Reversals Of Position

 

January 11, 2014 at 12:44 AM

It’s interesting to see the historic reversals of position that have happened among several communities lately, especially in historically socially conservative areas.  The places we see this with the most contrast are Utah and Russia. 

Utah

Utah is the current battleground in the legal fight over same-sex marriage.  The original position was in the 19th Century the Mormon Church in Utah almost went to war with the United States over the right to marry as they wished.  In their case it was patriarchal polygamy, but the precedent remains.  In the history of the Mormon exodus, the Church fought armed conflicts in 1838 in Missouri, in 1844 in Illinois, and finally in 1857 in the Utah territory.  In order to avoid a civil war with the United States, and as part of the conditions for statehood, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had to swear off the practice of polygamy.  It was a prime example of the federal government stomping all over the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution because the majority of the US population was freaked out over the Mormon practice of patriarchal polygamy.  The reversal of position is that the Mormon Church, through the government of the State of Utah, is once again about ready to go to war with the federal government of the United States over the issue of marriage.  In this case, same-sex marriage.  This time it’s the government of Utah that is trampling on the Establishment Clause, and the federal government forcing the issue.  The ridiculous part of this is that after the case of same-sex marriage is settled then the Mormon Church may once again be able to return to their original practice of patriarchal polygamy, and do it legally, in a quid-pro-quo in return for recognizing same-sex marriage.  And once again people will be able to legally marry in the way their faith prefers, rather than the way their government tells them. 

Russia

Another reversal of position is that of Russia.  For 70 years the Soviet Union, dominated by Russia, was the antithesis of everything America stood for.  Russia’s form of big-state communism represented everything that the American form of conservatism stood against.  But things have changed.  After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the government of Russia swung from big-state socialism to the kind of corporate controlled economy that would make most American supply-siders squeal with glee.  Now instead of big-state communism they have a form of big-state capitalism.  Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that “the greatest threat to Russia today is Western Liberal policy.”  Another difference is in the issue of gay rights, among others.  Because of the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church the Russian government has made being gay illegal, or the next best thing to it.  In addition to their economic policy, this national gay-bashing is something that many American social conservatives admire.  So now we see the reversal of position.  Russia has gone from the absolute antithesis of American conservatism to something American conservatives admire and think we should emulate.  American liberalism has gone from something Russian communists admired and wanted to expand to something Russians now think is a clear and present danger to their nation. 

There are many other reversals of position, but these two are the ones that jump most glaringly into the front of my mind.