Election Thoughts ‘08

It was an interesting election night for the LDS Church. Many thought that Prop 8 in California was doomed to fail. This was considered a moral issue in which the church supported the proposal to amend the State Constitution of California to define a marriage as between a man and a woman. There is a historical irony to that.

Apparently the huge turnout among Latinos and Blacks for Barack Obama led to the passage of Prop 8. These groups are overwhelming against gay marriage. The huge Obama get-out-the-vote push killed the chance for gay marriage to become a state sanctioned institution.

The same thing happened in Florida. Prop 2 also sought to define marriage as between one man and one woman. The Obama landslide had the effect of preserving the traditional definition of marriage. History always has those unexpected twists.

Now the church is being vilified because it is okay to vilify Mormons.  They are a legitimate target on which to spew the feelings of disappointment and bitterness.  Already they are having their home addresses published on the internet - because we all need to know where the haters live.  The phone calls in the middle of the night aren't exactly kind either.  Mormons are being harassed as they enter and leave their meetinghouses.  Feces and other vile material are being smeared on LDS special edifices.  And evidently it is perfectly fine to burn a cross or spray-paint a swastika on Mormon property or the private residential property owned by Mormons. Obscenities, pushing matches, and vile abuse are being heaped upon Mormon people - the children, the elderly, and coincidently even the liberal-minded among them. 

Some are crying that the LDS need to have their tax-exempt status withdrawn; because, as you should know, morally minded people should not have the right to make morally minded judgments at the voting booth.  That's just unconstitutional.  This is a stupid argument made by angry people.  Hopefully, it is not a stupid argument being made by stupid people.  I reserve the right to give the benefit of the doubt to the angry.  But already Mormon artists and directors are being fired from longtime positions because of their religious affiliation.  And some are calling for the confiscation of mormon holdings.  It's the 1880s all over again. 

An angry protester screams at Mormons standing outside their temple in Westwood.

Well, you know how tolerant the group that screams for tolerance is towards others.  But this is not just sour grapes.  This is orchestrated.  The gullible and the radical are being recruited to make an issue out of the "Mormons" keeping them from achieving equal civil rights.  This is because you can bash and ridicule Mormons to your hearts' delight.  The government, evangelicals, any Utahan who is not a Mormon and the state of California have been doing it for 178 years.  You will recall that throughout European history the Jews were able to live among their gentile neighbors - until some local group had a cause that could score points by blaming the Jews.  Is this not the same?

So, even though, technically, it was the large voter turnout among the minorities which caused Prop 8 to pass, it's just not politically correct to attack African-Americans or Latinos.  You can't claim to be a champion of civil rights if you attack the groups historically associated with civil rights.  It's so much easier to attack Mormons.  I mean, we don't need to worry about their constitutional rights at all.

Oh, and before you start spewing "separation of church and state" crap at me, you're right!  There is a separation clause in the US Constitution.  Wait, I left off a few letters.  I meant there is a separation clause in the Constitution of the old USSR.  It doesn't exist in ours.  Go read the document for yourself.