What’s good for Mitt is good for Mike
I’m pretty sure that the double-secret agreement I signed before becoming an online pontificator/gasbag contains a clause saying that I shall always have an opinion on every hot topic of the moment. As a result, I am now compelled to weigh in on Mitt Romney’s Mormonism.
Anybody who has ever lived out West — particularly in Utah, of course, but also in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado (check me off for all three of those), Idaho and Nevada — has known Mormons personally. They are a social force in the northern Rockies, especially in the small towns. I spent ten years living in the West, and thus came to know many Mormons. Here is what I can tell you about them (and, yeah, these are broad generalizations, but they all have the ring of truth):
(1) Mormons typically have large families of a traditional structure, meaning Dad works, Mom tends to the home fires, and Bubba and Sissy limit their adolescent rebellions to things like watching “South Park” in the basement when the ‘rents aren’t paying attention.
(2) They are active in civic affairs, and will be running the town council and school board almost before you know it.
(3) They are hardworking, thrifty and don’t see much reason why they should turn over a big chunk of their money to the government.
(4) They are publicly tolerant, but privately disdainful, of other cultures and faiths.
(5) They have a troubled history with minorities, particularly black people.
(6) They don’t believe women should have a leadership role in the church, or even within their families.
(7) They don’t drink, but they eat a lot of ice cream.
In other words, Mormons are a lot like Southern Baptists. Having grown up in the South, I can say this with a fair degree of certainty (although I’ll hedge my bet on the ice cream thing; I don’t know that Baptists, as a group, have quite the same voracious appetite for ice cream that Mormons inexplicably have). But somehow, among presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee’s life as a fervent Baptist doesn’t seem to be nearly as problematic as Romney’s life as a fervent Mormon.
I don’t mind that Romney’s faith is something that has become an issue. When you run for president, the number of things you can wall off behind the claim of “private matter” is dramatically reduced. But let’s make Huckabee’s faith an issue, too — along with the religious faith of everyone else who chooses to run for president.