LDS Political Identity

For LDS, there has been a widely accepted stigma that those in the church have a solidified political stance. Since the LDS church is a global organization, it is impossible to say that there is a political identity world wide, but we can speak for Utah, in a sense. Because of the way things have been for the past 50 or so years, the stance of the church in Utah on the surface seems to run Conservative Republican.

The presence of this distinct LDS political identity has been enforced by years of religious solidarity and most likely, social identity. United by similar beliefs, concepts, and worldviews, even, there seems to be an emboldening standpoint on the stances of the Republican political party.  Even if there are viewpoints held by the Church in both political parties of Democrat and Republican, another reason for the presence of political identity could be one of tradition.

The way things have always been, or the reason for people's consolation, especially in the Utah atmosphere has a prevailing effect on voter status. The common essence of kinship bonds, accentuated heavily by LDS culture, is a large factor in the political make-up of Mormons throughout the Utah. However, the notion that one has influence over one's own course in life seems to add to the fact that constructivist qualities are held very high in LDS standards. My argument is that there are both. There seems to be a mixture of primordialist qualities, or identities that are naturally and innately within us in terms of political preference, and one of constructivist, or malleable political identities, ones where we can change and adapt to the things we truly believe in (Samuels, 157). The meaning we give to specific stances on social and economic policy is greatly influenced by what we have been surrounded by since childhood. The solidarity we feel as a people can be recalled by the countless persecutions we had at our beginnings. This strong sense of sticking together in order to survive in the mid to late 19^th century may have carried over until today. Even when Utah was becoming a state, the prophet and governor Brigham Young had to go house to house, telling every other family to vote Republican and the other to vote Democrat in order to become less homogenized politically, and more likely to become a state. Those who have stayed with the church since its early beginnings have truly felt the need to stick together politically even until this day, no matter the sways in policy over the years.

However, given the part of LDS culture that there is always room for improvement or change, there is a sense of individual and personal duty to conscience. This type of ability or even desire to progress and become better is highly constructivist in nature. We can adapt, we are malleable in the ways of thinking and are even instructed as a religion to personally seek out the right thing to do regardless of childhood upbringing. Politically speaking, this type of positive behavior is the backdrop of change in the voting world. We would know as a people that “changes in the social context and competition for power shape the politicization of identity” due to the early days when we had to leave the United States of America into territories just to escape the political threats there, as well as the changing policies about black people and women that we also held (Samuels, 160). There is absolutely difference of opinion and ability for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to be a part of any political party. This is why the heads of the church have gone to great lengths in order to be known, officially, as neutral. Constructivism is part of the religion itself.

In the Utah Data Points about voter turnout in Utah by Morgan Lyon Cotti, she shows the statistics of a politically changing state since the 1930’s. If we have a political identity, it sure has fluctuated a lot over the years. She also points out that the voter rate as plummeted since the 1970’s due to landslide elections and uncontested races. This could be due to a sense of individual lack of luster for the possibility of affecting any race, not necessarily a sense of “Church takeover.” I view the low voter rate as something of cowardice from those who think they have no voice. The uncontested elections are reinforced by low voter turnout and low voter turnout reinforced by uncontested elections. The effect is a downward spiral, showing an unhealthy, superficial political identity, when it very may well not be the case. This shows that there is a strong primoridialist need to stick together and an undocumented source of constructivist identity, within the church as well as Utah in general. The LDS Church is a highly malleable yet solid people.

Cotti, Morgan Lyon. "Do Uncompetitive Elections Hurt Turnout in Utah?" Utah Data Points. Utah Data Points, 25 June 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://utahdatapoints.com/2012/06/do-uncompetitive-elections-hurt-turnout-in-utah/>.

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2013. Print.