The Idaho potato industry is actually an offshoot of Mormonism; the desert-exiled tribe set up farms in the irrigated borderlands to grow the nutritious root vegetables to cater their funerals.
::thinks about ritual bathing/cleansing in major world religions::
Wait a second, if my hair’s “no-poo” shampoo-free am I ritually unclean? Can’t be, shampoo only spread from India in the 19th century. Am I like, unclean for Mormon purposes or anything?
Key part in the post is the “Americanized remake” part but when I watched Murder Among the Mormons I was struck at how Mormons have a culture about relics and finding obscure paraphernalia relating to important figures so they can bring it to the church and this kind of veneration of relics is something you hardly ever see in other post-Reformation sects of Christianity
Plus the whole structured centralized hierarchy with the Americanized part being adding some nods towards republicanism. Like the spiritual head is picked in an election amongst senior clergyman who always elect one of their own and this spiritual head has the ability to say things and claim they came directly from God (granted papal infallibility hasn’t yet been used for a sudden 180 in teachings but it potentially can be used that way). Mormons call their guy “president” rather than using titles which come from the Roman Empire but this reflects the wider political context of the state they emerged in.
Also there’s an old stereotype of Catholics always having large families that is kinda outdated now in the US but that’s def an overlap
Oh yeah also Mormons like statues of religious figures. The marble statue Christus is the most popular artistic depiction of Jesus in Mormonism from what I gather and it should be noted that the original creator was the 19th century Danish Lutheran Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Thorvaldsen is notable however for his neoclassical style that he mastered while studying in Rome and religious sculptures which might seem quite Romanesque to some (to the point where he actually designed the tomb for Pope Pius VII and thus is the sole non-Catholic artist to have a work on display in St Peter’s Basilica) though it should be noted that Continental Lutheranism would probably strike some other Protestants as surprisingly Catholic with certain things (like the original Christus state is displayed in a church called “Church of Our Lady” which would reek of Catholicism to most American Protestants).
This is a bit of a more circuitous connection but Mormons seem to have really loved the work of a guy who was notable because he was a Protestant that incorporated Catholic-ish aesthetics into his works so there’s that
I think another funny Mormon thing is that the largest non-LDS sect of Mormonism is called Community of Christ and originated during the succession dispute after Joseph Smith’s death with Brigham Young and his followers setting up the LDS church and Joseph Smith III (the son of Joseph Smith if you couldn’t tell) setting up the Community of Christ and the CoC are pretty different and from what I’ve seen are basically like progressive liberal Protestants but with the Book of Mormon like they have female clergy and support LGBT rights etc (also they’re Trinitarians in the normal Christian sense) but also until 1996 their Prophet-President had always been a direct descendent of Joseph Smith and I think it’s kinda funny how the sect whose leadership was traditionally treated as like a hereditary theocratic monarchy is basically the liberal branch of Mormonism
you know who would probably make amazing daygame PUAs? ex-mormons
Well, do they?
Here in Portland we’re close enough to Deseret that we’re where a lot of exmos exfiltrate to, or at least did in the 2010s when unlike SF or Seattle we were still a west coast city people could afford.
The girls, at least, remind me of the start of that song Forgiven off of Jagged Little Pill: You know how us Catholic girls can be/We make up for so much time a little too late
All those fancy-themselves-saucy young leftists on Twitter like “OMG who cares about inflation, I can think of buying a house now!” gonna be surprised when they find out how increased interest rates and a few million people having the same thought to put their tens of thousands in new wealth towards buying a house do to the mechanics of inflation a/o buying a house
Do wonder how the YIMBYs whose angle is largely “make housing affordable for 30somethings with even well-paying UMC-track urban jobs!” feel.
Or the economists (they hate it). Or even the selective-college graduates who already repaid any loans (that weren’t from their parents), whose concern about its effect on their relative standing probably isn’t alleviated by all the beneficiaries grave-dancing about how they’re more thrilled if their gain comes at these copartisans’ expense.
After all that’s probably the demographic that probably corresponds best to college graduates in, say, 1974, when Michael Dukakis was elected Governor of best-educated Massachusetts and started in on winning that traditionally Republican demographic to the Republicans.
Shifting industrial development from smokestacks to the State Route 128 “Silicon Highway”, proving Democrats could work with, not against, the market, fitting in with the way hippie-back-to-the-land sensibility had evolved to yuppie rurality (John Denver, Colorado, I guess around there Vermont and Maine).
