Mormon Political Identity? Mormonism!

Is there a “Mormon political identity” in the United States? The issue, to both the insider and outsider of the church, may seem a bit complicated. Initial thoughts might be, “Well, aren’t all Mormons just a bunch of conservative republicans?” However, with just a little bit of research, one would have to say, “Apparently not...” What is political identity? David J. Samuels, in his book Comparative Politics, defines political identity as “the ways that individuals categorize themselves and others, and how they understand the power relationships of domination and oppression that exist between groups” (Samuels 2011). In other words, as Kirk A. Hawkins, Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University, stated, [A political identity is] any identity that significantly shapes our political decisions, especially when it is the most important identity to do so.”

             In consideration of those two definitions, what is the identity that shapes the political decisions of the LDS faith? Is it not the doctrines of the Church that form the distinct basis for political decisions rather than party platforms for members of the LDS faith? One would be, the church and its members would hope, hard press to find Mormons more converted to a political party than to their faith. In other words, what is the Mormon political identity? “Mormonism”  

The Mormon political identity is different from other political identities in that it encompasses and transcends politics without being particularly political. More common political identities, such as political parties, are politically easier to understand and are more clearly identifiable. Political Parties have the benefit of clear political platforms where politics is the one and only game. However, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no political platform, no political agenda, and only rare interest in pushing public policy, particularly in the form of a typical political machine.

Rather, at the foundation of the church is a set of core, fundamental beliefs that drive the decisions of its members including in matters of politics, thus creating the Mormon Political identity. The root causation for the Mormon political identity leans perhaps most toward constructive ideals. A primary role that church is that of a teacher, to teach its members how to live and be. Thus, the Mormon Political identity is one that is carefully constructed by the church, though with purposes beyond that of politics in mind.

 Wisely so, the Church maintains strict political neutrality and does not endorse candidates or parties. The Church sees its own political identity as something more supernal than slur of political flair that changes with the whims of the people in an effort to secure votes.  The ideals of the Church are, supposedly, unchanging and fixed, while political platforms change with every year and thus make identification with any particular political party simply impossible, posing too much of a risk of misrepresentation.  

However, what one does see, in the United States, among members of the Church is a fairly consistent subsequent alignment with whichever party at the time is closest aligned with the beliefs of the LDS faith. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, in their 2009 survey, found that 65% of Mormon either support or lean towards the Republican Party while 22% support or lean towards the Democratic Party (The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2009). As the survey goes on to show, there is diffidently a common political ideology among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The data would suggest that currently, overall the Republican Party aligns closest to the actual Mormon political identity. However this is not a perfect alignment.   

However, common alignment ought not to be confused as a Mormon political identity in and of itself. One has to remember that, to be accredited to the country’s two-party system, virtually all citizens have to at least partially identify themselves with one party or another for that lack of any other real choice. However this hardly merits the claim that a particular political party constitutes the Mormon political identity for that party is not the dominating or primary influence of political decisions. It is still the teaching of the Church.  The cause for the Mormon Political identity ought to be clear in that it stems from the unified commitment of its members to their faith. One who desires to understand further the Mormon Political identity has only to study more closely the principles and doctrines that form the foundation of the LDS faith.

Bibliography

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S. July 24, 2009. http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrait-of-Mormons-in-the-US--Social-and-Political-Views.aspx (accessed October 12, 2012).