David Warsh on Marriner Eccles

David Warsh from Economic Principals has written a nice post on Marriner Eccles. I particularly think he hits the nail when he argues that:

"Eccles embodied a peculiarly Mormon ethic of public service, full of frontier practicality (as Boston often has represented Puritan ideals and Philadelphia Quakerly ways). His was a role reprised by Willard “Mitt” Romney, who, as governor of Massachusetts, put a mandatory health insurance reform in place, presumably as the model for a national plan. (Romney eventually buckled under Tea Party pressure and disavowed the aim.)"

Although it is not well-known early Mormon doctrine was closer to Socialism that one might think, with an emphasis in redistribution and cooperative work (see for example this paper on "Communism among Mormons"; subscription required).

For more on Eccles go here and here. For a discussion of the LDS social ethic of cooperation the classic book by Leonard Arrington, Building the City of God, is a must read.