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Why Mormons Are Voting Romney (...and it's not because Mitt's a Mormon)

2012-10-26 by Michael J. Snider

A friend of mine thought Mormons would vote for Mitt because he's a Mormon. I told him that's not how we vote, offering the following as proof:
If fellow Mormon Harry Reid ran for president you could water board latter-day saints in downtown Salt Lake City using Jack Daniels instead of water and we would not vote for him.

You could:
- Confiscate Mormon's food storage & mini-vans
- Ban the wearing of white shirts & ties in public
- Make public school beer-bonging mandatory
...and Mormons would still refuse to vote for Reid.

He laughed, but wasn't necessarily convinced.

My friend and I have enjoyed a close an honest relationship for many years. (FYI, he is not LDS) We were discussing politics and he told me he thought that most Mormons were voting Romney because he's a Mormon, and that he had friends who felt the same way. I went away wondering if this was widely held opinion and found that many church friends had heard the same opinion from their non-Mormon friends.

After some pondering on the subject, the next time I saw my friend I asked him:
"Do you think your Baptist friends who voted for Bill Clinton, voted for him because he's a Baptist?"
"No" - he replied.
"How about George W. Bush? He's a Baptist too"
"Nope"
I asked him the same question about his Episcopalian friends who supported McCain, or Catholics who voted for John Kerry and got the same reply.

He saw where I was going with my questions and said:
"I guess that doesn't really seem fair. I think the reason may be that we don't really know Mormons politically because you guys don't get lumped in with the other Christian denominations."
"Fair enough" I replied.
He asked for some basics so he could get to know us Mormons politically. After I told him what's in the upcoming paragraphs he changed his opinion.

Latter-day Saints are taught that the U.S. Constitution is a divinely inspired document, cited specifically in our latter-day scriptural canon:
"And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."
We are also instructed that the U.S. Constitution: "...should be maintained for the rights and protection of all."

This foundational belief in the divine inspiration involved in the coming forth of the U.S. Constitution as a political charter, combined with our church's position on social issues such as abortion, lead most Mormons to espouse constitutionally conservative politics. We are urged by our leaders to educate ourselves on the issues, to vote, and be politically active, but are NEVER told to vote for specific candidates, parties, or platforms.

Even so, the Republican presidential-race Mormon voting majority did not appear until 50 or 60 years ago. It was the result of a period between the late 1930's to the late 1960's when church leaders increasingly spoke out on political themes during General Conference, (a biannual conference where latter-day prophets and apostles share their witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, preach Christian principles and clarify church policy and doctrine.) Mormon leaders talked about the spiritual threats posed by the federal government's many changes unconstitutional growth that started during the 1930's. (It bears repeating that the focus of their remarks was always on the legislation, issues, and policies themselves, not parties or candidates.) They discussed how the radical changes and welfare-state policies were endangering our moral character as a people, restricting our religious freedoms and weakening the traditional family.

Church authorities also spoke out against undemocratic political ideologies and systems that oppressed their citizens' human rights - especially freedom of religion. In a 1955 General Conference session, the President and prophet of the church at that time, David O. McKay, said: "Communism is anti-Christ."

This sea change produced a Mormon membership that gravitated to the republican party and then picked up speed as the democratic party moved further and further left. Those not convinced can look up how often a democrat presidential candidate has won Utah or Idaho in the last 50-60 years. Those states are of course not populated only by Mormons, but they certainly wield the numbers to decide elections.

Ergo, Mormons haven't altered their politics or voting habits because Romney's a Mormon, but because he won the Republican party's presidential nomination. We do recognize though that his candidacy impacts our primary purpose which is much more important to us than politics:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's main mission is bringing souls to Christ - period.

One of the biggest impediments to that mission has been the perception that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not part of the mainstream Christian community, or that it's a cult, etc. While it is true that we have some very different doctrinal beliefs from other Christian religions, we would point out that those differences are no more relevant than, say, the doctrinal differences between Catholics and Evangelicals. For example, Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary. No Evangelical, (or Mormon for that matter), would ever call that a Christian doctrine, but it doesn't divide Catholics and Evangelicals politically.

I would say then that most Mormons view Mitt's candidacy as a two-fer:
- It's a political benefit because Romney's from the party most of us already vote for.
- More importantly, it's a spiritual benefit, drawing attention away from the misconceptions about our church and focusing it on us as a people.

Some may argue that spiritual benefit is so great that it would induce Mormons to vote for Romney because of his religion. I would reply that we do not sacrifice principles for publicity and use the Harry Reid example as rock-solid proof. I used a bit of humor at the beginning of this column, but it is no joke, (and widely known amongst us), that most Mormons would never vote for Harry Reid because he does not represent us. He is pro-life, but co-sponsors legislation to fund abortion. He has stated publicly that he favors same sex marriage. Mormons are known patriots, many of whom were disgusted when Reid told America "This war is lost" while our military was in the field fighting.

Mitt Romney stands in stark contrast to Harry Reid.

The manner in which Mitt has conducted his political, business, and personal life is something we are proud to have people focus on. Our detractors talk about us, but at the end of the day it's just talk. Actions and behavior are what shine through and make people sit up and take notice. This increased focus on Latter-day Saints as a people breaks through to make a spiritual connection with good people everywhere, especially Bible adherents familiar with Christ's instruction in the Sermon on the Mount regarding how to identify His true disciples:
"...by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20)

PLEASE do not take that last paragraph to mean that I, or any other Mormon, believes that we have a monopoly on the good works and spiritual character that come from living Christ's teachings - that is not the case.

What I am saying is that Mormons' most important priorities are loving God by proclaiming and living Christ's teachings in every aspect of our lives.

Mormons are voting for Mitt Romney, not because of his religion, but because of ours.

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