Getting involved in local government

In rifling through the myriad articles on Romney's campaign, I found this article Mormons & Politics:  Romney inspires LDS members to get involved in government to be among my favorites.

On March 31, 1978, President Kimball spoke to a group of Regional Representatives on political and governmental matters, saying "We urge our members to do their civic duty and to assume their responsibilities as citizens in seeking solutions to the problems which beset our cities and communities."

That was nearly 30 years ago.

I have wanted to become more involved, but it was never quite a priority.

One of the upshots of Romney's campaign (realizing that we weren't quite as well-liked as we thought we were) has been for members of our church to become more involved in our communities.

If we initially become involved "to clarify who we are and what we believe", as this article states, so be it.

Because, in time, whether we become a precinct officer, run for the school board, or participate in some other fashion, I believe we will not only have clarified who we are, we will have also made a difference.  Perhaps most importantly, we will find that we belong in a way that we hadn't thought possible.

Related posts:
President Thomas S. Monson -- on working with others
Tabernacle on Trial
Boston Globe Op-Ed:  Romney, Mormons and Me
What we can learn from Ann Romney

Comments

[Dana King]

Whitney,

Excellent post.

An example locally in St. Louis: Brother Jim Daniel, friend of mine, senior citizen and member of the Church, has never been politically active but found an interest through the Romney campaingn even volunteering to head Washington County's efforts to support Romney. He joined a bus load of Missouri supporters to help out in Iowa. The bus was filled with a few lds, but mostly friends of other faiths. The strongest ring leader of the group was Catholic. Brother Daniel said he had many opportunities to share the beliefs of his Mormon faith with Evangelicals, jews and Catholics on the same bus. The conversation came up naturally, not contrived. He enjoyed the experience to make a difference and to be fed by the community. So his envolvment as a Latter-day Saint was a positive one. He was grateful and changed for the experience. His comment to me, "more LDS should get involved in politics, it's a great experience."