But part of that wasn’t just offering goodies, it was giving assurance that the Democrats weren’t a threat to the middle class. That’s what Willie Horton was – the Republicans saying that however appealing the Democrat economy is, electing Dukakis carried the unacceptable threat that he’d be soft on crime.
(The New Deal coalition’s memory of the Democratic Party was that they ended the Depression and gave us the Golden Age of labor aristocracy, and then by the 50s they were like “let’s break up the almost nation-within-a-nation Dixie South’s formal structures of racialized government, not go McCarthyist wild, and culturally loosen up a bit!” and they were like “yeah fair”
Then that in by the early ‘60s the Dems were like “let’s smile on this northern Negro agitation, leftist and pleasure-seeking youth upsurge!” and the traditional base was like “I dunno, could see this going wrong.” Then by the late '60s “it’s gone wrong! UNDO it!” but into the 70s the Dems just did it more.
That’s the threat.)
Meanwhile, after the '70s, stagflation, the collapse of NYC finances, bringing the money guys on board (and without industrial unions to donate out of dues, the Democratic Party qua party needed money guys to fund it) requires their sense of threat to be assuaged.
After defusing black-crime threat – not sparing the bleeding-heart-sympathetic Ricky Ray Rector from execution! – and succeeding where Dukakis failed at beating George H.W. Bush on an “it’s the economy, stupid” basis, this is why Bill Clinton was so sensitive to the bond market, why he passed a balanced budget. He was assuring them! And since, money guys and business guys are increasing part of the Democratic coalition.
Which is to say they were realigned in. And they can be realigned right back again.
Abortion’s a cleavage Dems can probably make something of (and if that makes for a back-to-90s-coalitions-cause-breeding-kink-is-hotter-without-breeding reaction, all to the good).
I’ve mentioned that this Oregon gubernatorial election has a centrist Democrat running third-party, basically as “the good 'ol” Democrats you remember before the 2010s, attentive to the nonurban economy and regional industries" against an over-nationalized Portland party (where it’s filling with not-even-Cascadian newcomers!)“
And they’re trying to use this against her but given her tag is "Pro Choice and Pro Jobs” it’s iffy – “She might preserve our access but she won’t join with Democratic governments in Washington and California to use the west coast to save the worrrrrld!” does not feel like it’ll be that compelling if you’re not already the type to be tied into party establishments that give you Twitter talking points
Most of the suburbs where these money and business guys live went heavily to Romney even, not to mention every Republican before him. It would hardly even be a realignment. Just one embarrassing candidate + a renewed dose of ‘Oh right, we’re in this for the money.’
So I dunno, maybe an unironic yuppie revival? Worst part of every post-60s decade speedrun?
Yeah, like a lot of Mormon stuff honestly, Mormon Republicanism would probably work pretty well for gentiles if you could get them to do it
![[Description] book cover of The Book of Mormon, by PERSON [Text]The Book of [newline] Mormon [newline] 1. [newline] LDS [newline] Book [newline] 2. [newline] Mormon](https://64.media.tumblr.com/aee13330084e5e6cc77037fc5af7d9ff/4801650d992f7752-c5/s500x750/19de172ae65d89fb5fb9dbcf6acb559c2825a351.png)
![[Description] Two pages from the Mormon Period book cover. On the left is a picture of the Great American West Conference, a conference organized by LDS Church leaders. [Text]The [newline] Great [newline] Great American [newline] West [newline] West [newline] Pioneer [newline] PIONEER [newline] The [newline] The [newline] Conference [newline] Great [newline] Great [newline] West [newline] West [newline] Pioneer [newline] Pioneee [newline] Conference [newline] The West](https://64.media.tumblr.com/55dc03a698b53537f8240e5edba7cb0f/4801650d992f7752-6e/s500x750/434bf1830478b4793aea77699ecdc7a82a5fc9d2.png)
![[Description] a text page with text on it. Title: PERSON the Prophet, Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon, PERSON, Book [Text]that of the prophet, book. [newline] The Book of [newline] Lehi and his [newline] band were "desert wanderers" who left Jerusalem and journeyed toward the promised [newline] land (the promised land being America). Lehi was a member of the Church of Israel [newline] and was given a special gift from God to help him guide his family. He became a prophet [newline] and](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7882227eee5dff81be0e1d6d7796a56e/4801650d992f7752-78/s500x750/6bc2534fff1f2a8254486f442144a17cc6910f09.png)
