CLIFF DUNN

Every four years, the American tribe engages in the Rite of Democracy known as the presidential preference primary. (Five states, Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, Texas, and Washington State’s Democratic–but not Republican—Party, hold caucuses.) I find this ritual somewhat distasteful, as it’s another excuse for Americans to break up into our component parts, focusing on the differences between us rather than the things which unite and unify us.

This week, Florida’s Republican voters selected Mitt Romney as their choice to challenge President Barack Obama in the fall.

The Democrats have been spared the almost fetish-like ceremonial Eating-of-One’s-Own-Young this time out by virtue of Obama’s uncontested re-nomination. But for now, we are treated to the spectacle of the Grand Old Party of Lincoln and American statesmen like Everett Dirksen, Robert A. Taft, and Barry Goldwater, going picnicking on its own, with Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul locked in a contest of Who-Can-Commit-The-Worst-Atrocity in the service of getting to do unto Obama in much the same fashion come this November. At times like these, I wonder if any of the Revered 2,977 Victims who fell to their deaths on 9/11 wondered if the unfortunate person who was plummeting beside him was a Democrat or Independent, Liberal or Tea Party-er.

Although I am not eligible to vote in the Republican primary (I hold no party affiliation, although I tend to skew left in the Sensible Center), I was hopeful for the candidacy of Jon Huntsman, Jr., Utah’s former governor and America’s Obama-appointed ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011.

There are some things I find noteworthy about the 51-year-old Huntsman, much of it having to do with his relationship to his faith and upbringing. Huntsman is a Latter-day Saint or Mormon, but he’s not what members of that faith call a “Utah Mormon,” which has a negative connotation when made by Latter-day Saints from elsewhere in the country, and refers to a parochial mindset and provincial ideas. Huntsman was born in California, a polyglot, open-minded part of the country (excepting, perhaps, for Orange County), and attended the University of Utah, which is considered the more secular of the Beehive State’s institutions of higher  learning, as compared to its vastly more conservative rival, the Mormon Church-owned Brigham Young University (BYU). After attending the “U,” Huntsman transferred to the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, another place he would be exposed to “big ideas.” (His distant cousin, Mitt Romney, attended Harvard, another “big idea” school.)

Although he dutifully served a Mormon mission in Taiwan for two years–Huntsman’s father, Jon, Sr., whom Glenn Beck praised as “the only man I have ever met that I believe has the character of George Washington,” is a billionaire philanthropist and well-placed member of the Mormon hierarchy—the former ambassador professes an almost New Age theology. In a May 2011 interview with “Time” magazine, Huntsman was more cagey than a stripper in church (pardon the metaphor) about his standing with the LDS Church (“I’m a very spiritual person,” as opposed to a religious one, he says, “and proud of my Mormon roots.” Roots? That makes it sound as if you’re not a member anymore. Are you? “That’s tough to define,” he says. “There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.”). That one so cagey as to be worthy of Bill Clinton. Or Abraham Lincoln.

On LGBT rights, Huntsman deeply contrasted with both party and church positions. Quoting a Huntsman spokesman last June, The Daily Beast reported that “Gov. Huntsman has long been supportive of civil unions. His position on that issue is the same as President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.”

That article noted that “in 2004 Bush said the GOP was wrong to oppose same-sex civil unions and that it was up the states to decide how best to move forward. But he didn’t push for gay rights, as Huntsman eventually did.”

Although as a candidate for governor, Huntsman supported Utah’s 2004 constitutional amendment which forbids same-marriage, he supported the 2009 initiative permitting civil unions, in spite of overwhelming opposition from his party and from within his church.

While governor, Huntsman, who supports Second Amendment (gun ownership) rights, and opposes abortion rights, shepherded a legislative agenda that was worthy of the most cranky Tea Party member, including creating jobs while at the same time cutting taxes. Here’s someone who could have appealed to several camps at once, a—and I’m almost embarrassed to use the word—unifier. Sadly, that just doesn’t play well today in Iowa. Or Florida.

Cliff Dunn is the Editor of Florida Agenda. He can be reached at Editor@FloridaAgenda.com.