Ammon Bundy, socialists in the church?

[hope_for_things]

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

“It is a completely different theology than a Christian theology,” Bundy said.

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in "government" schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

[ksfisher]

29 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

“It is a completely different theology than a Christian theology,” Bundy said.

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in "government" schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

I think the attention you’ve given Ammon Bundy’s views is already more than they deserve.

[Unaffiliated]

1 hour ago, hope_for_things said:

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

“It is a completely different theology than a Christian theology,” Bundy said.

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in "government" schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

Never heard of the guy.

[RevTestament]

1 hour ago, hope_for_things said:

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

“It is a completely different theology than a Christian theology,” Bundy said.

By definition it is not a theology. It is a value system or philosophy. Philosophy is not a religion.

Quote

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in "government" schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

Yada, Yada. The Church will follow the preset plan of the Lord. This has nothing to do with environmentalism.

[Calm]

I have never heard anyone in the Church who advocated for removing much of human population.  Zero population isn't supported even.

These environmentalists are hiding really, really well.

Edited July 20, 2018 by Calm

[hope_for_things]

8 hours ago, ksfisher said:

I think the attention you’ve given Ammon Bundy’s views is already more than they deserve.

I have some family members and friends that believe would sympathize with many of his views.  The angst against what they believe are environmental extremists, fears about the education system, even some fears about certain veins of thought within the church.  I have heard these sentiments expressed by others before.  

[hope_for_things]

8 hours ago, Unaffiliated said:

Never heard of the guy.

The Oregon standoff is probably the most newsworthy event, does that ring a bell?  The father Cliven started making news first a few years earlier.  Take a look at these wiki articles in case you are interested.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliven_Bundy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammon_Bundy

 

[hope_for_things]

8 hours ago, RevTestament said:

By definition it is not a theology. It is a value system or philosophy. Philosophy is not a religion.

Yada, Yada. The Church will follow the preset plan of the Lord. This has nothing to do with environmentalism.

Have you never heard people at church who voice anti environment sentiments, or fears about the government education system before?  I've heard members all my life who express similar ideas, perhaps Ammon is taking this up a notch, but the underlying expressions he has I think are quite common.  

[Storm Rider]

I read the article and not a lot of it resonated with me or the people I have known in the Church. I realize that there are people that do think the world is made of secret cabals around every corner and we have reason to fear....always. It may be, but he seems out on the edge and reacting to others who are just as far on the edge on the other side. 

I didn't agree with his actions in Oregon at all. Don't know much about elsewhere. 

[hope_for_things]

7 hours ago, Calm said:

I have never heard anyone in the Church who advocated for removing much of human population.  Zero population isn't supported even.

These environmentalists are hiding really, really well.

Its a guilt by association straw-man that Ammon is constructing.  When he sees members in the church espousing pro environment policies and ideas, he associates that with people within that community who have expressed concerns about population growth in the past.  Its a bogey man.  See Saturday's Warrior (Zero Population).  

 

[RevTestament]

29 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

Have you never heard people at church who voice anti environment sentiments, or fears about the government education system before?  I've heard members all my life who express similar ideas, perhaps Ammon is taking this up a notch, but the underlying expressions he has I think are quite common.  

I personally believe we have been poor environmental stewards of our mother earth. I don't join in the so-called anti-environmental bent of many conservatives. I am all for divorcing ourselves from our dependence on oil for cars, and coal and gas for electrical production. But our energy policy is imho abysmal. We have put all our money into the impractical ITER project, and starved other more modern ideas for fusion. We have also starved better, cleaner, and safe fission technology such as thorium MSR plants of all funding since the Nixon administration. Nevertheless, my ideas have basically nothing to do with religion besides the commandment to subdue the earth, and are not religion nor theology.

I do believe the idea for communal living can be a religious one. The NT and the Book of Mormon describe Christian sharing in all things as others have need. We are far from that, and the modern experiment of the United Order was a complete failure because the Church couldn't live it. I think the Hutterites come closest to this ideal. I would not describe this as socialist though, which is a forced redistribution through government rather than a voluntary one of covenant through the Spirit.

