrality after getting involved with Prop 8 in California?

[UnluckyStuntman]

Never mind, I think I just answered my own question with this quote from the site yayfulness linked to:

The Church does: ... Reserve the right as an institution to address, in a nonpartisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church.

I don't agree with the reasoning, but I remember lots of church members saying that their involvement with Prop 8 was morally motivated, not politically.

[Portia]

I tend to distrust the political views of anybody whose opinions align perfectly with any party's platform.

I took the I Side With quiz and was much more closely affiliated with the Democratic party (87%, I think) than with Obama (71%; a C-minus is good enough to get my vote, considering Romney got 33%). My grandma got a whopping 98% for Romney! O_O

[bobtheenchantedone]

Can the Church still claim political neutrality after getting involved with Prop 8 in California?

You should ask Marduk about this (or, alternatively, he should answer this question when he gets home from class). According to him, the Church was a lot less involved in Prop 8 than most people think it was.

[Unit of Energy]

I was actually in Utah for Prop 8, but I am old enough to remember Prop 22. I remember the great care that was taken to keep the political work separate from the church. There was a lot of organization, but we were not allowed to use church lists, buildings, or resources to campaign at all