Leaving aside the Broadway show that earned multiple Tonys by poking fun at Mitt's faith (an easy target, since no Mormon is going to, say, blow you up for your mockery), and given the fact that non-Mormons (like me) might have a hard time believing what the Book of Mormon (which I have read) says, why should anyone care that Mitt is a Mormon? Atheists and leftists believe a lot of dang-fool things that I think are utter crap, but I would never say that those beliefs should exclude them from highest office.
Let me rephrase that: there's faith that makes you a better person--kinder, more decent, more family oriented, more philanthropic--and faith that makes you act like a sanctimonious asshole. Every indication is that the Mormonism Mitt practises makes him the former, while the type of faith Barack Obama has embraced, at least during his Rev. Wright years, was far more problematic. Yet I don't hear anyone saying boo about that.
Now, if Mitt were into Scientology, then his "religion" would be of concern.
Having grown up in Osceola County, Florida (where most of the Disney World property is located, to give Canadian readers a point of reference), I had the opportunity to meet and even work with several Mormons. (I know, I know, they're supposed to be out West in Utah and points nearby, but a substantial colony of them exists in Central Florida . . . for one thing, the Mormon Church owns the Deseret Ranch, one of the largest privately owned pieces of real estate in Florida, which is partly in Osceola and partly in Volusia County).
ReplyDeleteAs does Scaramouche, I find Mormons--with whom I too disagree on many points of theology, to say the least--among the nicest, kindest, most honest, most hard-working, and generally decent human beings I have ever had the privilege to know. Suffice it to say that I would not for a moment hesitate to leave a large sum of money, in small bills, in the keeping of a Mormon about whom I only knew that he regularly practiced his religion.
Mr. Romney's active adherence to the Mormon faith is one of the best indicators of good character he could possibly bring into public life, in my humble opinion.
I think you're right, Carlos. Mormons may not manifest that Obama "cool." But, as we've seen, "cool" gets you another day older and deeper in debt while Mitt is the grown up who can figure out how to undo all the silly, stupid things the "cool" people have done.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to runinng America, I'll take the uncool (Reagan, Romney) over the cool (Clinton, Obama) without the slighest hesitation.