Edited July 20, 2018 by RevTestament

[Stargazer]

9 hours ago, hope_for_things said:

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

“It is a completely different theology than a Christian theology,” Bundy said.

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in "government" schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

Without needing to chime in on whether there are a large number of socialists in the Church, consider main stream Democrats such as Bernie Sanders.  Sanders is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist.  He advocates for policies which are thoroughgoing socialistic. He was considered a viable candidate for US President and had lots of support.  Consider also that in a safe Democrat congressional district, New York's 14th Congressional District, a ten-term sitting Democrat who was regarded as a shoo-in and a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi in Congress was defeated by an out and out socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom the aforementioned Sanders has praised highly.  Now, if the Democrat Party is perfectly willing to tolerate explicit socialists in their ranks, where such a thing would have been utterly unthinkable in the time of Jack Kennedy, I'd be totally gobsmacked to learn that the LDS church does not have significant numbers of members who might describe themselves as socialist.

 

[hope_for_things]

4 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

Without needing to chime in on whether there are a large number of socialists in the Church, consider main stream Democrats such as Bernie Sanders.  Sanders is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist.  He advocates for policies which are thoroughgoing socialistic. He was considered a viable candidate for US President and had lots of support.  Consider also that in a safe Democrat congressional district, New York's 14th Congressional District, a ten-term sitting Democrat who was regarded as a shoo-in and a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi in Congress was defeated by an out and out socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom the aforementioned Sanders has praised highly.  Now, if the Democrat Party is perfectly willing to tolerate explicit socialists in their ranks, where such a thing would have been utterly unthinkable in the time of Jack Kennedy, I'd be totally gobsmacked to learn that the LDS church does not have significant numbers of members who might describe themselves as socialist.

 

Good points.  Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination in the 2016 Utah caucus, and I'm sure there were some Mormons who supported his candidacy.  I'm not sure the term socialist has the same negative stigma that it may have had in the past for many people.  

[hope_for_things]

8 minutes ago, RevTestament said:

I personally believe we have been poor environmental stewards of our mother earth. I don't join in the so-called anti-environmental bent of many conservatives. I am all for divorcing ourselves from our dependence on oil for cars, and coal and gas for electrical production. But our energy policy is imho abysmal. We have put all our money into the impractical ITER project, and starved other more modern ideas for fusion. We have also starved better, cleaner, and safe fission technology such as thorium MSR plants of all funding since the Nixon administration. Nevertheless, my ideas have basically nothing to do with religion besides the commandment to subdue the earth, and are not religion nor theology.

I think the ideas of conservation and caring for the environment are harmonious with many gospel principles.  Unfortunately, the Conservative Right seems to have a stronger influence on Republican LDS members.  

[smac97]

10 hours ago, hope_for_things said:

https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/ammon-bundy-claims-lds-church-infiltrated-by-socialists/article_0606cac8-f943-5ff6-a8a6-2827a871d87f.html

I wonder how many conservative members agree with some of what Ammon Bundy says?  

I'm fairly sociopolitically conservative, and I disagree with much of what he says.  I also think he's not on the radar of most members of the Church.

Let's take a look at what he says:

Quote

Ammon Bundy, a constitutional rights defender to his allies and a domestic terrorist to his critics, spoke in Smithfield on Wednesday and claimed that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a devout member, has been infiltrated by socialists, globalists and environmentalists.

Meh.  This doesn't mean much.  It's political claptrap.

Quote

He claimed that the federal government’s prosecution of him and his supporters following confrontations in Nevada and Oregon is really a “battle of high priests” of the LDS Church. He said his father, himself and his attorney are all high priests in the church, but so are the lead U.S. attorney prosecuting his family, the chief judge in Oregon and former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid.

Meh.  The U.S. Attorney is just doing his job.  He's not functioning in his capacity as a high priest.

Quote

Bundy quoted passages Wednesday from Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Judges in the Bible’s Old Testament to draw comparisons to how his family and others have been unjustly targeted by the government. He said it’s a battle between good and evil.

