It’s here! It’s here!

After our Exponent II Gets Political Blog series, we are pleased to announce the online publication of our Fall 2012 issue (scroll to the bottom of the page). Hard copies will be in the mail this Saturday morning.

We are so excited about this issue with insightful pieces from Mormon academics, politicians, and women discussing frankly their choices for the next United States president. And, there’s the suffrage song written by Woman’s Exponent founding editor Louisa Greene Richards, “Woman Arise.” There are a few (very few) copies still available, so get your subscription now before we’re sold out.

Letter from the Editor

“Hey, Red Aimee! Have a great summer. Stay cute and cool.” This sentiment, or something closely resembling it, fills the pages of my eighth-grade yearbook. At the time, I tried to think of it as a term of endearment, hoping that it meant I was at least interesting enough to have been given a nickname. But the truth was, as an inactive Mormon  girl growing up in Provo,Utah, in the 1980s, the last thing I needed was to also be considered a Communist!

Growing up, I had always been vocal about various social causes. At age eight, I joined Greenpeace and circulated a petition through my elementary  school to “help save the whales.” In the sixth grade, I chose to research the Soviet Union for our school’s World’s Fair. As a child of the Cold War who’d spent sleepless nights wondering when the “star wars” would begin, I wanted to learn about the children of the U.S.S.R. and whether or not they shared my fears. At age 12, I was too young to be interested in Communism-! was interested  in world  peace-but my teacher was uncomfortable  with  me researching this “godless nation.” In this politically  conservative environment, my burgeoning progressive viewpoints were often seen as radical at worst and marginal at best to many of my peers and teachers. Staged debates in middle and high school on topics including women serving in the military, capital punishment, climate change, and the welfare system often left me standing on my own. The fact that my progressive positions could be labeled “Communist” by my peers speaks to how unacceptable and threatening even a baby Democrat could be to
some in this bastion of conservatism.

Source: Pew Research Center, 2012.  (Click to enlarge.)

Since this is a Mormon blog, and in America, at least, most Mormons tend to be politically conservative, I thought it odd that so few politically conservative Mormons contributed to our upcoming politically-themed issue of Exponent II magazine and our recent series of politically-themed blog posts. Exponent staff tried to make both the magazine and series politically balanced, but achieving balance was challenging because conservative submissions were so scarce. Is the Exponent community really that different from the rest of our Mormon peers? Let’s find out.

They have hipper music than we do; awesome stadium seating churches and exciting, fiery sermons, complete with multi-media special effects. Of course we stuffy Mormons get jealous of some right-wing Christian groups.

I live in Utah, where Mormons like myself dominate the religious landscape, while conservatives (not me) dominate politics. Every now and then, conservative Mormon politicians try to prove that they can be cool too and start promoting the Christian right agenda. These fellow Mormons use religious rhetoric as they call on all Christians, especially the Mormon kind of Christian, to join their cause. Their speeches baffle me; from my vantage point on the left, their political agenda doesn’t sound like it is related to the faith we share.

Are their political views really more Mormon than mine? I’m examining some of these socially conservative policies to see just how Mormon they really are. I will make every effort to do so without bias, although I disclose that I am an unrepentant liberal.

Rating Scale

Jello: Oh my heck! This position really is Mormon.

Cola: This position is Mormon-neutral. 1

Coffee: This position conflicts with Mormonism.

I side 93% with Barack Obama

I have seen this quiz pop up all over my facebook wall recently. It’s pretty straight forward, you answer a series of questions about your opinions on “political” issues and it comes back with what politician you agree with most. I decided to take this quiz a couple days ago when writing another word of my thesis about domestic violence seemed completely overwhelming. I was not incredibly surprised by the results–as you can see in the image I side with Barack Obama about 93% of the time. I am a liberal through and through (in fact, the times I did not agree with Obama it was because my answers were more progressive than his).

When we drive from Arizona to Utah, our favorite stop is Kanab, Utah. They have the loveliest city park and Three Bears Creamery Cottage with a variety of delicious sandwiches complete with homemade bread. By the time we’re done eating and playing in the park, we feel ready to tackle the next six hours of driving ahead of us.

This year over the Memorial Day weekend, Nate picked up the local Kanab tourist newspaper, and we enjoyed this article. (Thank you to Barbara Pyles for letting us reprint it here.)

And, you’ll note that this is a political piece…don’t you want to submit something for Exponent II’s Fall Political issue? The deadline has been extended to July 1st.

By Barb Pyles

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Kanab electing the first all-woman town council. Kanab’s population in 1911 was about 900 people and they had just elected the first all-woman town council. Several men thought it a joke at first, until the citizens voted for the all-woman ticket. Since there was no other ticket on election day, the women won!