No.1149
Any comrades from Utah here?
How do we fix this beyond fucked up state?
The LDS church runs everything here. Nearly every single little detail of the state’s culture is dictated by Mormonism. Mormon temples are the largest buildings in every city and town. Mormon bookstores are more numerous than most other stores, and old school soda shops are more numerous than cafes (Mormons prohibit coffee and tea but allow caffeinated soda for some reason). Multiple buildings, streets, and businesses are named after Mormon things (e.g. “Cumorrah Avenue”). Multi-level marketing companies are everywhere and sponsor things like stadiums (MLM companies are littered with Mormon moms).
The LDS church is basically run like a massive corporation. They are very good at missionizing and making new converts, plus Mormons tend to get married young and have bucketloads of kids. The average Mormon family has between 4-7 children. The point is, the LDS church is highly reactionary and rules over Utah with an iron fist, yet there is almost no internal resistance to it. “Utah” basically is the LDS church. And that’s not even mentioning the entire settler-colonial history of the church either, the mass slaughter of the indigenous that Mormons participated in to create the state of Utah and such.
With that said, how do we deal with this state’s politics if we are socialists living in it? There’s no way someone like AOC or Mamdani or any DSA candidate could ever win here. If there was ever a socialist candidate, they’d either have to ensure the Utah public that they’re a “good Mormon” (which would mean throwing away their principles and participating in a reactionary, settler-colonial theology) or seek to dismantle Utah culture outright by going against the grip of the LDS church, which would be political suicide.
I’m sorry, but I wish this fucking state didn’t exist. Trying to organize anything leftist here feels like a lost cause.