No, it's a battle over grazing rights on BLM land.

This is just melodrama.  He is characterizing himself as per se "good," which means that anyone who disagrees with him is per se "evil."  Not buying it.

Quote

These statements come under the backdrop of Bundy’s worldview that all plants and animals on Earth were placed here by God for the express use and benefit of humans.

On the other side, he claims that environmentalists, globalists and socialists believe that man has evolved into an intellectually advanced species, and therefore all other species are at a disadvantage. He said the environmentalists believe it’s man’s duty to balance the species and to eliminate much of the human population. He said environmentalism is a religion.

There are some extremist elements in the environmentalist movement.  And environmentalism has become a quasi-religion to some folks.  

I would like to see increased focus on environmental issues in the Church.  Unfortunately, environmentalism is carrying a lot of baggage these days (see here for some examples).

Nevertheless, I disagree with Bundy to the extent he juxtaposes the purposes for which God created the earth against environmentalism.  Surely our stewardship over the earth would call for some real attention to environmental issues.

Quote

He said this same group of environmentalists, educated in “government” schools, have infiltrated the lower and middle levels of the LDS Church.

“I know that our church on the lower levels, the mid levels, has been infiltrated by these same people, but not the higher levels,” Bundy said. “I truly believe that those higher levels are honest, good, righteous men who follow the Lord’s guidance and inspiration, and I believe that they will guide us … through these rough times.”

Malarky.  People are joining the LDS Church under false pretenses in order inculcate us with environmentalist propaganda?  Not buying it.

Quote

When a Herald Journal reporter asked Bundy if members of the LDS Church can trust their local clergy, Bundy said it’s up to the individual to determine what is right and wrong.

“Whenever anybody in the church or out of the church is trying to infringe upon your agency, then they have become an enemy to God,” Bundy told The Herald Journal.

Not sure what "trying to infringe upon your agency" means.  I suspect it's code for "daring to disagree with Ammon Bundy."  Anyone who does is is "an enemy to God."

Nice.

Quote

The Herald Journal reached out to the LDS Church for comment Thursday, but the church declined to comment on Bundy’s statements. Some of the attendees, however, agreed with Bundy’s claim that the church has been infiltrated.

Paradise resident Barry Gregerson said he was born and raised in the church and believes it has “been infiltrated in some ways.”

“It’s all about freedom,” Gregerson said. “It’s about looking forward to your own personal freedom.”

Providence resident Debra Pitcher said she believes there’s a split in the LDS Church.

“I think every church on the face of the Earth has people that are phony. Some of them, you know, they don’t believe the main teachings or they could be a spy,” Pitcher said.

RIght.  People are joining the LDS Church, attending its Sabbath and many other meetings, paying tithing, obeying the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, all in service to a cabal bent on "spy[ing]" on the LDS Church.

Yes, there are members of the Church who "don't believe the main teachings."  I really doubt that's by design, though.  This sort of baseless conspiracy-mongering is as absurd.

Quote

Others hedged on Bundy’s use of the word “infiltrated.” American Fork resident Steve Bybee said there’s a difference between knowingly infiltrating a church and just being raised in society and taught by schools, family and friends.

“Huge difference,” Bybee said. “Infiltration means, ‘I know that I’m evil and I’m going to get myself in here so that I can do my evil,’ but what Ammon is saying, even though he used the word infiltrate, it’s not infiltration. They grow up thinking the way they think.”

Layne Beck, a former Cache County Council member and local representative to the Utah Republican Party State Central Committee who invited Bundy to speak in Smithfield, agreed with Bybee’s interpretation.

“Every one of us, including myself, has been educated in a government school system, and I do happen to believe what Ammon said here tonight about it is a religion, this environmentalism is a religion, and I’m not going to say that it’s infiltrated because that’s what they’ve been taught, and they haven’t been taught differently,” Beck said.

That sounds about right.  We are all influenced in various ways by the voices around us.  In school.  In the media.  In entertainment.  Social media.  Friends and family.

10 hours ago, hope_for_things said:

Here is just a segment, but the whole article is worth reading.  I suspect these kind of views are quite popular in the church and I’m curious what others on this board think.  

