THE STUMP FEBRUARY 8, 2012
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[Guest post by Jarad Vary]
Matthew Bowman has a thoughtful analysis on the homepage that sketches the surprising ways that Mormonism may shape the social welfare policies of a potential Romney administration. But if Mitt Romney is, indeed, obliged by his faith to show general concern for poor people, I thought I’d ask a more specific follow-up: Mr. Romney, what about panhandlers?
For some conservatives, it’s an easy question to answer. See the following recommendation, from a newsletter published by (Mormon convert) Glenn Beck on November 24, 2008:
“‘Can you spare some change?’ Have you ever been asked this by some random panhandler? A good response is ‘Sorry, I only carry hundreds.’ It gets ‘em every time.”
But as Bowman discussed yesterday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints preaches solicitude and compassion towards the poor. As for panhandlers, Mormonism is even more explicit: Mormon scripture mandates generosity towards those who beg for help.
The relevant passage is found in the Book of Mosiah, in which the Mormon leader King Benjamin orders his followers to lend aid to all those who ask: “…ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.”
Benjamin continues: “Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—But I say unto you [...]are we not all beggars?” According to the Mormon author John Gustav-Wrathall “devout Mormons are among the only people I know who as a matter of principle cannot refuse direct requests for money from panhandlers.”
Of course, scripture is one thing, and practice another. The business community in Salt Lake City, home to the headquarters of Mormonism, has been trying to chase out the city’s panhandlers for more than two decades. In 1995, a marketing campaign urged the people of Salt Lake to “Say YES to the Homeless . . . Say NO to Panhandling.” In 2003, business groups distributed brochures warning of panhandlers with drug addictions. And since 2009, businesses have pushed for a formal city ordinance to limit “aggressive panhandling”. But the efforts haven’t succeeded: the panhandlers still gather every day, outside the city’s Temple Square and elsewhere.
So what does Mormon generosity tell us about the potential policies of a President Romney? To be sure, Romney’s platform as a GOP candidate offers the best prediction we have of how he would govern. Candidate Romney pledges to repeal the Affordable Care Act, supports Paul Ryan’s entitlement-busting budget, and has called for tax giveaways to the one percent—hardly a brief to repair the social safety net. In fact, to quote Jon Cohn, “the policies he has proposed would have the very opposite effect.”
Still, it does seem that Romney is someone who can’t easily refuse direct requests for money from people in need. Two weeks ago, at a campaign event in South Carolina, a woman named Ruth Williams told Romney about her financial difficulties—and the candidate gave her all of the cash he had on him, between fifty and sixty dollars.
Now, that’s spare change we can believe in.
9 comments
It's been a long time since I read something about Romney that made me want to respect him. The last paragraph did that.
- IowaBeauty
February 8, 2012 at 12:07pm
Iowa: I believe the cash exchange was not a chance meeting. It was the result of an arrangement ahead of time at the suggestion of a staffer who had met the woman in need after she was directed to the campaign by a Romney bus driver.
- Nusholtz
February 8, 2012 at 12:19pm
iowa, really? with cameras rolling? $60 to him is far less than a penny to us, and do you really imagine that $60 is going to rescue someone down and out? When I was young I was down to my last dime a few times when I was out of a job, the only thing that saved me was a new job. I am not saying that Romney throwing a few bucks the way of the woman was wrong, but let me say I am dubious. The Bible says alms giving should be done in private. If he really wanted to help he could have had one of his people get in touch with her and try to do something. And the essential thing is that Romney's policies will destroy me. I have a child with a rare genetic condition that will require lifetime medication and monitoring. Obamacare will ensure that he can get the health care he needs, Romney will make me a slave to my job, not able to leave it because of not being able to get care for him later. Under Romney not care, my child as an adult will be forced to rely on charity care as no insurance company will take him. Yeah, like I am going to respect a man who will force my child to beg for his medication on a condition he was born with.
- blackton
February 8, 2012 at 12:28pm
Why is it not surprising that Glenn Beck, when given the choice between following the tenets of his new Mormon faith and being the dick he had been before, chose to continue being a dick?
- wildboy
February 8, 2012 at 1:17pm
A few years back, I worked with a Mormon guy and we were pretty good friends. I noticed that when we went to lunch downtown, he went out of his way to give money to panhandlers (or, to be politically correct - "Alms-seeking Americans"). I never asked him why - for some reason it felt like prying, and also, I didn't have a response ready if he had asked me "Well, why don't you give to panhandlers?" So this settles that mystery - thanks.
- GeoffG
February 8, 2012 at 2:20pm
Hell, he makes $50K PER DAY. After Bush-II, I never thought we'd be trying to say again "well, maybe he'll be better in office". I thought campaigns were where the candidate says what he wants to do, and the people decide. Apparently Republican campaigns have become where the candidate says what the Tea-Party, Fox-News, and the Koch Brothers want to hear, and the rest of us just have to hope he'll do better once he's elected. I'm not optimistic about that. Or, we could just vote Democratic, where "doing the right thing" doesn't require a phone call from Fox-News to find out what it is.
- AllanL5
February 8, 2012 at 3:20pm
Nusholtz, blackton, Cut me a little slack here. I wasn't exactly endorsing the guy with "first thing ... long time ... want to respect." Now, if as Nusholtz says, it was an arranged transaction, then OK, that's pretty low. If not, I'm not going to withhold some degree of respect for a guy who empties his pockets to someone. Yes it's a trifle to Romney, but how many politicians wearing a religious heart on their sleeves can you think of who wouldn't take the prescription of their religion seriously enough to bestow such a trifle? "Whatsoever you give to the least ...." would suggest that this should be the default expectation of every politician (or anyone else) claiming to be a follower of Christ, and I see a lot more people in this supposedly Christian nation walking past beggars with eyes averted than I do tossing their coffee money into a cup.
- IowaBeauty
February 8, 2012 at 3:24pm
Religious believers have argued to me that they are more charitable and altruistic than atheists. On the other hand, I suspect that atheists whine less about paying taxes, some of which support arms, but some of which also supports alms for lazy welfare cheats. I don't know who does a better job of supporting energetic fat cat capitalists who know how to game the tax system.
- skahn
February 8, 2012 at 7:55pm
Wasn't Romney also the candidate who was unable to lend a guy who came to one of his rallies in an early primary state a dollar, because he wasn't carrying anything smaller than a $100 bill? If true, this story looks even more like a bit of counter-narrative by the campaign. "Look, I'm a regular guy! I carry twenties now!" (As an aside, I have always felt that people who carry $100s as walking-around money -- rich, poor, or middle class -- are jerks. Asking a coffee shop to make $78 in change for you first thing in the morning so you can walk around feeling wealthy is inconsiderate at best. It surprises me not a bit that Glenn Beck advises his readers to claim membership in that club.)
- austinexpat
February 9, 2012 at 9:35am