Willard ‘mittens’ Romney really really really really wants to be the next President. As his wife said, “It’s Mitt’s turn.”
It may seem to some that the existence of an uber-stiff character such as Willard Romney is more the stuff of literature rather than real life. It seems to be likewise the case with the entirety of Romney’s moment; his having arrived at this juncture to represent, literally the 1%. There are a bunch of heightened contradictions in the collision of Randian one-percenters, Tea Party patriots, and, the audible gasping of the legions of rural and evangelical middle-aged male white tribesmen. Yet, Romney seems to me to be an implausible unitary figure, except here he is mantle-in-hand, and, what do I know?
As I’ve mentioned before, for me and my vote, I will likely always pull the lever on a plutocrat from the left side.
Friends have recoiled when I suggest that our next President, unfortunately, will be named Willard. (My own guess is that Eric Cantor will be the veep.) The reason for this estimate is not the mood of the country, the high unemployment rate, or, exhaustion with gridlock. It’s simply that the PAC’s aligned with Romney will spend and do whatever it takes to support the message that Barack Obama will completely destroy the country in a second term. The daffy Bro Koch plutocrats and their ilk will spend Obama’s forces into the ground.
Romeny’s campaign will pivot. This fear-oriented campaign will cost right wing donors upward of $2 billion dollars. In light of this sense of mine, that Romney will also say almost anything to win, that his mendacity is epic, and that the consequence of his election is surely to be a regional war in the mid-east, my interest in his complicated personality, fifties-style technocratic outlook, and, his ripe messianic Mormonism, wanes quite a bit. Yup, he strikes me as a very fascinating character when seen through the psychological lens–so what?
Bonus, enough Mormon doctrine to allow anybody with an interest in comparative religion to be able to recognize connective threads between statements of doctrine here with other mass varieties of traditionalist fundamentalism. Oh, you didn’t already know prayer cures sexual deviancy?
Of course, on the Mormon account, we’re all Mormons–whether or not we recognize the revealed wisdom of Smith and Angel Moroni.
The following address was given by Bishop Keith B. McMullin at the 20th annual Evergreen International Conference held in Salt Lake City, Saturday, September 18, 2010
Bishop Keith B. McMullin
Second Counselor in the Presiding BishopricThere is no more highly charged topic on the public stage today than the one dealing with same-gender attraction. Advocacy groups, politicians, and voices from the fields of law, science and religion trumpet their respective views with great fervor. The media fans each spark of controversy into hotly contested debate. Amid this contest of opinions, several things become apparent.
First, far less is known about the causes of same-gender attraction than is claimed to be known. Preliminary findings are touted as proven facts while retractions or contradicting evidence about the same issue receive little, if any, attention. The result is an abundance of untruth and distortions worthy of Isaiah’s warning:
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! . . . [Who] justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! . . . They have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel”(Isaiah 5:20–21, 23, 24; see also 2 Nephi 15:18–24).
Second, the personal well-being of those struggling with same-gender attraction often declines with each so-called public victory for same-sex attraction. Increased public acceptance of same-sex behavior inevitably leads to a diminution of personal, righteous behavior. When sophistry prevails, the strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life is obscured. Hence the Savior’s warning: “Enter ye in at the strait gate; . . .Beware of false prophets, [who] come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:13, 15; see also 3 Nephi 14:13, 15).
Third, in the chasm between man’s ways and God’s laws regarding same-gender issues, there stand earnest souls yearning for understanding and solutions to what for them is a moral conundrum. Initiatives to legitimize same-sex attraction deepen their moral conundrum. For example, the cultural adaptations to same-gender marriage will, in time, make the prospect of eternal marriage and family more difficult to attain. Wide acceptance of same-sex attraction will inevitably foster greater deviance from God’s laws. These moral disparities remind us again of the Lord’s words:
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9; see also verses 10–11).
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