Did they ever live Honesty, Trust, Caring & Compassion, along with appropriate affection (in families, let alone others)
What they have now is a leadership focused on making excuses, not apologizing for obvious, blatant mistakes;
they think they have a patent on what they call morality (99% about sexuality).
When things go wrong (aka Off the Track to Ry fans!), they Never accept responsibility!
the 'only' thing they're proud of is... building temples & other real estate, excluding doubting or never-mos who won't sacrifice enough (aka not live for themselves) Excluding them for ceremonies that example family & social continuity.
In non-IMW places, they act as though community involvement other than ChurchCo is a bad thing because it changes focus, takes time & energy if not $ away from SL coffers.
It's no wonder we call this as self-defeating if not Game Over for the ways things have been done in Morland ever since day 1.
Many of look fondly on the period around 1970. The church was big enough to tolerate the Sunstone crowd, and the local wards were much more autonomous in the organization. The church was also more interested in engaging with the outside world. Note that fundamentalist or evangelical Christianity was limited to odd little congregations in Tennessee or Arkansas. By the end of the decade black people were even allowed into the temple.
I think several factors occurred to change all that. Many of the leaders are still not convinced that blacks are worthy of the Priesthood, and it shows. Boyd Packer was a bully who got everything he wanted. He was the main one who insisted that Mormons' lives revolved around the church to the exclusion of everything else (funerals to be preaching sessions, only hymns in church meetings, SCMC) Many of the Presidents were too physically weak to stop him and his crowd. And the biggie, IMO, was the failure of Jesus to show up on January 1, 2000. The church simply was not prepared for that eventuality.
Ever since then the church has been foundering, trying to find some point of relevance in the modern world. They keep going back to the things that worked in the past, such as emphasizing family life and the unique promise of the temple experience. But as you say, those old chestnuts are wearing thin. I think the church's alliance with the Republican Party will be the final blow for a huge number of Mormons as the reality of what the party has become is being ripped open.
The church was always on the right track. The track was always to make Joe Smith wealthy (and then BY, etc.). It started as a scam and has always been a scam. The only thing that changes are the guys on top of the pyramid raking in the big bucks.