God and ‘telos’ on the US campaign trail

First, there’s Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. This time around, when his chances of securing the nomination are better than in 2008, it has been at the centre of attention to his candidacy (his early opponent, Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, helped underline Mormonism as a feature of the 2012 campaign). Of course, Mormonism has featured before, courtesy of Mitt Romney’s father George, who lost the Republican nomination to Richard Nixon in 1968. But in 2012 it is attached to the real prospect of a Mormon presidential candidate.
Then there’s Rick Santorum, Romney’s greatest threat. He’s a Catholic who nevertheless speaks in evangelical cadences immediately recognisable to the Protestant Republican hinterland. In his book ‘It Takes a Family’, Santorum mentions God frequently, champions ‘the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview’ and supports the idea, institutionalised in 2001 by George W Bush in his White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, that religious organisations, rather than government, should provide social services.
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