![[Description] Text on a page, with a picture of the Book of Mormon in the middle. [Text]In the year 1823, a group of Mormon pioneers set sail on the seas of North America. [newline] Their plan was to cross the ocean to the Americas and find the land God had promised. [newline] They eventually traveled from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and Virginia. At the end [newline] of their journey they crossed the Appalachians into Kentucky. Shortly afterwards, some [newline] of the pioneers decided to stop in Kirtland (a city in Ohio). They had arrived in Ohio [newline] before the Mormons had, but there were Mormons in Ohio, so they decided to go to Ohio and [newline] ask if there were any land or gold for sale. [newline] They found a family by the name of Phelps in Ohio. They told them](https://64.media.tumblr.com/fae718af8a099e8e8f6dd0030d2ea63d/4801650d992f7752-97/s500x750/96b21c10d500064d1d66a307d8d1862cd1583b28.png)
![[Description] a text document typed in black on white. The text begins with the title 'Book of Mormon', followed by the first chapter of the book. The [Text]Lehi had made it all the way to America and had brought his people across the mountains. [newline] Because the American government, which was a republic, allowed for free speech and [newline] press, Lehi decided to use these freedoms in order to spread the word about Jesus Christ [newline] in America. His plan was to first go to Missouri and then proceed West. [newline] Lehi](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e7be25290fcf5f768950c8cc9de6f5ee/4801650d992f7752-7e/s500x750/1cbda2f67559ab71bcbcaf2e68b01121210a3b51.png)
![[Description] a photo of the front cover of The Prophet in the Wilderness by PERSON. [Text]A young man named Joseph Smith began preaching the Mormon religion, which [newline] was different than any Christian religion he'd previously known. The Mormons believed [newline] that the Bible was](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e811237da2420a527c045c4a9e3df82f/4801650d992f7752-f6/s500x750/cc74757e456b144215e26ad045598780275a2ee3.png)
![[Description] a black and white image of a page from an 1836 newspaper. It is printed in the first person perspective of PERSON, with his wife [Text]Joseph's wife, Emma, believed in him and trusted him. Because of her belief, she [newline] supported Joseph and the Mormon religion. However, when Joseph received a vision [newline] about the end times, he thought it was evil and tried to stop it. At the same time, he also [newline] had visions from God. Joseph thought that Jesus Christ and other saints had visited [newline] him to](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c5d43712733e41354b65c969bbe09bac/4801650d992f7752-0f/s500x750/73262ec9f007b67e982bad4606144fb56e4ec167.png)
![[Description] a black and white photo of a text page, showing a line of text. Above the line is the title ` [Text]of his vision from God. Joseph then went to Kirtland to get some help. But when he [newline] started to tell the story, some people thought that his experiences were visions from God. [newline] Joseph started the church, and it grew and grew.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/cbd78f0ae0e173b009a42b4a47bc1775/4801650d992f7752-7d/s500x750/6791b22416379a1dfb1857af2dd81deb5b1596a5.png)
![[Description] Two pages of text in two columns. The first page is a full page image of text. The second page is an image of text. The image [Text]In 1824, a Mormon named Martin Harris was in jail. Martin Harris had made some [newline] muddy speculations with money of his employer, and because of this, he had ended up [newline] jail for a couple of years. One day the jailor told him that if he went out into the yard, he [newline] could probably find a book called the Book of Mormon, which is an account of the life of a [newline] prophet named Jesus Christ in America. The jailor told Martin Harris that it was the most](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a2f431b214ac73888574a41ae73410fe/4801650d992f7752-04/s500x750/5e82af1200e367b7b964125eaa9865f2ca0069a1.png)
![[Description] Book of Mormon text. Text: The text begins with a preface by PERSON, then follows with the introduction to the text of the Bible [Text]preface by Mormon prelates to the text of the bible, which was actually written [newline] before the Mormon period. The actual text of the book was called the Book of Mormon [newline] or the American Bible. The book was set at the period of the prophet, called Moroni, in [newline] the place of America. Moroni was a very great prophet. The book was translated by a [newline] prophet named Joseph Smith, and it was published in 1830.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ec0626cadfbe035b57735b4f0c4a620c/4801650d992f7752-df/s500x750/6293ea1a40b2469a419b4cdb3145d23a082ec3d1.png)