I don't think Bundy's extremism is popular in the Church.  Maybe in some few areas, but that's about it.

The LDS Church publicly repudiated Bundy's conduct.  I don't think his brand of political/religious rhetoric is going to get him far.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

1 hour ago, hope_for_things said:

I have some family members and friends that believe would sympathize with many of his views.  The angst against what they believe are environmental extremists, fears about the education system, even some fears about certain veins of thought within the church.  I have heard these sentiments expressed by others before.  

I haven't.  Not once.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

26 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

Good points.  Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination in the 2016 Utah caucus, and I'm sure there were some Mormons who supported his candidacy.  I'm not sure the term socialist has the same negative stigma that it may have had in the past for many people.  

I have some friends who are self-proclaimed socialists and ardent Bernie supporters.  I met them while the husband was attending BYU.  They were both very smart and well-informed people, and I respect and love them a lot.  I feel that I am fairly well-educated and well-informed also.  My friends disagree with me a lot on sociopolitical issues, and I disagree with them.  We didn't debate such things, though.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[pogi]

Oh snap...it appears that these lower echelon Mormon environmentalists have hacked lds.org.  Quick, somebody cut a tree down in protest!!!

https://www.lds.org/topics/environmental-stewardship-and-conservation?lang=eng

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by pogi

[SteveO]

9 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

I think the ideas of conservation and caring for the environment are harmonious with many gospel principles.  Unfortunately, the Conservative Right seems to have a stronger influence on Republican LDS members.  

I don’t think anyone disregards the importance of environmental stewardship in the church.  Everyone wants clean air and water.  The national parks are a unique American gem that nobody wants to see disappear or fall into neglect.  But I’ve read opinion pieces from some rather well respected news outlets, questioning the morality of having children, as they are a net detriment to the environment.  If you can square that with the message of the church...eh, good luck.  But that seems to be one of the primary messages of the environmental movement.  

As for socialists, well, there has always been socialists.  I just finished the Ken Burn’s Documentary on the Vietnam War, and they were all present at those protests, advocating the overthrow of the government and all that.  I never knew how bad the division was back then.  I don’t know if we get to that level eventually, but we aren’t anywhere close to that today given the political polarization.  

Without getting too political, I think people who embrace socialist ideas are well intentioned, and I don’t think liberals in the church aren’t good members or trying to “infiltrate” it.  I think there’s always more room for us to be more compassionate and understanding.  Probably the single biggest reason the church has such a monolithic political ideology among the members is the left’s obsession with abortion.  I’m not saying liberal members of the church agree with it, but again, given the general message of the church regarding families and having children...it’s an immediate shutoff and many members won’t even consider other ideas from the left because of its association with that pretty awful practice. 

[smac97]

34 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

I think the ideas of conservation and caring for the environment are harmonious with many gospel principles.  Unfortunately, the Conservative Right seems to have a stronger influence on Republican LDS members.  

I think there are many, many "conservatives" who care very much about the environment, but are repulsed from it because of the over-the-top antics of so many who claim to be the public face of environmentalism, and who presume to instruct us in the ways of environtmentalist orthodoxy and orthopraxy.  Let's ban those straws!  For the sake of the whales and trees!

I previously noted: 

Quote

There is, I think, a deeply-entrenched stain of profound misanthropy in the minds of many self-styled "environmentalists."  Hatred of humans.  Hatred of unborn humans.  Self-loathing.  Encouraging others to self-loath.  See, e.g., the following:

Environmentalism's Deep Misanthropy

Environmentalists against humans: Green is the Color of Misanthropy

Radical Environmentalism Hides Hatred for Humanity

Anti-Humanism Subverts Environmental Movement

There are some facets of what passes for "environmentalism" that are downright toxic.

...

I think we can acknowledge the errors of man, even the serious ones, and also work on improving how we treat the environment, without resorting to publicly advocating suicide, abortion, infanticide, and even hoping for wholesale genocide.  All "for the planet."

