Iowa, Beck, Palin, Pawlenty – And The Courts!
As we have concentrated for the last several days on our redesign, the proverbial “stack ‘o stuff” has gotten very deep indeed. So here it is…
Iowa Fading…
The Des Moines Register‘s “Iowa Politics Insider” blog:
The relative quiet now could signal a fateful shift for Iowa: Republicans less identified with the right wing of the party might think they can win the nomination without betting it all on the Iowa caucuses.
“Given the changing nature of the caucus electorate and the ongoing increase in the proportion of Christian conservatives in that electorate, some candidates will be looking to downplay Iowa,” said David Kochel, a Des Moines Republican and Romney’s senior Iowa consultant for the 2008 caucuses.
“We used to be able to argue that such a strategy never worked, but clearly it now has.”
We have been saying for a very long time now that identity politics is a means of creating political ghettos and it appears that the venerable Iowa caucus’ may be finding themselves the most prominent resident of the Evangelical ghetto. Are we watching a grand political tradition fade before our eyes? I would tend to think we are.
Some People Don’t Want To “Live” In A Ghetto…
. . . so we will see increasing signs that “the religious vote” is not nearly so monolithic (or perhaps as important) as people have represented it to be. Some examples:
- AOL News (HT: Kruse Kronicle)
- A “faith-based” climate bill?!
- And note how these arguments went down in front of The Supremes.
Glenn Beck, his faith, and Romney surrogacy . . .
Last week we looked at a piece in the Boston Phoenix that attacked Glenn Beck on the basis of his Mormon faith, but did not hesitate to draw a connection to Mitt Romney. Well, Religion Dispatches brings us another along the very same lines. (HT: GetReligion) This one is more subtle in making the Romney connection, but it’s there. This one also tries to make the case that Beck is “mainstreaming” his Mormon faith which shoud help Romney. But, when it contains phrases like this:
Such demonstrative excesses are socialized out of most Mormon men during a regimented process of masculine formation that begins with entry into the lowest ranks of Mormonism’s lay priesthood at age 12, intensifies during compulsory missionary service from age 19 through 21, and continues throughout a lifetime of service within hierarchical priesthood quorum
which cannot be designed to do anything but appeal to those that would label the LDS faith as “cultic,” one has to wonder how much help this article could really be.
The key problem is anyone of the same faith being a surrogate for anyone else. I don’t know a church anywhere where everybody believes exactly the same thing or everybody is like everybody else – well, except in an actual cult. And that is the problem with this spate of articles they are based on thinking of Mormonism in a cultic fashion. But then, the Romans thought of orthodox Christians that way as well.
And this blog post that attempts to define the Republican party as the “party of Mormon” completely ignores things like the constitution and the electoral college, and even basic demographics.
Palin Fading…
McCain admits to problems surrounding her in his campaign and leftie David Corn is wondering if she is serious. This keeps up and we are going to have to change are beautiful new banner (thanks Dale!) before it evens gets warmed up!
Meanwhile, in Minnestoa…
Pawlenty is grabbing some good names from the McCain campaign. No surprise there – he was a McCain backer from very early last time. Oh yeah, and he is courting the Jewish vote. Just an aside here – when many of the same people that decry Mormonism as a cult decry Jews as “Christ killers” how come this will not hurt Pawlenty? That’s the thing about blind bigotry – it’s not rational.
And Then, About The Huckster…
Somebody thinks it’s his time. Have to disagree with that, but have to enjoy the responses he drew, some of which banged on Huckabee for his threological leanings. “Irony” is the operative word here, I believe.
And Finally…
Prop 8 will be back in court soon.
Lowell adds:
When those who are not Mormons try to write about what Mormons’ faith means to Mormons , or how Mormon culture affects Mormons, I am always left asking myself:” “What kind of hubris drives such writing and thinking?” The idea of my writing the same way about Presbyterians or Catholics or Jews seems bizarre to me. But maybe that’s just me. Anyway, the Religion Dispatches piece John quotes above shares information that is news to me. “[D]emonstrative excesses are socialized out of most Mormon men . . . .” Really? We need to do a better job of that, I think; if what we see at football games is any indication, quite a few Mormon men still need to have their “demonstrative excesses” removed.
Posted in Reading List | 1 Comment » | 
Print this post
| 
Email This Post
coltakashi on 13 Oct 2009 at 12:43 pm #
The comment about habituating Mormon males to avoid “demonstrative excesses” is pretty strange. I can’t think of anything in the lessons I was taught or have taught others that was aimed at admonishing people about “demonstrative excesses”. In fact, you could argue that the Church’s training program for men encourages them to be more expressive of their feelings.
Parallel to the religious training on Sundays for young men in the 12-13, 14-15, and 16-18 age brackets, they are encouraged to participate in the Boy Scouts programs for those age groups. Anyone who has been to Scout meetings knows they often involve loud songs, cheers and skits. At my church meeting last Sunday, a couple of young men were asked to report on their overnight camp that week, and their descriptions focused on the discovery of various dead animals of various degrees of “grossness”.
During missionary service (usually ages 19-21), young men are encouraged to be much more open and expressive in their speech and actions than their peers tend to be, so they can contact as many people as possible with their message. They are taught that the most effective method of teaching a sincere inquirer is to bear testimony, from their hearts, of their own faith in and love for Christ. They are taught to cultivate selfless love for the people they live among and teach, and engage in service, such as aiding the sick or persons harmed by natural disasters.
In their lives as adult members of the “elders” and the older “high priests” quorums, hierarchy hardly enters into what they do each Sunday. Instead, volunteers are organized to perform service for individuals and families, such as helping people move into or out of homes within the congregation’s geographic boundaries, or working on a church-sponsored farm that produces food for the poor. Assignments as leaders and teachers of these groups are usually rotated every couple of years, so many members of the group have opportunities for leadership roles. In the lessons they teach each other and discuss each Sunday, they are taught to express their love for their wives and children, and for their neighbors, both in and outside the LDS Church. Some of them will be called to teach children and teenagers.
The result is that Mormon men do not become “regimented” but rather develop the capacity to be leaders and teachers among their peers. As Mormon congregations grow, they reach the point where they will be split in two, and from among all the members of the two congregations, all of the positions for leaders and teachers, including the new bishops of the two wards, will be filled by unpaid members accepting callings they did not seek but will generally accept. While the larger ecclesiastical structure is hierarchical, the people who fill the positions of leadership are, to a great extent, interchangeable with other members of their congregation and region. You can go from being a bishop one week to teaching 4-year-olds in Primary the next, and vice versa.
All of that on-the-job training and experience encourages Mormon men to be more “demonstrative” than the average male in communicating their love and concern to others. Indeed, accoring to Glenn Beck, he found the expressions of love and caring unusual and suspect because he was not used to men saying such things and meaning them. It was only when he realized they were sincere that he let down his barriers and began to seriously consider joining them.
When Beck lets a tear roll down his cheek as he is overcome by feelings of gratitude to God, he is doing what his fellow Mormon men do when they speak in Church about their love for their families and for God. Is such “demonstration” of emotions “excessive”? Not among the Mormons.