Most of the liberal Mormons I have known have eventually left the LDS church. It's very difficult to be Mormon and liberal politically. Right wing rants from the pulpit. Glenn Beck being quoted in Sunday school/priesthood. Being constantly told that good Mormons shouldn't believe in equality etc. Eventually it's just too much to put up with. Couple all that with the obvious historical/doctrinal problems and it makes no sense to stay. That was my experience, at least.
learning that there were not only LIBERAL Mormons but actually people who had LEFT the church (and survived to tall about it) kept me hooked on RfM.
The atmosphere within the church just doesn't lend itself to open discussion, so you can't work out the really deep questions you have. And you feel so isolated.
Learning that I wasn't alone - finding my way here - was SUCH a great thing!
He probably wishes there were no liberal Mormons, but there are. They were, at one point, fairly common - even serving in the highest levels of the hierarchy. They get rarer by the year however.
I was one for about 5 years. Jesse is right on the money though. It is very taxing to be politically liberal and remain TBM. The cognitive dissonance strain usually grows to be unbearable. And almost always, the testimony cracks sooner than the political views.
It has always perplexed me that the Book of Mormon, which in so many ways reads like a socialist manifesto, is followed by a church that is filled with right-wing nutters. Not that it matters. On the contrary, I think ignorance of the scriptures and the history of TSCC is a prerequisite to remaining a strong TBM.
Not only did Utah go for Roosevelt but Utah was the deciding vote to end Prohibition on Alcohol. Heber J. Grant was not a happy boy about Utah folks voting to end prohibition against his counsel.
I can see how Glenn Beck might think that there are no liberal Mormons. I was a liberal Mormon for 50 years. I was told that to present a dissenting opinion in class, was to bring The Spirit of Contention, which is of the Devil. Since Mormons so freely combine their political and religious views and voice them as gospel, my liberal opinion was never welcome.
I taught Gospel Doctrine for four years, every week. Sometime during the third year, I overheard a conversation between two High Priests, the gist of which was that a High Priest was always assigned to monitor my class. They didn't want me, an uppity liberal woman, polluting the true gospel. I, at the time, was so obedient that they needn't have worried.
As others have stated, if a liberal Mormon can leave, they do leave. TSCC is not a good place for a liberal. That environment can give a liberal an ulcer.
As usual he has his head up his a$$. I identify myself as a conservative but most pundits on TV are self serving morons regardless of their political stripe and I don't waste time watching any of them. JMHO.
BTW, Glenn Beck is just a nut, not a true conservative and certainly not an intellect. I have met him and our second son was his HT a while back. Yikes!
Once you take the religious freak out of the republican, if anything is left, he or she would probably be cool to hang out with. I'd like to find me one of them. :)
So, any bets on how long it will be before Glenn and his crazy-ass politics become a thorn in the side of the brethren? My guess is that when Glenn becomes a liability for LD$ inc., he'll be tossed quicker than a warm beer at an EXMO gathering!
There were two mormons in my ward who worked for a left-wing party, so that automatically proves him wrong.
In the US he's right in the sense that most mormons are definitely conservative/Republican, but he can't be silly enough to not even think there's ONE who isn't...
Not to mention in the rest of the world mormons aren't pressures to vote a certain party like the US ones are.