Latter-Day Liberals

Okay, I think I just had an epiphany about members of the LDS Faith who also fall on the left side of the political spectrum. The vast majority of Latter-Day Saints have been politically conservative for quite some time now. And it's not without good reason, either. We feel that economic freedom, the importance of faith and family, and many other principles that the GOP strives to uphold are much more in line with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ than those of the Democratic Party. Many conservative members are, therefore, surprised to learn of the growing number of LDS Democrats, even here at BYU. They're still a minority, but they've got plenty of momentum. Last year, with the election of Barrack Obama to the U.S. Presidency, the number of registered Democrats on BYU grew to unprecedented levels. And, being significantyl far along in the English major, I've seen that a large majority of the faculy at the Y (especially here in the Humanities) view the world from a moderate to significantly liberal standpoint.
Logically, it doesn't make sense where they are coming from. But, that's where my epiphany comes in. As one who see's Conservative ideas as grounded in logic and linear reasoning rather than emotion, ambiguity, or circular reasoning (and, yes, I am biased), I honestly think that Latter-Day Liberals identify themselves with the more ambiguous parts of the gospel.
Let me explain. The fundamental principles of the gospel make perfect sense to me. For example, if prophets were on the earth in ancient days, why would they not be on the earth today? If God is our Father, why would he not prepare a way for us to become like him? There is plenty of this if-then logic within the basic tenets of our beliefs. As I've dug deeper, however, I've had to rely on faith as things become more complex.
Let's take the Fall, for example. The classic question that almost all Latter-Saints wonder is as follows: Why did God give Adam and Eve the commandment not to partake of the fruit when he knew that they would need to partake in order to keep his other commandment to multiply and replenish the earth? For most of us members, we don't know and will have to rely on faith. We need to remember that it's not pertinent to our testimony, and someday we'll know the answer. But, maybe, this isn't an issue of faith for the minority of members who swing to the left when it comes to politics and philosophy. Maybe, these kinds of principles speak more clearly to the ambiguous way they see the world. Maybe, one of their tests of faith (at some level) comes in relying on the basics.
I hope my Latter-Day Liberal friends understand that I'm not questioning their testimonies here. In fact, I'm trying to understand them. To my conservative friends, you can take this for what it's worth. Whethere you want to be more tolerant of liberal members, or just want to know how to debate with them, I hope this can be a good resource. Hopefully, it will even spark some intelligent converstation on this blog.

My First Shot in the Age's Old Battle of the Sexes

Okay, I have a question for all the men out there: does anyone else feel like their manhood is being threatened by overly militant feminists? I know this sounds like I'm just spitting out what I might have once heard from Rush Limbaugh, but my life's experiences are telling me more and more that this is the case. Don't get me wrong here. There is something to be said for women's rights and all the discrimination that women have endured throughout history. But, sometimes, I seriously feel like the feminazi's out there want to punish men, or at least put them on a guilt trip, for everything that their gender has suffered. Yes, it's important to learn your history so that you don't repeat it. But, it's also important that you don't punish the descendants (of the same gender) of some of those who may have been guilty in the past. Some of us guys are a little more timid, and sometimes we are so afraid of making the same mistakes of our male ancestors that we end up losing our manhood. So, ladies, feminism itself may be legitimate. Just make sure that (if you are, in fact, a feminist) you make yourself flexible to the more timid guys that may come into your life. Feminism is counterproductive, not to mention extremely hypocritical, when it ends up hurting our manhood.

Making the Case to Fund Our Future Safety:

Okay, I really don't understand why nobody is questioning Obama on his defense cuts. One of the most common reasons I hear for supporting the cuts is that there's been too much wasteful spending in recent years, planes like the F-22's are and from the Cold War Era, and the U.S. needs to focus on the wars that it is currently engaged in like Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's what I have to say about all three of those points:

1) Why is Obama so worried about what we're "wasting" to protect ourselves when he doesn't seem to care that he's wasting taxpayer's money to expand the power of the federal government?

2) Obama's decision to terminate production of F-22's at 186 aircraft would, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Norman Schwartz, result in "moderate to high risk." Air Force leaders have argued, through a number of budget cycles over the years, that a fleet of 381 F-22's is the right mix of F-22's and F-35's that they need to protect the country. Even if the F-22's were completely useless, I would still say these budget cuts are a bad idea, considering that (among other things) the Obama administration wants to cut the number of ground-based interceptors that we need in order to target ballistic missiles.

3) As important as it is to win the wars we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to be prepared for future combat. Besides, Obama has repeatedly indicated that he wants more international cooperation in combating terrorism. By scaling back on our defense, this will send a message of hypocrisy to our allies. And when at least two of our enemies (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il) are seen as mentally imbalanced by both foreign and domestic psychological experts, it most defenitely sends the wrong message to them as well.

Was it wasteful spending by the Bush administration that kept us safe from another terrorist attack in the post 9/11 era? Come on fellow Americans, I know you're smarter than that. No one should live in fear that we're gonna' get nuked by North Korea or Iran tommorow. But, if you care about the future of this country (regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum) as well as your personal safety, you should at least be concerned enough to speak out. For the sake of the free world, America can and should have the necessary tools to defend itself from its enemies. So, why is anyone believing the rhetoric of the liberal media that we can more effectively do so with fewer capabilities? Does someone out there have a good answer for this?