Sunday, April 4, 2010

One purple nation, under God

  • Did this book seem repetitive? Maybe it was too academic for me. When I go back and read my own thesis, I think it's more than a little slow. I think I'm more of an executive summary kind of guy.
  • A bit like Alvin, I found myself concentrating on the graphs and making my own conclusion, then skimming the text. My favorites were the color plates. I loved the plate of US divided into counties—it was like one big purple mess.
  • I enjoyed seeing how red the Mormons are—it's almost comical. One thing that really irks me is when ward members send me an email for something political, especially when I would not associate with them if they weren't members of the church.
  • Harry Reid gave a fireside in our Stake last month. While the fireside itself was more like a boring aubiography than a fireside or a political convention, it made me think about what he said at BYU a few years ago. To paraphrase: I am a Democrat because I'm (not in spite of being) a Mormon
I tend to be much more concerned about "moral" issues than fiscal issues. If I recall, that correlates to rich people, especially in red states.

I'm really disappointed in catch phrases featured often in the media. Why on earth, for example, would people have any desire to listen to Sarah Palin? I think the leftist media thinks her soundbites are so funny that they'll continue to feature her until the Republican party is obsolete.

On the other hand, I feel like Brother Joseph felt—the different parties interpret the same passage of a bill so differently as to obfuscate any understanding of law by an appeal to the bill itself.

No comments: