I was sad to see the defeat of Russell Pearce in his bid to get back into the Arizona State Senate, losing his primary election to Republican businessman Bob Worsley, 56% to 44%.<\/p>\n
Some very good people voted against him. I heard that one of them had the perception that Pearce was rude. I reflected on that a lot. Rudeness vs politeness – that’s not even on my list of characteristics on which I base my voting decisions.<\/p>\n
I imagine, though, that politeness in a political candidate is important to a lot of my fellow Mormons, and that may be at the heart of the frustration I feel from so many LDS people and their political views. They want someone who will reach across the aisle, get along with others, and, yes, be polite. Our leaders should be<\/em> polite, of course. My fellow Mormons do have a point. Maybe it should be more important to me.<\/p>\n My view, however, is that we’re in an ideological war. I wrote in an earlier post about the Captain Moroni conservative<\/a> – the kind of conservative who wants to take it directly to the enemy, resist, stand up and fight, tear off his coat, write on it, and wave it on a pole. Captain Moroni was a hero. He was blunt and forceful. I don’t spend much time thinking about whether or not he was polite.<\/p>\n