I’ve always found this to be a ludicrous and unfair question. You can ask about a candidate’s own military service (or lack thereof), but it’s useless and inappropriate to demand that their children serve. Parents don’t “put” their kids in the army (anymore). And I actually agree with Romney when he lauds his children’s public service (which parents should encourage, whether it be Teach for America, the Army, or volunteering at a soup kitchen). Yes, the Mormon faith mandates missionary service, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re serving the public. Not all of missionary work is proselytizing—they also do some good social work.

FYI, to everyone telling Romney or Bush to “send your own kids to Iraq,” why don’t you do the same?

Nita Martin, your sons have performed a brave and valuable service to their country. It required you to be strong and instill in them a sense of service. However, did you send them? Or did they, as adults who love their country, make that decision? modeler, did your parents send you to war, or were you drafted or made an adult choice?

This is why I think it’s ridiculous to demand candidates “send their children to war” in order to have war creditability. Because they can’t send their kids to war.

You can show war credibility 1) through your own service, 2) by making sure war families have financial and emotional support, 3) by making sure troops have adequate armor, 4) making sure vets have proper care and opportunities when they return home and 5) only using war as a last resort. Please note: this is not to say that Bush or any of his cronies did any of the above.

Did Romney say missionary work is the equivalent of army service? It isn’t clear that he did. In response to a question about his children, Romney demonstrated his pride for his sons and the work they’ve done. I see it less as saying “missionary work is the equivalent of army service” and more as a father defending his children’s integrity.

As for Mormon missionary work not truly being community service… Any Mormon who only goes door to door proselytizing isn’t contributing much to society, as far as I’m concerned. But not all Mormons spend all of their time riding their bikes door to door in matching outfits. Some learn the language of whatever impoverished country they visit and do humanitarian work. I don’t know what sort of missionary work the Romney boys did, but if it requires my slogging through their blog pages to find out, I’m not interested. Dismissing all Mormons as mere annoying proselytizers is religious bigotry.

Ultimately, though, I don’t care about the Romney boys missionary work or lack or military service. I do, however, care about Mitt Romney’s missionary work and, to a lesser degree, his lack of military service. I’m very concerned about the blending of church and state today. We already have a president who thinks he’s on a mission from God. To do missionary work, you have to believe so strongly in the rightness of your religious path that you believe it would be morally wrong not to share this path with others. That you have a tremendous responsibility to save souls. I don’t think the president of the United States should feel that type of religious calling. Faith is fine and good in a president. Missionary sensibilities best belong in religious institutions.

J. Mandel writes, "And in case you didn't get the press release, parents can't just ship their adult children off to the military, whether they'd like to or not."

Exactly. It is astonishing how many people do not seem to get this.

This whole argument about Romney's kids and their lack of military service is a useless distraction. There are plenty of other valid reasons to be against Mitt Romney.