Romney’s run evokes pride, fear in Mormons

Count me in the "fear" category. I think our church has a reputation of being too far to the right already, and I think Romney positioning himself even further to the right than church doctrine states will even worsen that reputation. I mean, most people who know me know that I'm a liberal, but I wonder what they think about other members of the church, and I wouldn't blame them if they were asking questions like, "Oh, do other members of the church believe in stripping union rights? Or government austerity measures? Do they think contraception is evil?" etc, etc. I know I hear members say all the time how one of the good things about Prop 8 was the alliances we formed with other churches, but those were all on the right, while at the same time, it alienated us from the left, and I worry that Romney's candidacy is only going to further alienate us, only this time, it will alienate us based on positions that Romney holds that aren't necessarily doctrine, but that are assumed to be popularly held positions among church members.