Judging Political Parties by Who Their Friends Are

Tues. June 5, 2012:

A wise senior colleague -- a former history teacher/Reading Rocket quarterback who now lives in Newburyport -- recently put it all in perspective:

"If you have an open mind politically, and want what's best for the USA,  consider which party has bullying friends, with contempt for the troubles of USA's vulnerable people."

Hmmm.  Let's check, say, yesterday's news, for a random list of Republican friends:

1.  Well, there's Wisconsin's governor Scott Walker.  He wants to demonize public school teachers, "divide & conquer" the state's private & public workers, and "drop a bomb" on them.  He is likely to win today's recall election, because election finance laws allowed him to raise over 7 (SEVEN) times the amount of cash from billionaire donors like the Koch brothers as the outgunned little people in Wisconsin.  Is this a democratic republic, when one side's votes are 7 times more powerful than others?

2.  Headline:  "Merrill Losses Were Withheld Before Merger"
". . . But shareholders were not told about the looming losses, which would prompt a 2nd taxpayer bailout of $20 billion."

3.  Headline:  "JPMorgan Was Warned About Lax Risk Controls"
"A small group of shareholder advocates delivered an urgent message to top executives at JPMorgan Chase more than a year ago:  the bank's risk controls needed to be improved.  JPMorgan officials dismissed the warning."

4.  Headline:  "Leaks Help Book Tell of Discord In Vatican"
"Secretive -- and lucrative -- Vatican bank . . . the Vatican is not only a global force with one billion faithful worldwide . . . but also a deeply Italian institution where connections and loyalty often count more than merit and Machiavellian power plays are the rule more than the exception."

5.  Headline:  "Why We Fear Mormons"
The author, a BYU professor, makes us wonder if his "We" is ingenuous?

Look, whatever the Mormon faithful believe -- about an "Angel Moroni" visiting a New York farm-boy to reveal buried tablets bearing a new religion which included polygamy and a priesthood with no blacks or women -- Mormonism has morphed into many decent, God-fearing, hard-working, people with an impressive global missionary organization.  Most religions demand a suspension of scientific thinking, for some core belief.
Nevertheless, critics -- and even apostate Mormons -- say that the LDS Church brain-washes & uses vulnerable people, more than it genuinely cares about their freedom or well-being.
Who are Mormons' political friends?  Overwhelmingly:  the Republican party.
Ironically, this is the same party which, in its 1856 platform, named Mormon polygamy one of the "twin relics of barbarism" along with slavery.  In the 1850's, Mormon merchants in Salt Lake City were charging westering gold-rushers $10.00 [$100 in today's currency?] for a stick of butter.  Mormons embrace Republicans' "free market" and "private enterprise" whatever its threats to the vulnerable.
A sample sentiment from the BYU professor:
"Making Mormons look bad helps others feel good."
Meanwhile, if you walk over to Romney's campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial Street in Boston, you'll find nary a sign -- just tight security preventing any access, and a bunch of white guys joking & laughing in the lobby.  Are they Mormon too?  Who is willing to bet that Romney is NOT using his Mormon church's enthusiastic proselytizing network?