This column serves up fish caught by casting our hook into the waters of recent correspondence—fish that we think will be good for you, either for information or for provocation to think about something new, or about something old but from a different perspective.I've just read Stephen Moss's article ("London 2012: Andy Murray holds his nerve to win gold against Roger Federer") in The Guardian on the British patriotic euphoria after Andy Murray's victory over Roger Federer at the London Olympics on Monday.
I saw the last long set of this match of about four and a half hours on TV and heard the frenetic cheers of the Brits who have not had an Olympics tennis gold medal since 1908!
The audience was appropriately described as in a state of bliss (see beginning of Moss's seventh paragraph: "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,..."). Moss was obviously aware of Wordsworth's poem on the French Revolution and its immemorial lines:
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,—lines that evoke more emotion than the complete Star Spangled Banner.
But to be young was very heaven!—Oh!
But immediately Moss makes an ironic turn in the second line. It was not the audience's bliss, but that of the umbrella sellers!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be a union jack umbrella seller was very heaven. It bucketed down all morning at Wimbledon. during these rainy days.Great sports writing!
Eight years of GOP mismanagement handed President Obama a bucket of you know what to clean up instead of a properly governed nation. The GOP has opposed Social Security from the start. They have spent the last 70 or so years trying to cripple or destroy it. Remember when Bush II tried to privatize it?
And the objective of the GOP since the 2008 election has not been to help. Their only objective has been to regain power so they can continue to plunder the country. To accomplish this they have chosen as their presidential candidate a corporate raider well-suited for their job. The man spends half his time blundering and the other half trying to lie his way out of his blunders. He is a perfect example of someone we do not want to be in charge of our nuclear arsenal. No doubt the evangelicals wouldn't vote for an atheist, and we hope that they won't vote either for a man whose religious beliefs many of them don't consider to be Christian.
The Democrats are not perfect, but they have a much better vision of what our society should be than the GOP does.
Mitt Romney's being a Mormon (that is, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) suggests that he is too out of touch with reality to serve as president of the United States. Here are some things that Mormons (and presumably Romney) believe:
- Angels appeared to Joseph Smith [the huckster who concocted the Mormon religion] and bestowed priestly authority on him.
- The Garden of Eden was located in present-day Jackson County, Missouri.
- Jesus visited America after his resurrection.
- The New Jerusalem will be built in America.
- Black women may not serve as priests. [The black part was rescinded in 1978, but the women part remains.]
- No alcohol or caffeine or nicotine is to be injested. [But ritalin, which is related to methamphetamine, is okay.]
- Baptism is essential for salvation and may be performed by proxy; that is, a living person may be baptized on behalf of a deceased person [which is the reason Mormons make an elaborate to-do about genealogical records].
- In order to make it to the highest kingdom of heaven, you must pay a full and honest tithe [one-tenth of your annual earnings].
- Multiple Gods exist, each with his own universe. We are subject only to our God, and if we obtain the highest level of heaven we can become gods ourselves.
- Does Mormon morality condone sending American jobs overseas?
- Does it condone hoarding your millions in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands?
- Condone avoiding or minimizing paying income taxes?
- Bullying a gay student and cutting his hair while your "prankish" buddies hold him down?
- Strapping your dog on the roof of your car to make room inside for your vacation stuff?
And Moristotle, if any of your readers are considering becoming a Mormon, they might first do some investigation.
I yield to no one in my abhorrence of Romney, but I'd prefer to leave his Mormonism aside in looking at his disqualifications. I think Judaism and Christianity can match Mormonism whopper for whopper. It's just that Judeo-Christian hooey is older and more familiar.
ReplyDeleteI don't find all the acts in the "immorality" list to be immoral. Those that are immoral are committed by hypocrites of every creed. Mormon virtue is not a helpful context for judging them.
In the current presidential campaign, I think we can leave Judaism aside altogether, since no one Jewish will be on the ballot. And I'm not sure how particularly believing a Christian Obama is, come to that.
DeleteThe saintly latter-day candidate's hoarding his millions off-shore may not be particularly immoral, but it sure seems to go against the grain of a religion that places Eden in Missouri and the New Jerusalem somewhere nearby.
Let's leave Mormonism aside only if we can satisfy ourselves that Romney as little believes its tenets as Obama believes, say, that someone can use magic to turn water into wine.
Isn't trying to leave Romney's Mormonism aside sort of like a swimmer trying to ignore the teeth in the shark attached to their leg? While I will fully agree Judaism and Christianity can match Mormonism whopper for whopper, I have to wonder, with some great concern, what Romney's religious choice says about the essence of the man.
ReplyDeleteMoto, I believe that anyone in politics today is routinely a liar, an opportunist, and a scoundrel. There are differences in degree, and on that I base my vote. They all belong to the same church, the Church of Ego and Power. Any derogation of a candidate's religion, in my view, is irrelevant and inevitably casts suspicion on the open-mindedness of the critic.
ReplyDeleteKen, are you saying that a person's religion is irrelevant to that person and unlikely to make any difference in what the person does?
DeleteOr are you saying that any presidential candidate's "religion of ego and power" vastly overshadows his (or her) theism or deism or polytheism or whatever and renders it insignificant (and therefore irrelevant in that sense)?
Pretty much the latter, Morris. Romney is nominally a Mormon; Obama is nominally a Christian. Their church membership is a sine qua non for political viability and nothing beyond that. The drivers of their behavior lie elsewhere.
DeleteThere is the rare candidate — think "Pat Robertson" — who is ardently religious. He never misses an opportunity to put his religious passion on display. This is the person who under no circumstances should be considered for public office.
Thanks, Ken. I think you're right. I believe that the "Romney is a Mormon" fish of yesterday was written in the spirit of an appeal to potential voters who don't or can't make the distinction we make, in the spirit of "if those voters can be dissuaded from voting for Romney by reminding them that he is a Mormon, then all's fair in the national pastime we know unaffectionately as politics."
DeleteKen, interesting point you raise about Pat Robertson, but I'm not sure I follow the logic. A person who is ardently religious "under no circumstances should be considered for public office" but people who are nominally religious for the purpose of public image are acceptable for office? Is that your point?
ReplyDeleteOoh, Ken, Motomynd's sly question makes me feel a little unsure whether I might have been too quick to say that I thought you were right. At least he was kind enough to address you and ignore me. I sure hope you come up with an ironclad response, for my sake as well as yours. Our reputations may be at stake!
ReplyDeleteOr...perhaps I could just change sides now?
No, too risky; I've seen you come back before....
But then, so have I seen Motomynd come back.
Shit, I think I've hoisted myself on my own petard.
Or was it yours?
Yes, Moto, people who are nominally religious can be considered for public office. Otherwise, we'd have to say that any evidence of hypocrisy should be a disqualification. Do you really want to set the bar that high? That kind of standard is found only in fairy tales.
ReplyDelete