I’m LDS and I’ve voted left, right, and Green. I believe in the center. I believe in moderation. Even in the Mormon Moment, and especially on Facebook.
James Best, poet, playwright and a good friend of mine recently referred to the act of defending someone as: “the social equiva- lent of walking away from your weird racist relative at a family reunion.” I defriended my husband during the heat of the last Presidential campaign. It was a move motivated largely
by the vitriolic political gusto with which he painted his Facebook wall. It was offensive and somewhat frightening, although, ironically, we were voting for the same candidate.
I’m sure you noticed it too, because my hus- band wasn’t the only one fueling the Facebook political inferno. By late September my impa- tience with the combatant opinions came to a head and I posted seven personal statements in retaliation to the daily ugliness in my feed:
(1) If you and I have differing political views there is no reason that either of us should
consider the other lacking in good judgment or reason. It is an opinion based on life experience and ideology. That is all.
(2) If you and I are of the same faith and we have differing political views it doesn’t mean that either of us is lacking in moral character or in righteousness.
(3) Just because one of the candidates happens to be of my faith doesn’t mean he is any less human and prone to flaws. He is not Jesus Christ. People who vote for him are not more righteous than those who won’t— especially if they are also of that faith.
(4) This election is not about who is more Christ-like. They are both politicians, for cry- ing out loud! In the end, the only Christian acts that will matter are those of each and every individual American. Regardless of whom a person votes for, regardless who is elected, personal adherence to the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are the only factors that determine a person’s progres- sion in the next life.
(5) If you are experiencing feelings of holiness
for who you are voting for, you are part of the problem.
(6) I am certain Jesus doesn’t care who you vote for as long as you love him and keep his commandments, which means loving your neighbor who’s voting for the other guy.
(7) Breathe. Whomever ends up in office, it’s still—“WE THE PEOPLE.” The President may have power, but we are the ones who do the vast majority of the work to make this country what we want it to be.
Unlike my husband and the political loudmouths on Facebook, I understood that
the need to be in the right creates psychologi- cal barriers between the ego-motivated and those who hold differing points of view. This unmitigated immersion in politics can result in a dangerous separation from one’s humanity and a stalling of the personality. I watched this happen not just on my husband’s Facebook, but to him personally. The general mood in
our home compressed into an atmosphere of chilling anger and stifling resentment toward
anyone who might contradict his political lean- ings. Most often that meant me.
Tragically, when the election ended, the domestic oppression I was living with did not. By November my husband and I had separated. Last week I filed for divorce. Obviously mar- riage is multi-faceted, and problems that dis- solve a union can’t be assigned to just one area of concern. But the divide created by frenetic political fervor is hard to ignore in this case. Andrea Radke-Moss, a professor of history at BYU-Idaho and a good friend of mine recently told me, “I consider the vitriol of political extremism akin to the power of pornography. I see it in students, family members, ward mem- bers, and all over Facebook. All it breeds is hatred, fear, conspiracy theories, and cynicism. Every single conversation turns back to the per- son’s obsession. It destroys families and friend- ships just as cruelly as any other addiction. My heart and soul are bleeding for you.”
Moderation: In short, we need to know where to draw the line.
by Bonnie Shiffler
“Now we do not care a groat [“a proverbial name for
a small sum” 1828 */_Webster’s_/*] about your political differences, but we wish to say to you, do not permit trivial matters to influence you in the least, and never, no never, no never drag Priesthood into a political Gentile warfare. Let no religious test be required, or the holy influence and power of the Priesthood be brought to bear in any political question. If the
intrinsic merits of all such matters will not furnish arguments sufficient–for all necessary purposes–then let them go, for it is better that the whole political fabric, corrupt as we know it to be, should totter and go to destruction, than for one Saint to be offended.”
Letter of First Presidency (Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Willard Richards) to Orson Hyde in original unpublished _/*Brigham Young */_[manuscript] _/*History*/_ July 20, 1849, p…
You start out by saying you believe in the center, but none of your 7 points are about being in the center. The same points apply to right, left, and green supporters. What does this have to do with being in the center?
An addiction to politics being likened to that of porn has no limits as it can present itself in any number of ways. Be it is obsession with religion, philosophy, law, etc. which are no less damaging. Reading your opinion it seems you exercise the very moral and intellectual superiority of opinion that you say your husband does. Maybe the irony of that is lost on you.