Mitt Romney is the GOP front runner at this point in the pre-election season, but many people are questioning whether or not a Mormon can be elected to the highest office in the land. I followed Mr. Romney on a TV show last year in Boston, and he is an impressive man. The problem is America’s obsession with our leaders personal lives. Isn’t it time we elect someone based on their skills? Would Obama really be President if we did? It’s time for America to grow up emotionally on social issues and start focusing on the business of the country. Watch this short video I shot in Salt Lake City (Home of the Mormon Church) and I’ll look forward to your comments. (To view anyof my recent TV appearances please visit www.steveontv.com) Steve Siebold (3:59)
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Thanks, I’ve just been searching for information about this topic for a long time and yours is the best I’ve found out so far. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you sure in regards to the supply?
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I know many Mormon’s and have family in the church as well. They are just like everyone else except they are taught values in a structured manner. I know good mormons and bad just like I know good everything and bad everything else. I would vote for Mitt even (and especially) knowing he’s a mormon. Simply because that tells me a great deal about his values. The Conservative base is the problem not the country as a whole. The Dumbocrats aren’t going to vote for him anyway. They’d rather have someone who’s going to pander to their every whim and not have any leadership ability, experience and when the “private” life of Obama came out, the only ones who cared were the conservatives anyway.
I think he’d do a far better job than the current joke we are dealing with as POTUS, but then again, even Jimmy Carter wasn’t this bad.
Adam,
I understand and agree, when you go back to Romney’s father and his life experiences, but it should stop there. By your logic, we should not have elected JFK as Catholism supported witch hunts in the middle ages. You cannot hold today’s generation responsible for things, they had no influence over. Many many wars and millions of deaths hav been fought and caused by people of Christian faiths. That does not make a Christian of today unable to get elected or lead a peaceful life.
Steve,
Ron Paul’s fiscal policies and stands are more congruent than from any other candidate. What concern me is his foreign policy stands. The US cannot withdraw from the position of a world power. If we do, we leave a vaccuum. Who do you want to fill that vaccuum: Europe, Russia, China? Nobody has a higher moral authority than the US. The last time America wanted to withdraw behibd its own borders was with the League of Nations. It got us Stalin and Hitler and WWII.
Today’s world is even closer interwoven and I think we cannot abdict our responibility at this point of time.
Mike J.
Alright I’m having way too much fun with this and laughing so hard I gotta quit before my chair breaks. Those around my desk here in the office are giving me a hard time and laughing too so I’ll sign off–I never shut up. Some of my closest friends are not LDS, and when we go to lunch, you should see how bad we make fun of each other over the issue of who gets to drink beer (us poor ol’ Mormons don’t get to drink any) in the restaurant and I have to settle for a Sprite or a wimpy lemonade. I’m missing out on so much fun!
Steve, we have got to go to lunch sometime. When is the next SSN mainstage after September?
Simply stated and regardless of religion Mitt Romeny does not have the “Charisma Quotient.” Obama did, Clinton did, George Bush 2 did’nt but neither did Al Gore so Bush won. Reagan did and luckily he had substance too! We are a country currently made of middle class performers and thinkers, as you so aptly point out in your book 177 Secrets, based on that assumption we will get perception not substance in our leaders. There is no republican that I can see that has the charisma nor the substance to be beat Obama. Obama may lose based on “it’s the economy stupid” but I do not believe it will be to Mitt Romney or any other current republican regardles of race, religion, gender etc. We are finding out the hard way that leaders are made and developed over time and not through community organizing or as professors. We knew all this though when we elected Obama, we just ignored it based on the “Charisma Quotient.”
P.S. to Adam
Your claims on the tenets of the church and it’s history are so fraught with inaccuracies it would be futile to tackle them all. You left a lot of things out and created many misrepresentations. I won’t debate you on it, it’s not necessary. Whatever religion or belief that you belong to, I believe is your constitutional right to have, so long as you don’t violate the rights of others, regardless of your religion. But your diatribe and inaccuracies about doctrines and histories you present about my faith are saddening. However, if you run for political office, and I think you can solve the problems of this country, you have my vote.
