Senator Crapo’s DUI and reflections on Mormons in politics

I see that Idaho’s Senator Mike Crapo was picked up early Sunday morning for drunken driving. Yes, Mike Crapo the Mormon high priest, former bishop, former eagle scout, etc.

As an active Mormon, I took a lot of flak both on this blog and from some friends and even family members for not supporting Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president, so I view this turn of events as a degree of vindication for what I was trying to say at the time. You can read what I wrote by following the tag: LDS and not for Romney.

Many LDS people impute righteousness to people from their church position. Some will vote for someone simply because they’re LDS. Not me. I look first for someone, be whatever religion they may, who has the courage of his or her convictions and, as a politician, is willing to stand up to the forces that are seeking to undermine our country.

As I examine the political career of Mike Crapo, I see a moderately conservative senator who likes to ride popular causes. I found a video of him hyping the fiscal cliff. And he is known as one of the “Gang of Six,” a group of three Republicans and three Democrats who pretended to be very concerned about addressing the deficit. But, as was obvious from the makeup of the group, the group couldn’t have been serious.

No, Senator Mike Crapo appears to me to be a typical ruling class Republican. To my fellow Latter-Day Saints – you won’t find your LDS hero, coming in to rescue the constitution, among this political class, regardless of their level of church activity. For your Captain Moroni conservative, look for the warriors like Senator Mike Lee, Congressman Matt Salmon, or former State Senator Russell Pearce. They are willing to ruffle feathers, and they will need to be people who buck the establishment.



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About mesasmiles

By Dr. David Hall. Dr. Hall runs The Website Factory, a digital marketing agency. He has had a long-standing interest in politics. As a college student he was Utah State Chairman for both Young Americans for Freedom and Youth for Nixon, and toyed with the idea of a political career.
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