Mormonism and American Politics Conference

***********I ripped off several of these pictures from Matt and Addy's blog wherein this issue has already been addressed. Don't sue us 'cause you have two lawyers to our one so you'll probably win.***********

Last weekend we went with Matt and Addy to the above mentioned conference in Princeton. I'll not tire you with all the details, but suffice it to say that it made me feel smart to be in attendance instead of feeling like just a boring person whose brains are falling out of their ears. I even asked a question which garnered a laugh from the audience, an intended laugh, although it was not by far the cleverest question asked. Fortunately the dumbest question asked was a fight between two asked by one weirdo at various times. We had to bring Beckett so Chris and I took turns on baby duty.

So when Chris was out I was sitting by Matt and his wife Addy was on his other side. He talked to both Addy and I and he remarked later that since this conference dealt with polygamy at several points it probably looked like he had two wives. And two outspoken wives at that since we both asked questions. So let this be a lesson to all of you out there that polygamy is all fun for men. My awesome friend Addy is a lot like me in many ways and I don't think there's a man around that could handle being married to two of us.

The man in the middle is the keynote speaker Noah "Dreamboat" Feldman. Okay I added that middle name. He really is brilliant and we had a discussion on the way home about whether he could truly be classified as a genius. I think we agreed he could. Anyway just a fascinating address about the current conservative political climate and Mitt Romney's place in it. He concluded that Romney's religious views are an important part of his candidacy precisely because he's running as a Republican which traditionally garners the votes of "values voters." If he was running as a Democrat he hypothesizes Romney could claim his religion had no part in how he would govern and that would be that, but the very nature of the GOP at this point necessitates him bringing religion into things. Feldman also talked about other things (see Matt and Addy's blog for their take) but I found that analysis particularly interesting. That recap didn't sound particularly earth shattering, but his lecture really was amazing.

After the conference we had a great lunch with an old friend of Chris' who subsequently left Chris' firm so we haven't seen him in ages. We didn't get a picture, but it was New York Patrick, i.e. Nathan, and his wife Jill. They're so much fun. Even Matt and Addy who didn't know them had a great time at our 3 hour lunch. Our friends are all awesome. We're pretty lucky.