Comments on: On Mitt http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/2011/10/23/on-mitt/ A First Things Blog Mon, 20 May 2013 23:22:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Raymond Takashi Swenson http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/2011/10/23/on-mitt/comment-page-1/#comment-15176 Raymond Takashi Swenson Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:09:19 +0000 http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/?p=4331#comment-15176 Romney is not talking about it, because so many Evangelicals are already afraid of his Mormonism, but if he were a member of any other denomination, his campaign would be promoting the fact that he devoted years of his free time to serve as an unpaid pastor to the members of his church in the Boston area, helping the poor and unemployed, many of whom were immigrants, leading hundreds of people in worship services, preaching sermons, giving intimate counsel on spiritual matters to people in emotional crisis, and getting his hands dirty in leading service projects to improve the lives of individual members of his church. I know of no comparable experience of any of the other candidates, including Obama, in selfless giving to those in need. Does Romney know what it is like to be poor and hungry? Yes, because he has visited the poor in their homes and brought them food and rent money. Will he be a good custodian of America’s civil religion? Yes, because he has conducted hundreds of worship services. He has lived the Mormon principle that no success in business is as important as a good and loving family. While he earned his wealth through a good education and hard work, he has set aside the pursuit of wealth for a decade now, putting his talents and his means at the disposal of his fellow citizens, for the Olympics, Massachusetts, and now the nation.

Romney is also disabled from explaining the source of his political convictions, because they are Mormon as well. Mormons believe in religious freedom as a literal article of faith of their religion. They believe that God took a hand in the miracle of America’s founding, and that the Constitution embodies divine principles of freedom, principles that can be applied to all societies. They believe in obedience to the law and lawful government.

Some on the left, and on the right, have attacked Romney as a takeover artist who fired people from jobs. But what he did was save companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy, and thus preserved many jobs. Besides, don’t Republicans don’t want a president who will regard the jobs of every Federal worker as sacrosanct, but rather one who is willing to downsize a bloated and costly Federal establishment.

]]> By: Jennifer http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/2011/10/23/on-mitt/comment-page-1/#comment-15145 Jennifer Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:43:13 +0000 http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/?p=4331#comment-15145 Though she’s no longer a candidate, let us not forget Sarah Palin’s great malapropism: refudiate.

]]> By: ceaser http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/2011/10/23/on-mitt/comment-page-1/#comment-15127 ceaser Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:19:00 +0000 http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/?p=4331#comment-15127 thanks carl; and if i knew who pearl jam was i could probably understand some of the inside jokes in your last posts…

]]> By: Carl Eric Scott http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/2011/10/23/on-mitt/comment-page-1/#comment-15124 Carl Eric Scott Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:16:06 +0000 http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/postmodernconservative/?p=4331#comment-15124 “It has added no luster to the history of American rhetoric that the institutionalization of presidential debates, which began in 1976, featured a matchup between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.”

You know, Jim, with wit like that, we’d love you even if you were on the other side.

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