I have a response to Adam Lowe Martin. Your post demonstrates exactly what myself and others talk about. Your claim of Mormons retaliating and slaughtering the members of the Fancher Baker Party is not accurate. The “spins” on LDS history get better all the time. There were Indians in that party that took part in that, and there were members of the LDS faith who did take part that were told NOT to by their leaders. The Fancher Baker party you spoke of made threats to attack and kill and had poisoned wells on their way through the state. Basically this was a sad event of people being pushed to an extent that was tragic, and unnecessary. All because of hatred and intolerance. The members who DID NOT represent the LDS church who had any part in it were excommunicated by the leaders of the faith as well. Before you present skewed facts of history, portraying it as an act of the church, which by the way is a tale of heartbreak that saddens everyone who knows about it, you should look into the fact that there is so much more to it than what you presented. It was a historical event that many folks twist and take out of context to fit an attack agenda that the church had no part in. As a Boy Scout, I camped on the very site where it happened, and listened to the descendants of some of those families tell about their ancestors who were there and what happened. Leaders of the LDS faith have gone to such extents as to help the extended to the families of that unfortunate event, but because those who chose to disobey what was right, cast a black mark upon a religion that had no part in it. You must remember that the saints out west were hunted down and slaughtered, raped, and driven out of their homes thanks to an extermination order by Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. But do you look into the killers that were of other faiths that took part in that event? Were their religions to blame for the rapes and slaughter done by their members? If you want to talk about slaughter, look into those events so many leave untouched. Thousands were killed. There were thousands of native Americans that were literally slaughtered by so many US Army heros that all had their respective faiths. Were their churches at the helm? There were so many widows in the early days of the church, men had to take on families to help them survive. The true and accurate history from the journals of ancestors (and many of my own) tell of rights those US citizens never had. Get the facts, not hearsay. The early members of the church did practice polygamy and the church did bring it to a halt. But polygamy is an interesting thing for Bible believers in that we sometimes forget about all the Old Testament prophets that had multiple wives–Abraham, Isaac, etc. Christians must support that or do they really believe in the Bible. We also have people from other mid-east cultures that have plural wives. Are they to be discriminated against? We are a more global society in commerce and we better buckle down and exercise critical thinking about how we judge others, groups, or just plain old ordinary citizens that can put religion aside and get a job done.
Do I have a problem with a Mormon being elected president?
None what so ever. I have a problem with the GOPs candidates they’ve been pushing for a long time – Wahington insiders of questionable integrity. People like McCain. People who have track records of selling out; people who flip after they claim to be one thing and then for their own gain sell out. People like Romney.
I like to see the people unhappy with 0bama and the directions we are forced to go to elect a proven businessman or a proven patriot, or both.
My current choices are Herman Cain and Alan West.
Now there would be a team of fine men, plus all the race baiters could hardly claim all Republicans are raceist. (I’m not and I’m white.)
Maggie
Steve, before I go to support people I get on my knees and ask for God’s guidance. In this case I get a strong case to run away, far and fast without looking back. Shalom, DB
Ken,
great post. You are exactly right. Only problem is, the left media will use any and all misconceptions about LDS, and put it as an albatross around Romney’s neck, in order to divert from his conservative message. However, as proven in the past, a great and clear conservative message is no match to the media.
Mike J.
Of course. It’s time we leave tribalism behind and look at the qualities of leadership and integrity — not to mention track record.
Interesting post, but some of your premises are flawed…
The USA is not a “free” country…if it was they wouldn’t be molesting children when they tried to get on an airplane.
While the Mormon question is interesting, I don’t think that will stop someone from becoming president. Most presidents have believed in that Flavian creation, just not the Mormon version of it.
However, the problem with Romney is that he is a statist. His record is not one of freedom, and many people are simply not going to vote for another Republican statist.
Compare Ron Paul’s record to Romney’s and you’ll see who really supports freedom, it’s like night and day.
As for your statement, “Romney is probably going to be the Republican nominee”, who told you that??? The convention is a long way off…and if the Republicans want to win they better realize that for many people it’s Ron Paul or nothing. Only Ron Paul is different enough from Obama that he can win…
As for me, I’ll never vote for another Republican statist again.
LOL!!!!
Hey Steve—I knew this one would come up on your site eventually–LOL! I’ve been waiting for this one. Knowing you as well as I do so far, I knew this would come up. LOL! As mental toughness secrets tell us, we get the facts and to get the facts lets get our info from a “Mormon.”
First of all, let’s get the name of the religion right. The name of the “Mormon” church is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” The term “Mormon” is a nickname that evolved because of the book of scripture in the faith called “The Book of Mormon” that is a companion to the Bible. Members of the church take no offense being called “Mormons” but among the lay membership they’ll refer to members as “LDS,” or members of the LDS Church for short. Face it, the name is too long to use in conversation. And, for the record, they only have one wife. There is a fundamentalist sect that broke off from the church a long time ago, and they have plural wives, but you won’t find it in this church. They don’t have horns either. The church is operated by a prophet who has two counselors and a quorum of 12 apostles. Basically the same exact structure set up by Jesus Christ at the time of His ministry. The doctrine of the church teaches that the true church of Jesus Christ became apostate anciently, and was restored again to the earth in its pure form in 1830. Now that is behind us, let’s get some info from a “Mormon.”
