Real Talk (What You Don't Have "Faith" To Engage In)

So, if there's one thing my interactions on the subject of Mormons has led me to conclude it's this:

I respect them more than others.

How can that be you ask, when I lay into them, and their beliefs, with such relish? Because, unlike others I talk to, who insist Mormons are oh so nice, good, salt-of-the-Earth wholesome, or this lie or that one, I see them as human beings, with all that implies.

It's funny to see religious types, who normally would claim "we're all sinners," all of a sudden imagine to have found someone who doesn't fit that description, merely because they need a champion to beat Barack Obama.

I live in Utah and it takes only a quick glance around to discover Mormons lie, cheat, steal, murder, and a host of other activities, just like anyone else who doesn't give much thought to these things, so where's the special agency the rest of you are laying down as their calling card?

It's an insult - to them - this image that they and other Romney supporters are currently trying to insist on. I know if it was me, I wouldn't want to be reduced to a cardboard cut-out, all smiling and popcorn-on-a-string. Who wants to live up to that?

The Mormons I've known can be complete bastards, as unethical as people in any other group - or even worse - because they try to fit their bad behavior into a crazy moral framework that can sink whatever they've done to the level of evil. There's not one non-Mormon that I know who doesn't have the number of the local bishop on hand, just for the purpose of reporting a member of their cult that gets out of line,...and they will get out of line.

I ask you, what happened to Mitt Romney the flip-flopper, the man who can't be trusted, the un-conservative, and the cypher? Why he's been replaced with a life-like Ken doll who can do no wrong in many people's minds (and only there) while I still see the extremely-flawed man in a cult I can't vote for. What others are insisting on, now, is that I accept the delusion they're feeding themselves as my own, but - when it comes to the apparently-addictive Mormon practice of self-deception - all I can say in return is "that's not the way I roll."

I know, as an atheist, it's a common theme for believers to suggest I have no ethics or morality, but what does it say about them that they will tell outrageous whoppers purely for the opportunity to win an election? What does it say about them to suggest Mormons aren't human like the rest of us, so aren't lying when they find it convenient, as so many other believers do? (The term "situational ethics" was practically invented for believers, most notably those who party on Saturday and go to church on Sunday.) You can't fool me. I live with these people.

I don't attack Mormon "beliefs" as nutty to be mean, or even to hurt Mitt Romney's chances, but because Mormon beliefs are nutty and any objective appraisal of them will find the same thing. Anyone who says different is a liar, pure and simple.

The same goes for Joseph Smith - he was a convicted con man and seducer of women. There was nothing divine, or even "spiritual" about him. He merely found a bunch of dupes and duped them,…really, really well. Don't like it? That's a Y-P (Your Problem). I, on the other hand, have absolutely no issues with facing that truth. If we can handle seeing the real face of John Edwards, I think we'll survive this as well.

And that's my point. By trying to lie, to hide, to continually gild the lilly, or sweeten sugar, all you're doing is turning life into something less than worth living. I think it was the suicide of Tony Scott that got me thinking in this direction, but it seems pretty clear now, that the vast majority of suicides I hear about aren't the result of any lie about a desire to die, but a refusal to live any longer in a world without even the compassion to tell the truth. Sorry all you political junkies, but "spin" won't get you out of this one. If anything, I'd say it's the cause:

You just refuse to sell ANYTHING straight.

As I've been saying from Day One, you keep up this charade you've built up around Mitt Romney and the Mormons and - just like with Barack Obama - you're bound to be disappointed. He's no Bain Capital financial wizard, but a Mormon cultist who (like a lot of Mormons) stocked his business with others like him, leveraging their already-immense financial power with the help of some well-placed Mormon judges and senators, like Orrin Hatch, working the angles. You don't want to vet him, as we should every candidate for office, then fine - don't vet him. But don't complain when you find out he's not nearly as effective a manager without his "celestial" shadow government around him, or when the world starts laughing that we put a weirdo who thinks Jesus moved here once - and will be building condos in Missouri soon - for president.

You had your chance and you blew it.

Not to get rid of Obama, but to save yourselves,...