I think environmentalism often comes across as repellant because of its advocates' hypocrisy and virtue-signalling (I'm lookin' at you, Leo DiCaprio and Al Gore), their either-you-agree-with-me-or-you-hate-the-environment attitude, their misanthropy, and their creepy quasi-religious overtones.

Environmentalism, in its present form, comes with way, way too many strings attached.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited July 20, 2018 by smac97

[hope_for_things]

21 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I don't think Bundy's extremism is popular in the Church.  Maybe in some few areas, but that's about it.

The LDS Church publicly repudiated Bundy's conduct.  I don't think his brand of political/religious rhetoric is going to get him far.  

You make some good and interesting points, and I hope you are right on your assessment..  I think you're probably much more sophisticated in how you look at things than the average conservative that I've interacted with, someone that doesn't think through these issues in great depth and that may be more susceptible to conspiracy type thinking. 

[hope_for_things]

14 minutes ago, SteveO said:

I don’t think anyone disregards the importance of environmental stewardship in the church.  Everyone wants clean air and water.  The national parks are a unique American gem that nobody wants to see disappear or fall into neglect.  But I’ve read opinion pieces from some rather well respected news outlets, questioning the morality of having children, as they are a net detriment to the environment.  If you can square that with the message of the church...eh, good luck.  But that seems to be one of the primary messages of the environmental movement.  

As for socialists, well, there has always been socialists.  I just finished the Ken Burn’s Documentary on the Vietnam War, and they were all present at those protests, advocating the overthrow of the government and all that.  I never knew how bad the division was back then.  I don’t know if we get to that level eventually, but we aren’t anywhere close to that today given the political polarization.  

Without getting too political, I think people who embrace socialist ideas are well intentioned, and I don’t think liberals in the church aren’t good members or trying to “infiltrate” it.  I think there’s always more room for us to be more compassionate and understanding.  Probably the single biggest reason the church has such a monolithic political ideology among the members is the left’s obsession with abortion.  I’m not saying liberal members of the church agree with it, but again, given the general message of the church regarding families and having children...it’s an immediate shutoff and many members won’t even consider other ideas from the left because of its association with that pretty awful practice. 

Just as an example, I invested in solar panels on my roof last year, and have been very pleased with this investment.  I have had multiple family members (orthodox Mormons) question my sanity on this decision and downplay the importance of solar and other forms of alternative energy largely because of their prejudice that has been informed by right wing propaganda.  

And I'm the finance guy in the family who actually performed a critical ROI analysis on this investment independent of what the solar companies give you, and I'm still questioned on this investment decision.  

Good points about the socialism in the past, I've been watching the Ken Burns Documentary as well, good stuff.  

[Danzo]

If I recall correctly, most of the membership of the church in my mission in Europe belonged to a political party with the word socialist in it.

[bluebell]

I grew up in Wyoming and Montana, where the ideas of 'government, stay out of my life!' is very popular in general.  But even in that very conservative, right wing, everyone has a gun, environment, I know of no members that would agree with Bundy's words in this article.  I'm sure there are some, but they are definitely the minority.

[smac97]

6 minutes ago, hope_for_things said:

You make some good and interesting points, and I hope you are right on your assessment..  I think you're probably much more sophisticated in how you look at things than the average conservative that I've interacted with, someone that doesn't think through these issues in great depth and that may be more susceptible to conspiracy type thinking. 

Perhaps.  But progressives/liberals also have copious amounts of "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad!" types (and conspiracy mongers as well).

I don't take my cues on politics from political advocacy groups.  Not really.  I read news aggregator blogs/sites so as to get more of a cross-section of news sources.  I never watch news on TV (we don't have cable, and I don't have time anyway).  I read a lot.  I went to law school, so I have a great reverence for the Constitution (I find Originalism much, much more compelling than Living Constitution theory).  My father and brother and wife are all significant influences on my thinking.  And, of course, the precepts of the LDS Church are probably the biggest influence in my life.

Conservatism isn't a perfect fit for me, but it's the most proximate to my worldview (I have some fairly influential strains of Libertarianism in my thinking as well). 

Thanks,

-Smac