I am an active member of the LDS Church and darn proud of it. I’ve not been able to find a religion that offers more that it does, especially in its support and teachings of the family. If there is one, I’ll join it. There is so much rhetoric out there in the political arena about whether a “Mormon” can have this office or that, but having first-hand experience in this faith about who “Mormons” are and what they’re about, I can tell you that any paranoia about them being in political office is based on fiction, religious bias and bigotry. The LDS espouse Christianity on a deep level, are taught to respect the law, and be contributing citizens. You’ll not find a more faithful group who want to do good, and DO contribute to the betterment of society than them. Visit their meetings on Sunday anywhere and see for yourself what is being taught. You can attend their Sacrament meeting, or the women’s Relief Society meetings, a Priesthood meeting, or the young men or young women’s meeting or even the children’s primary meeting and get the facts on the spot. How’s that for bias? LOL!
Frankly, I don’t think you’d be too disappointed to see Romney in the oval office. His qualifications are quite impressive and he stands quite capable of fixing problems in large organizations and his track record speaks for itself as governor of Massachussets. His father was also LDS, and governor of Michigan. I wouldn’t vote for him because of his religion. I would vote for him because of what I know he can do and how well he solves organization problems. He’d have a mess on his hands starting out at the White House. Sure, we can find opposing view points with any politician regardless of their religion but what politician out there is liked and agreed with by everybody? Your senior senator Orrin Hatch is from Utah and is a devout member of the LDS Church and has done an admirable job. I’ve yet to hear anything from the critics who carp at the idea of a Latter-day Saints being in office that had any truth to it. I was raised in the faith most of my life and there is no doctrine, no teaching, or any idea promoted in the church that is pushy, or has a scrap or thread of any idea to impose religious force in the arena of politics on any group or individual. My parents sent me to the Baptist Bible School as a youth before they became active in the LDS faith. I was always taught to respect the faiths of others and my faith has always taught me to never, ever attack someone else’s beliefs or faith, but to protect and defend them and their rights to believe how they wanted to. Latter-day Saints believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon together, but there’s plenty of falsehoods spread about “Mormons” not being Christian. Those accusations are always from people who do not know that for a fact because those folks just engage in ad hominem attacks. True Christians do not attack other faiths, just like Christ forbade his apostles from doing it.
When you look at past presidents and the immoral things they have done, does anyone ever bring up their religion? If a person in office is a Catholic, or a Baptist, or a Jew, and they do something contrary to the teachings of their faith, why is that never brought up? I would gladly support and honor any politician that is devout to their religion and is not hypocritical. There are so many LDS people in politics that most people don’t recognize it–Jon Huntsman Jr. was Obama’s pick for ambassador to China, you have senators, former cabinet members–one who was the president of the church–who were all members of the LDS Church that served admirably. Just because a member of the LDS church has political opinions as a Repulicrat, does not mean it is because of their church. People of other faiths have similar political preferences and opinions as them, but their religion is not slammed because of it. I’ve never seen, witnessed or known of anything in the LDS faith that was ever, in any way, set up to cause harm to anyone, any group, or any political effort. If members of the LDS faith disagree with lifestyles contrary to their belief, they don’t go out and attack those groups, but you can sure as heck bet those groups attack members of the LDS faith and base the attack against the church. It’s people, not the faith, that choose their own opinions. I invite anyone who believes otherwise to stop by and check out the headquarters of the church to see all that they do, in supporting people of all faiths, everywhere. Their welfare program is a superior model that many former US presidents wanted to see implemented. When disasters strike, the LDS Church sends out millions of dollars of aid to wherever it is needed to people of all faiths. When the Catholic Cathedral of the Madelaine was in need of repair, the LDS Church was there with contributions to get it done. When the Hare Krishna temple was in need of assistance to be built, members of the LDS Church donated.
My question to anyone that has a problem with Romney is why not? What does his religion have to do with it? Is it the fear of organized religion? The LDS Church does not allow it’s members to use the church as a tool to manipulate politics. But it does encourage its members to get involved and be involved in service to their community and nation and to support the law, regardless of who is in office. Check out the archives of “60 Minutes” with Mike Wallace and his investigation of the LDS Church a few years back and you can see for yourself. There’s nothing to fear in the political realm from them; in fact I think people would be surprised how refreshing it would be to have someone in office who sticks to their guns about serving with some scruples of decency. To initiate a debate about a person’s ability to serve in the oval office because of their affiliation with the LDS Church is a premise based on conjecture, really.
