Romney, Mormons, and me

I'M A Republican, a Mormon, and yes, I voted for Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. Naturally I'm disappointed he's out of the race, but I also find myself relieved. I suspect there are many Mormon Republicans like me who were of two minds about Romney's campaign. We agreed with his politics, basic values, and that he would govern well, but we found his Mormon-ness troubling.

In his recent New York Times article, Noah Feldman touched on the idea that after decades of persecution, Mormons began a process of political and theological mainstreaming at the turn of the 20th century. He writes, "The Mormon path to normalization over the course of the 20th century depended heavily on this avoidance of public discussion of its religious tenets." We have obviously done this well, as Feldman writes, "In just a century, the leaders of the Latter-day Saints had gone from being murdered outcasts to being appointed to the Cabinet. Mormons began to succeed in national business and came to be seen as exemplars of the patriotic American ethos."

Which is why Romney's candidacy was problematic for those whose political views are generally aligned with Mitt Romney's platform; as Mormons, we weren't just considering voting for a person to be president, but a Mormon to president. And instead of keeping our identity on the down low, it was brought into relief, potentially undermining a century's worth of work to feel fully accepted by our neighbors and co-workers. In fact we have worked so hard to assimilate, we have even been able to convince ourselves that we are accepted. With Romney in the national spotlight, it has became all too clear we aren't. This is a discovery we would have preferred not to make.

Meanwhile, there has been criticism that Romney is plastic and too slick. I don't think he was slick, I think he was awkward. One of the consequences of Mormons mainstreaming ourselves is that we have become adept at separating our secular from our spiritual lives. In running for president, and in part because of Mike Huckabee forcing his hand, Romney was required to marry his two lives. Romney clearly knows how to run his secular life. He's done it brilliantly for decades. He also knows how to run his spiritual life. There are scores of people who know him to be good and kind in his spiritual life. But to marry the two? To move to a place where his public persona had to include his spiritual life - it was uncomfortable for him. It is for many Mormons. Which begs the question: if a man who is eminently capable was so very awkward at trying to combine his public and private personas, will we be as well? Assimilate - we have become skilled at it. De-assimilate - and air our spiritual lives in the public domain? Do we dare?

Finally, some have leveled the criticism that Romney is too perfect. But I wonder if for Mormons he wasn't perfect enough. Yes, he's handsome, wealthy, has a beautiful family, and has proven himself an exceptional leader, both in business and public service. But because of our concerns about soft bigotry, whenever a Mormon is in the public eye we want him or her to be absolutely faultless, beyond reproach in any aspect of public, private or spiritual life. It is therefore uncomfortable, even distasteful for us to wonder if he compromised some of his deeply held views in the course of his political life? Would he have ascended to such heights if he hadn't capitulated to political expediency? It's a double-edged sword. Even as we recognize that nearly every candidate switches their positions and compromises some of their core beliefs, I also know that we probably set the bar for him impossibly high - certainly much higher than for any other candidate, because he represented all Mormons. And whether Republican or Democrat, we want the most public face of what it means to be Mormon to be everything we aspire to ourselves - ultimately, absolutely perfect.

With Romney out of the race, Mormons who were ambivalent may breathe more easily for a time. But like it or not, his candidacy has asked Mormons the quintessential American question: In this the 21st century, how do we strike a balance between melting pot and assimilation on the one hand and the maintenance of ethnic or religious identity on the other?

That's the $100 million question.

Whitney Johnson is the co-founder of investment firm Rose Park Advisors in Cambridge.