Comment by david-cako | Hacker News Reader

Comment by david-cako | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

You could also argue that going into law enforcement or military is an above-and-beyond commitment that people of faith excel in. Conservatism is a focus on whatever may be conserved. Mormons are generally raised to commit themselves to the world around them in an act of faith.

People are talking a lot about "neoliberalism", which is interesting to me; sometimes it seems like a reversal to the British definition of liberal, where in the US we typically say conservative to mean "less programs", but in some ways "more federated power".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-war_consensus

wait, what's conservatism??

Neoliberals in the US are now saying we can have a deregulated cake that is also able to make social guarantees. This is compelling to me, because it's clear that businesses have an overwhelming amount of influence in the US; if there's too much distance from their accountability, it's difficult to measure it. If it is also a business's responsibility to do shit right and make favorable agreements with the government and the US as a whole, maybe they're onto something.

The LDS church seems exceptionally "neoliberal", by some definitions. "Owned and operated", "disaster-recovery-by-default".

You could, but you could also argue that law enforcement and the military attract people with very black-and-white views of morality and society; people who who already unconditionally consider themselves and those like them the "good guys", and everyone else as a potential enemy; people who join the force to "beat up the bad guys" without much consideration of who the alleged "bad guys" are. Given America's widespread problems with police brutality, its police's steadfast opposition to increased accountability measures, and my personal observations of family members and neighbors in the force, I'm inclined to think it's the latter.

You're largely correct with regards to calling the church "neoliberal"; it is infatuated with deregulation (most $100 billion dollar corporations are). However, it's not particularly interested in "social guarantees". To put it in perspective, the church demands 10% of its members' income be tithed to it as admission to "the celestial kingdom" (super V.I.P. heaven); to assuage the fears of those who don't really have 10% to spare, the church tells them they can rely on "the bishop's storehouse", a fund for struggling members. However, in practice many members are unable to get the assistance they need; bishops are actually explicitly instructed to tell members to borrow from friends or family before approaching the church, despite the church's likewise explicit teaching that "if you have to choose between feeding your family and paying tithing, pay tithing".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com