The Core Values of a President Romney

And so, what might those values be? I have discussed them at some length previously, with references   (7). See also an important brief history of the Mormon Church, written by a Mormon historian and contemporary of Romney's (8), for those values are largely based in Mormonism. (One of the greatest achievements of his campaign has been to make any discussion of his religion taboo. If it weren't, he would have had a lot of explaining to do.) They would set the pattern for his Presidency. In summary they are: 1. The United States is an "exceptional nation," in the sense that it should be the unchallenged leader of the world and able to carry out international policy as it sees fit. Any military force to support that role that would be needed should be provided.  

2. Mormonism is the distinctly "American" religion, and it arose from "American exceptionalism." (It must be remembered that Romney is a Mormon Bishop, a position that he has never given up, even when he was Governor of Massachusetts. He has certainly not said that he would give it up should he become President of the United States, either.) And for Romney it is the "true" religion, in all of its detail (see the Book of Mormon, [that is the book, not the musical]).

3. The capitalist "market" is the only acceptable economic model. The only justifiable goal of the market is to produce profit for its owners/operators. As for specific policies related to his essential support for unfettered capitalist development (which interestingly enough goes against one earlier wing of Mormonism which adhered to what Gilmore, a Mormon himself, tells us has been described as "Christian Communism"), they are pretty straight-forward. Romney has made no effort to hide them. For example, in the wake of Frankenstorm Sandy, we have been reminded that he has advocated having the "private sector," rather than government at any level, but certainly not the Federal one, provide disaster aid. (Just who would pay such profit-making companies for their efforts, he didn't say.) He would use his executive power to the greatest extent possible to reduce Federal government regulation of: industrial and farm safety; the use of public lands; fossil fuels exploration and use; potential environmental degradation; and the financial markets.

4. Following the model laid down by his church's first two leaders, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, for Romney there is no such thing as separation of church and state, regardless of what the Constitution has to say on the matter. In this regard, it is important to note that whenever Romney talks about the Constitution, in which the word "God" does not appear, he always starts off with quoting the one line in the Declaration of Independence in which that word does appear, referring to "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God." For his listeners, he thus conflates the Declaration and the Constitution so as to make it appear that the God concept (which for Jefferson almost certainly connotes the Deist conception of God, not a presently active one) is indeed part of the Constitution.

5. Homophobia is imbedded in historical Mormon doctrine (8). Polygamy was originally encouraged as a way to grow the church flock as quickly as possible. Since homosexual couples don't procreate, it became unacceptable.

6. Romney's position on abortion is that life begins at the moment of conception (see his support for the so-called "human Life" amendment that was up for a vote last fall in Mississippi and most surprisingly went down to defeat there). Again, following the Mormon tradition, Gilmore (a Mormon himself, remember) tells us (8), you do what you have to do to gain a larger end. And so we have Romney's short-lived pro-choice position when he was in Massachusetts. Romney sees no contradictions here.

7. As far as Romney's attitude towards women and their place in society is concerned, once again one need only look to original Mormon doctrine. They are to be seen, not heard, and are really there to grow the Mormon population. Romney himself had at least one grandmother who was one of five wives of one of his grandfathers. Recall that the Utah Mormons gave up polygamy only because that was the only way that they could gain admission to the Union, and the benefits of rapidly expanding capitalism that would come to their state by doing so.

8.  Finally, he really doesn't think the "47%" are worth his time.  And of course, he doesn't have the foggiest notion of exactly who the "47%" are.

For anyone who truly cares about the future of this country and all of its people a Romney Presidency is going to provide a very bumpy ride.