As recently as 1978 the Mormons believed that blacks were unfit for the priesthood. If you want to see how they witewash the past- look to the arguments Mormon politicians use to distance themselves from that evil practice.

That’s a much more forceful charge, as it actually occurred during his lifetime and continued well into his adulthood. I would like to see how he answers for that one.

Thanks for stopping by, and [I'm sure you hear this quite a bit] great work on The Machinery of Freedom. I really enjoyed it.

There is at least one important difference between the two cases. All of the Republicans candidates are Americans, claim great respect for the founders. Only one of them (two when I wrote my blog post) is a Mormon. So the issue only arises as between candidates in the case of polygamy.

Of course, Ron Paul, as a libertarian, ought to believe the polygamy should be legal–I don’t know if he does or not. My impression is that he finesses some such questions by arguing they should be decided at the state level.

I don’t see the other GOP candidates hammering him on this… The others aren’t exactly going to point out hypocrisy on the gay marriage issue when they don’t support it themselves (and for Ron Paul, where he’s similarly [but privately] religious and isn’t making gay marriage a campaign plank).

If Gary Johnson had gotten any traction, I could see it being an angle, as Gary fully supports gay marriage and doesn’t strike me as being particularly religious [if he believes at all]. But now that he’s out on the Libertarian ticket, he’ll be largely ignored.

I would think it more likely to come up in the general election, when his opponents (and the media) are going to be much more willing to go after religious hypocrisy.

So far as libertarians are concerned, I don’t think we generally claim that the U.S. at its founding was a perfectly libertarian, or perfectly classical liberal, society, merely in many ways closer than it is now. Some libertarians even argue that the Constitution was the result of a coup, replacing the more libertarian Articles of Confederation.

This is true, but when has ideological honesty been a barrier to demagogues? I don’t think Mitt Romney in any way, shape, or form, supports polygamy. I’m guessing that he falls into the same boat as a lot of “religious” folk — he broadly follows main tenets of what he’s been brought up with, but largely it’s no different than someone who wears only Nike over Reebok, or who drinks Miller Lite b/c he wouldn’t be seen in public with Bud Light.

Unlike Santorum, Romney doesn’t wear the mantle of a culture warrior. The fact that the elders of his religion believed funny things 100 years ago isn’t relevant. My point was that he doesn’t have to believe *every* little thing in Mormonism, just as it’s not fair to impugn classical liberals with *every* sin of the founding fathers… We apply our own beliefs to the modern world — we can expect Romney to do the same.

As far as I know, the LDS has never taken the position that 19th century polygamy was a sin—merely that God changed the rules c. 1890. Libertarians hold that slavery was wrong then, not just wrong now.

I did not know that, but I’m not surprised. It’s tough to get people to believe that you, as an elder of your faith, are infallible if you say that you’d interpreted the scripture wrongly. It’s a lot easier [if you can get your followers to buy that nonsense] to say that God revealed that he changed his mind.

Of course, Ron Paul, as a libertarian, ought to believe the polygamy should be legal–I don’t know if he does or not. My impression is that he finesses some such questions by arguing they should be decided at the state level.

So far as libertarians are concerned, I don’t think we generally claim that the U.S. at its founding was a perfectly libertarian, or perfectly classical liberal, society, merely in many ways closer than it is now. Some libertarians even argue that the Constitution was the result of a coup, replacing the more libertarian Articles of Confederation.

“but bringing up long-disavowed sins committed by Mormons three generations ago is completely unnecessary.”

As far as I know, the LDS has never taken the position that 19th century polygamy was a sin—merely that God changed the rules c. 1890. Libertarians hold that slavery was wrong then, not just wrong now.