Jeff Flake Was Listening in Mormon General Conference
On Tuesday, October 23, Washington was roiled by yet another political earthquake as the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake, announced that he was retiring from Congress at the end of his current term. Flake joined a wave of other Republican politicos who have abandoned ship since the election: Bob Corker, Jason Chaffetz, Dave Reichert, Charlie Dent, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen . . . the list goes on. What distinguished the Mormon Senator and BYU grad from the rest, however, were the unsparing criticisms he leveled at Trump as he announced his departure, criticisms that, interestingly enough, echoed the admonition of a senior Mormon leader late last month at the faith’s General Conference.
Observe, a line from Flake’s retirement speech/broadside against Trump:
“Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as telling it like it is when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified. And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else. It is dangerous to a democracy.”
Flake also made this remark:
“I rise today with no small measure of regret. Regret because of the state of our disunion, regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics. Regret because of the indecency of our discourse.” (emphasis added)
Now read this line from a talk given on September 30 by Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church:
“Some misuse authenticity as a celebration of the natural man and qualities that are the opposite of humility, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and civility. We can celebrate our individual uniqueness as children of God without using authenticity as an excuse for un-Christlike behavior.”
Cook later says:
“The widespread deterioration of civil discourse is also a concern. The eternal principle of agency requires that we respect many choices with which we do not agree. Conflict and contention now often breach ‘the boundaries of common decency.’ We need more modesty and humility.” (emphasis added)
(Of note, the footnote for the “boundaries of common decency” quote in the previous paragraph references a David Brooks New York Times article that condemns Trump as a “snake oil salesman.”)
Putting that aside, it’s not hard to see the echoes of Elder Cook’s words in Flake’s speech. Flake decries Trump’s “telling it like it is” just as Cook condemned the Presidents “authenticity.” Flake likewise laments the decline of our political discourse, just as Cook bemoans the “widespread deterioration of civil discourse.”
I’ve had my disagreements with Sen. Flake, but whatever you may say about him, he is a man of principle and honor. And a man who, apparently was listening during General Conference.