What concerns me is that regardless of who becomes president, none of us are going to like what decisions are going to have to be made to fix the mess our country is in. If someone gets in office that has a backbone to step up and do what has to be done, they are not going to be popular with anyone. We have some painful things ahead of us that will need to be shouldered to get out of the economic disaster ahead of us and I feel sorry for the person who has to give us the bad news. There will never be a unanimous vote over what will have to be done. Although I didn’t vote for Obama, he is my president, I support him and would do anything he asked of me to support his leadership and be a better citizen.
If Romney doesn’t make it, I hereby nominate Steve Siebold to run for office as our nations’ new thought leader and may God bless his mental toughness platform to lead our nation to better heights! LOL! Go for it Steve!
Your friend–
Ken
Ken,
I knew you’d get a kick out of this post! As we talked about in SLC, I’ve done lot’s of business over the years with LDS members and I’ve found them to be incredibly generous and straightforward. I’ve spoken to audiences where I was the only non-LDS in a hall of thousands in SLC. Everytime it’s been a great experience. I’m not a big fan of organized religion in general, but I have a lot of respect for the conduct of LDS members. Thanks for taking time to weigh in on this.
Steve,
the constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. Having prayer in congress or in schools does not make a law to establish a religion. Not alowing prayers (if wanted by the majority present) would actually prohibit the free excerise of religion, which is gong on in this country for too long.
Does it matter, that Romney is a Mormon. No. The religion of the president should be of nobodies concern. What is important is his vision for this country. Of course, this vision will be influenced by his belief systems. But as long as he does not want to re interpret the constitution (like the socialists do), his religious beliefs should have no influence over his qualification. Unfortunate our leftist press is trying to make this the main issue, to distract the masses from the conservative message his has.
Mike Jacobi
I certainly hope so!
I believe that a Muslim should have as much chance as a mainstream Christian, a Jew, an athiest or an agnostic.
There is much to be said of a man (or woman) who lives their religion. It’s generally not about what religion one belongs to but more about how one lives their religion. The world would be a much better place if more of the leaders of nations would give more honour to God than to themselves.
I’m a Christian Believer from South Africa. Every country that has rejected Christian Principles, have fallen into chaos. If you have time to read the Bible,
it is quite plain and simply put throughout the book , that ..’If you believe and put your trust in God, you will prosper’ Many countries ( including USA ) are in turmoil as a result of rejection of the Word of God. I do not condemn other religions or other beliefs, so if a Mormon becomes President of the U.S.A. ..I do not have a problem. My only concern is ..will he govern according to the basic principles as laid down in Gods Word ??????….( and allow school children to pray the Lord’s prayer.- if they so wish – which is freedom of worship ! ? )
What’s worse? A Mormon or a Socialist? All the mormons I know are industrious, hard working, conservative, family oriented and many are very successful (like Romney, Marriott, Huntsman, Harry Reid, Gladys Night, The Osmonds and many others. Why wouldn’t we want a man with those qualities to lead this nation. Mormons are God fearing, good people. What has Obama ever done other than wreck this country and bring a great socialist influence than any other president. He is Marxist version of Jimmy Carter. In light of that, GO MORMON GO!!!!
Ah, America growing up! LMAO ROTFF on the comment of ” It’s time for America to grow up emotionally on social issues etc… To do that will take about 10 to 20 years! At least! It did not happen over night, and over night it will not be corrected as it were.
Nick
Of course a Mormon should be able to be elected President. It is a conservative Mormon that the people worry about. Harry Reid is a Mormon, but no one holds that against him because he is a liberal.
In 1976 the Smithsonian was looking for a religious group to comment on and to represent the US Constitution in religious terms. It picked the Mormon church because it is the only religious organization that looks on that document as inspired text.
Mormons are taught and urged to love their country and serve. In the face of persecution, when the Mormons were driven from the very country which guaranteed their religious freedom, hundreds of Mormon men answered the call to serve their country in the Mexican-American war. These men left their family on the trails as they traveled west and became the Mormon battalion.
Mormons are extremely committed, reliable and capable. If anything, their faith should further qualify them to serve in public office because they fear God more than men. Mormons love this country, or shall I say, I love this country.
I don’t care about a guy’s religious views as long as he has integrity & can bring back jobs & prosperity. Eric