Help! I Just Agreed With Mitt Romney!
Submitted by phoenixdem on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 3:27pm
So, I'm cruising the blogosphere today, and I stop by RedState, just to check out what the wingers are up to. And I run across this post, which fascinated me.
It's a 20-minute clip of an Iowa radio interview with Mitt Romney. Now, the first half is pretty funny, because the host is totally nuts and somewhere to the right of Tom Tancredo. His theories on jurisprudence are fascinating, to say the least. Then, he starts to basically accuse Romney of being a bad Mormon, which is awkward. But the real fun begins at about the 10-minute mark, when the show cuts to commercial.
The host continues his point, and Romney argues back that the guy doesn't know anything about the LDS. It gets kind of heated, and turns into a pretty interesting discussion on the role of private faith in the public square, especially on issues like reproductive freedom.
Now, I disagree 100% with Romney on every issue imaginable. The fact that he prides himself on being "against choice" seals it for me - I'm pro-choice without exception. I wouldn't vote for him if I were his running mate. And, I think his flip on abortion is disingenuous at best. But, as a person of faith who is very active in the political sphere, I found myself agreeing with him here. Any thoughts?
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Mitt gives me the creeps
I don't put much stock in any one's religious beliefs because, in my opinion, all myths pretty much stand on equal footing. The LDS stories are no more or less sane than any other stories, though they are a bit more entertaining.
It's Romney's convenient conversion to being an anti-choice extremist that is the most unsettling to me. It shows he's just another rich, white opportunist who will do and say whatever he must to curry favor with the lunatic fringe.
I guess more to the point, I don't want any elected official who defends his or her actions based on the statement "God told me to do X or Y." Walter Jones in Jacksonville is famous for that kind of crap and it has no place in government as far as I'm concerned. Because when one person's God disagrees with another person's God, you eventually end up with "might makes right" - which I suspect no one's God would likely approve of.
You know what gives me the creeps about Mitt?
This.
I hear you
Yeah, I would love for the GOP to nominate the Romulan, because he's so wishy-washy. He's held every conceivable position on every conceivable issue - the man's trained to tell people what they want to hear.
What I found admirable about Romney's response here is that he's refusing to translate his church doctrine into policy proposals. Instead, he's making the argument that public policy ought to be based on other grounds. Now, he still reaches the wrong conclusions - way wrong - but I agree with him that people of faith cannot legislate their dogma.
Outside of a religious or family setting,
those individuals who are in a position of responsibility/leadership/authority need to keep their spiritual beliefs to themselves. This includes teachers, doctors, work supervisors, and a myriad of other occupations. Why? Because it can create a false image of competence in the eyes of the faithful, and it can exert undue pressure on subordinates to not appear immoral for fear of losing respect.
For lawmakers it's even more important, because they are not only responsible for being "stewards" of our tax dollars, we also have granted them the trust to regulate our freedoms as well. By publicly declaring their religious beliefs, they earn (by default) the trust of a large percentage of the population, regardless of whatever other traits they bring to the table.
God may judge us by our faithfulness, but down here the people should judge us by our acts.
One quibble
I think it's appropriate for public officials to "publicly declare" their religious beliefs. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards have all done this. Bill Clinton did it, JFK did it, Lincoln did it. It's okay for someone to say "I'm a Methodist/Catholic/Sikh, etc. and that shapes my values in X, Y, and Z ways." I think that's part of getting to know the values of candidates.
What's not okay is for a candidate to say, "I would vote against that bill because my deity's not cool with it." You have to justify your policy positions based on secular reasoning, something that your constituents can rationally agree or disagree with.
I also think, though, that we've done a poor job of ensuring a safe public space for people who aren't religious. A public official can't really say, "Yeah, I don't really go in for that stuff, but I still have the following principles...". I think more religious public figures need to stick up for atheists and agnostics, as well as those who simply don't want to talk about their faith to the entire world.
Aetheists
Still the ones
Hi Anglico...I read the article....
I do not agree with the writers assertion that Aetheist are such a victimized group....but I am not very well read on articles and research specifically about Aetheist in society.
I am a Christian. I have been a Christian since 1972 when I was nineteen years old. I do not jest here.
I have never met an Aetheist I didn't like , or with whom I could not be friends. But maybe that is just me.
I think he overstates some points
and understates others.
My guess is that discrimination against aetheists doesn't generally rise to the level of victimization. But imagine running for office as an avowed aetheist . . . it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
Mitt backs away from Tancredo Big Love support?
because the host is totally nuts and somewhere to the right of Tom Tancredo. *pd
Anybody to the right of "Pedo"Tancredo still believes that we should have dropped 26 atomic bombs on Japan before accepting their surrender terms. As to Mitt Romney, you should have seen him twist 180 degrees when Ron Paul told him to chill out today about his myth that the Republican party was winning the war in Iraq with the American people still supporting them.
As someone supporting Bill Henrickson for President
I find comparing Mitt to FLDS Mormons offensive. Besides, Rudy's the one with three wives ...
1 Thessalonians 5:21: But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.