It's OK to Vote for a Mormon POTUS

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), I am free to vote my conscience. The Church goes to extreme lengths not to dictate to its members what their political choices should be. It might stem back to our early days as settlers in the slave state of Missouri.

Governor Lilburn W. Boggs

As abolitionists, the Mormons voting in a bloc represented a threat to the political status quo and our ancestors were driven from that state under an extermination signed by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, essentially giving his citizens the green light to shoot Mormons on sight. Mormons have a special kinship with minority populations wherever we find them, which might help explain our affinity for the Jews and their plight in modern Israel today. The Jewish people will not find a more committed and devoted friend than President Mitt Romney.

In more practical modern terms, I suppose the reason the Church doesn't tell its members how to vote is that it just doesn't want to put their tax-exempt status in jeopardy.

I overheard a conversation yesterday that continues to gnaw away at me this morning, hence this post.

The two were discussing whether or not they would even vote in this election, because in their minds the choice between "the Muslim" and "the Mormon" was not one they even cared to make. There were a few comments about "the lesser of two evils." Each had discussed it with their respective pastors and each seemed to still be conflicted.

So in the spirit of trying to help my two Christian friends who don't know me from a jar of Vicks, I offer the following insights.

It is my considered judgment that America needs a Mormon president now more than ever before. I have debunked the White Horse Prophecy before on these pages. I have no illusions about a Mormon elder riding into the fray on his White Horse to rescue the U.S. Constitution. The very thought is repugnant to me, as if somehow the Mormons would even want to assert such a claim. The leadership of the Church constantly renounces those who promote the idea. And by the way, the quote often attributed to Joseph Smith that "the Constitution would someday hang by a thread" and need rescuing by a Mormon POTUS, is nothing more than a faith promoting rumor and simply isn't true.

Mitt Romney

So why would Americans act now and why would a majority of Americans now be poised to vote for a Mormon POTUS for the very first time in American history?

This may seem at first combative and somewhat repulsive, but I'll offer it anyway. In recent years, America has been failed by its population of Christians, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, evangelical or otherwise. Failed? How? As an "American Christian Church" - the national body of believers - our society has failed to do what the Mormon Church has succeeded in doing - standing up for marriage between a man and woman, encouraging their members to solidify their families through selfless service to others, requiring a commitment to support and sustain one another, especially for those less fortunate regardless of their circumstances whether here in America or abroad. Mormons oppose abortion. Mormon philanthropic outreach activity is second to none. There is a deep-seeded demonstration of commitment among Mormons to values and practices that might even be called old-fashioned or out-of-date. Sexual purity, abstinence from alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco and illegal drugs, a reach higher for that which is "lovely, praiseworthy and of good report" are other indicators. For the most part Mormons are decent, law-abiding, Constitution-loving people. The Mormons routinely excommunicate members who do not contribute to the society of believers. We hold people accountable.

Think how few churches, by contrast, require accountability from their members. Nominal membership is acceptable. Studying and applying the scriptural truths Christ taught are sometimes viewed as arcane and passe efforts, but among Mormons gospel scholarship and subsequent action taking are prized qualities. We're a church of good works, not just lip-confessing Christians. Occasional attendance on holidays is about all that is required by most churches, in contrast. Mormons of all ages routinely leave home at their own expense for extended periods to give service and spread the gospel throughout the world. That's commitment.

America is about to step over the thresh hold into a new era of re-awakening, revival or restoration - call it what you will, it's coming in about a week. We have flirted with the embodiment of progressive socialism, and we have witnessed its devastating effects on our national psyche. We have been laden with debt and very little to show for it, except perhaps the most expensive entitlement program, Obamacare, in the history of our Republic. Our national economic engine has all but been on life support for four years because of the damaging policies of this administration.

Let me pose this question to you: If you knew nothing about churches, religious practice or anything akin to it - if Muslims or Mormons or Catholics or Protestants meant absolutely nothing to you and there were no distinctions in your mind, what could you observe in the fruits - just the fruits - of those you knew nothing about? What would you look for to give you evidence of the sincerity of their beliefs? What would it be? What fruits would you look for professionally, politically and civilly? What have you observed globally in the Mormon community? Anything leap out at you worthy of emulation?

I submit to you that deeply stamped into the DNA of Mitt Romney is the decency and caring his Mormon roots would suggest he possesses. He is a trustworthy vessel who can lead America through this new awakening that is about to spread from sea to shining sea on election night.

This year, as perhaps never before in our history, it's okay to vote for a Mormon POTUS! And for reasons totally unrelated to religion, Ann Coulter agrees.

She concludes, in part:

Romney is the Red Adair of his profession. He's like a doctor who specializes in multiple gunshot wounds or an oncologist who takes only Stage 4 cancer patients. Yes, there were layoffs, but also lots and lots of jobs, profit, success, efficiency, saved businesses and saved lives.
Romney will be the most accomplished incoming president since Dwight Eisenhower.
Not only has Romney promised to issue a 50-state waiver from Obamacare on his first day in office and then seek a formal repeal and replacement, but he'll know how to do it. The savior of dying companies will fix health care in this country so that no Democrat will be able to wreck it again.
The only way to rid ourselves of this national poison pill, set to destroy both health care and the nation at large, is to elect Mitt Romney our next president.