One Week Later - The Union Endures!

Wanting to call this "Election Post-Mortem II" I read the first one and figured I didn't really need to say much more. Still trying really hard not to gloat especially with my own son making me feel a little guilty about being too prideful, I have to confess that I only slightly lost my cool last Sunday in High Priests' Group.

I have a really great ward that avoids politics for the most part. While I've only seen one other member at the Democratic Caucus, I know there are a few other sympathetic souls, more than even appear on the Democratic registration list I had when I was Precinct Chair. But sometimes, those old guys in HP Group can get a little crotchety so I have to respond.

Sunday was the George Albert Smith Lesson on "Temporal Salvation for Ourselves and Others," all very well and good carefully biting my tongue so as not to say how great it was to be middle-class because then you can cast stones at both the poor and the rich. Of course, we are more on the "rich" side in the world's and the Lord's view and have much to repent of as well as be grateful for. My trigger came when the instructor was talking about knowing people who just didn't want to take responsibility for themselves and sat around for someone else to take care of them. That was bad enough, but the guy behind me muttered, "Yeah, we just re-elected a president who wants everybody to be like that." I politely and respectfully half-turned around and said, "Nope" while shaking my head. He's a good guy and a good friend. He put his hand on my shoulder and said in a conciliatory tone, "Well, let's hope not."

Later in the lesson, a discussion started about being prepared for natural disasters like the recent one in New York and New Jersey. One guy in the back (another good friend!) started in on his rant I've heard before (re: New Orleans) about how people just wait around to be rescued and how worthless FEMA and the feds were. He said that in the old days, people just took care of themselves.

Yeah, I shouldn't let it get me, but I started in on how NOAA and the National Weather Service, federal agencies, had acted to warn and save thousands of those people who in the "old days" wouldn't even be around to take care of themselves because they'd be dead.

This is where the blog gets me in a little trouble because I'd already thought out those things in writing up that piece about NOAA so it just spouted out of the mouth. The lesson wasn't disrupted too badly and we all went on as friends to Sunday School. But I'll be danged if I'm just going to sit by and take that stuff.

Here's hoping that the tone of the country's dialogue does change a little once the majority of us Mormons get over the Romney heartache. I think we are better off politically and religiously too. I've read several blog pieces about how Romney has "normalized" Mormonism to some extent. Yet, we can breathe some relief that the Mormon Moment is over so that every criticism of Romney as President doesn't turn into Mormon bashing (sort of like you see with any controversy in the comment section of any article at the SL Tribune).

Maybe we'll all learn a little more respect for the federal government and the real US Constitution. More on these themes later as we see a newly emboldened President looking out for We the People, and a slightly chastened Republican Party already thinking about immigration reform and even some "revenues" to avoid the fiscal cliff. YIPPEE! Elections do matter! And the Constitutional Union endures!

And the Lincoln movie comes out this week. Spielberg, Lincoln, and Obama - here's hoping they can accomplish something along the lines of Grant, Lincoln, and Sherman - without the violence. Maybe we can go see the movie as a High Priests' Group activity. To be continued . . . .