About nine months ago I started reading the Book of Mormon to my young boys, then three and five years old.   I wasn’t sure if it would last, but it has.  We just finished the Book of Mormon and are about to start on the New Testament.

Here are some things I learned.

1)They actually look forward to scripture study time.  Not every day, but when I say it is time to read the Book of Mormon, they come running.  Our 18-month-old hops in my lap and says, “Jesus!”

2)The 18-month-old can only sit there for about five seconds before he then runs away to tackle the cat.

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Let’s discuss two people, Mr. Adams and Mr. Jones.

Mr. Adams is 35.  He spends most of his time surfing in Southern California.  He is blonde, tall, muscular and handsome.  Women flock to him and he has had scores of relationships.  But Mr. Adams does not like to work.  He has spent most of his adult life going from job to job.  He will take a job for a year and then lose the job and get unemployment.  Currently, he lives in a house in Venice Beach with several other guys.  He gets food stamps (now called CalFresh).   He works the occasional odd job and makes a few hundred dollars a week on the side (in cash).  He owes money to a long list of people, but he is a pretty pleasant guy and charming and he gets away with not paying back the money he owes.  He does not like to do favors for other people, and usually finds a way to disappear when people are asking for help moving.  He thinks “the rich” should pay more taxes and does not think it is fair that the rich have so much and people like him have so little.

Mr. Jones is 55.  He is a paraplegic and has spent most of his adult life in a wheelchair ever since an accident when he was a teenager.  He is not an attractive man physically and does not have a girlfriend (although he would like to).  He has never had a serious relationship with a woman and is lonely.  Mr. Jones has always been fascinated with computer programming, and has started a business where he makes apps for the Iphone.  He works 12 hours a day and his only real recreation is when he takes his wheelchair down to the bike path along the beach in Santa Monica, California, where he lives.  One of his apps is really popular, and Mr. Jones is going to have a good year in 2011 — he might make $500k this year.  Mr. Jones is one of the 1 percent financially.  In 2010, he made $350k and paid 35 percent of his gross in taxes (state and local).  Mr. Jones gives contracting work to a dozen or more subcontractors who are in effect his employees.  Mr. Jones gives to several charities and is helpful, pleasant and friendly, but he doesn’t have much of a social life.  Mr. Jones is saving so that he can buy a new house in Acapulco, where he would like to retire in a few years.  He has paid taxes all his adult life, but thinks taxes are much too high and opposes paying more of his money in taxes.  His taxes are already going up significantly because of Obamacare.  He thinks charitable giving should be voluntary.

Questions.  In what moral universe would it be “fair” to take money from Mr. Jones and give it to Mr. Adams?

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You may have seen the photo above. It was taken during a protest at UC Davis, when police tried to get Occupy protesters to move. They decided that the best course of action would be pepper spray these peaceful protesters. Here’s an idea: just let them protest, and eventually they will move on their own.

As a tea party supporter, I want to point out that my political goals (more on that in a second) are in many ways not aligned with the Occupy protesters. But I condemn police brutality, and I support the right to peaceful protest.  I would also point out that this is not an isolated incident:  many other cases of police brutality are displayed clearly here.  The Constitution clearly protects the freedom of assembly.

The reason the Constitution protects freedom of assembly is that the government the colonists faced in the 18th century did not support the freedom of assembly.  With a keen eye to the natural rights of life, liberty and property, the colonists felt that their liberty was being assaulted by an oppressive British government.  The British government was less oppressive than most others at the time, but for these colonists certain rights were inalienable and non-negotiable, and they stood up for their rights in ways most of us continue to admire today.  But many of us do not realize that all man-made governments are oppressive unless they recognize natural rights.  So, calling on more government to solve the problem of oppressive government is a bit like an 18th century doctor using leeches to heal an internal hemorrhage.

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I’ve been thinking about high school lately.  Specifically, some of the bullying I participated in freshman year in high school.  There are two specific instances I can remember where I joined a crowd in making fun of people who were different, who didn’t fit in.  I pointed and laughed along with several other people.  The victims just walked away with red faces, hiding their shame.

Of course, like everybody reading this, I was also a victim of public humiliation when I was growing up.  My mom was a public junior high teacher, and I went to the same school.  She was a strict disciplinarian with the students.  You can only imagine the nearly daily harassment I endured for that.  So, by freshman year in high school, I had moved to a school where my mom was not the teacher, and now it was payback time.  I got to make fun of other people instead of being the victim myself.

I am happy to report that by sophomore year in high school I came to see the error in my ways.  I actually apologized to one of the people I had made fun of, and we became friends.  I don’t remember what happened to the other, but I never made fun of him again.

Remembering these events is important because there is a very thin line between “real world” interactions and our on-line interactions.  At the end of the day, many of us turn to blogs and to social media to share ideas and find kindred souls.   They are a public forum where people, as they always do, seek the approval of their peers.

So, public humiliation on blogs hurts just as much as bullying does when we are children.

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I largely agree with the general theme of Bruce N’s post below, which is that there is (some) anti-Mormon sentiment in the endless attempt for Republican voters to find “anybody by Mitt Romney.”  Ideology is an issue, but it is clear that for many evangelical Republicans Mormons are not acceptable.

There is substantially more empirical evidence, however, that Democrats are less likely than Republicans to vote for a Mormon.  It should be self-evident and noncontroversial to say that Democrats hate Mormons even more than Republicans hate Mormons.

Let’s start with the polling.  Gallup has asked voters the question, and 27 percent of Democrats say they would not vote for a Mormon president, while only 18 percent of Republicans make the same statement.  Independents are at 19 percent, closer to the Republican position, so clearly anti-Mormon sentiment is stronger among Democrats than anybody else.

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