Jared Whitley in his column “So-called progressive Mormons are great! (And spacious)” gives several reasons why he feels devout Latter-day Saints shouldn’t vote for Kamala Harris, or for Democrats for that matter. And some of them are good reasons. However, there are some errors in his argument. First, he mentions that there are “so-called ‘progressive’ Mormons”. The Latter-day Saints I know who happen to be registered Democrats actually consider themselves to be “liberal”. And all of them have expressed outrage at the violence that has been committed by people on both the left and the right. He mentions that the “Democrats’ ‘Big Tent’ includes…. Abortionists who sell dead babies for Lamborghinis.” He fails to mention that the Republicans’ “Big Tent” includes pro-lifers who want to ban all abortions with no exceptions, not even for rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger. Those things are all instances where, according to the Church Handbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, abortion is allowed by the Church. He states that “Letting child sex traffickers, foreign spies, ISIS terrorists and violent gangs into our communities is not nice.” He is correct, but does he have evidence of these individuals entering the United States? He does admit “Donald Trump is not nice.” That’s a bit of an understatement. Donald Trump was convicted of a crime in the state of New York and, while it is true that there is evidence that the New York City District Attorney who brought charges against him was politically motivated to do so, it still doesn’t change the fact that a convicted felon who hasn’t served his time is running for President of the United States. Obviously, for this election, we Latter-day Saints much choose which ‘Big Tent’ is the lesser of two evils. Mr. Whitley only seems to believe that those Latter-day Saints who vote for Kamala Harris must “justify their political choices”. In my opinion, both Latter-day Saints who plan to vote for Donald Trump and those who plan to vote for Kamala Harris must “justify their political choices”.

David VanLangeveld

Ogden