Separation Of Church And State

The Christian Right Loses Its Power And Influence In 2012 Elections

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The Christian Right, known in the past as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, was a very powerful force from the late 1970s until 2012, having an impact on the election of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and effectively hijacking the Republican Party, effectively promoting their biased agenda.

But now they have suffered a major defeat in 2012, and the influence over the party is waning. The Republican Party is well aware that if they allow the Christian Right to continue to wage war against women, immigrants, and gays, then they will disappear as an effective political opposition to the Democratic Party.

The majority of American women do NOT want anyone controlling their reproductive lives, and telling them that rape is not a reason for abortion.

The majority of immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, do not want minority groups to be profiled, have to fear the police, be told to leave the country with their children who are born in America, and have religious leaders display hate and prejudice toward them.

The vast majority of gays and lesbians, and their straight allies, want discrimination based on sexual orientation to be ended, and to have the same legal rights to basic civil rights, including the right to marry.

So those Christian pastors who preach hate, including those who rail against Barack Obama and wish him harm, are only undermining the legitimacy of their being ministers of Jesus Christ, who would, most certainly, be advocating the totally opposite view of all of these groups, and promoting love and tolerance, rather than hate!

It is a good thing that the Christian Right is declining in its influence, as the South and Great Plains decline in significance in population terms, and as older white males in particular, who refuse to understand the need for change and moving forward, grow older, and will soon pass on, as a bad memory of the ugliness of extremist religious values!

Separation of church and state needs to be reaffirmed! Theocracy is against what the Founding Fathers advocated!

The Nerve And Gall Of Mitt Romney: Against The Principles Of The Declaration Of Independence!

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It has been a few days since Mitt Romney’s comments at a Boca Raton mansion leaked out, and the more one thinks about it, it makes one simmer and boil with rage!

Here is a man, and all of the wealthy “prima donnas” who gave $50,000 campaign contributions to hear him speak and answer questions, and what does Mitt Romney say?

That 47 percent of the population feels they are “entitled to food, housing and health care and whatever.”

The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, declared that there were certain basic natural rights of man–including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!

So EVERY person in America, supposedly the most advanced nation in the world and a democracy, should be entitled to:

Food
Clothing
Shelter
Health Care
Some Joy and Contentment in their lives on a daily basis, and particularly when older

With all of the 47 percent paying some kind of taxes, and many of them being senior citizens, who have contributed to Social Security and Medicare all of their working lives; and many being veterans who have fought for their country; and with single mothers contributing children who will later be taxpayers; and with college students being educated to contribute taxes with their employment in the future—with all these realities—NO POLITICIAN and NO PARTY should tell the American people that they are not entitled to food, clothing, shelter, health care, and the ability to have some joy and contentment in their lives, at all times, but particularly when older!

The answer is for the American people to repudiate Romney and his Republican party, and stop allowing wealthy people to divide us by bringing up issues of race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation to divide us—and also—keep religion out of government, and promote separation of church and state!

This is supposed to be a government OF, BY, and FOR the people, so let’s get to work!

Theodore Roosevelt Became President On This Day In 1901: Transformation Of The American Presidency!

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On this day in 1901, the first year of the 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States upon the death of President William McKinley, who died of gunshot wounds suffered eight days earlier in Buffalo, New York, perpetrated by the assassin, Leon Czolgosz!

TR becoming President turned out to be transformational, as he became an advocate of an activist Presidency, and became a model for both Republican Presidents and Democratic Presidents of the future!

TR helped to make America a world power, and would be shocked at the thought of many today who would advocate withdrawing from the world.

TR would be proud of President Barack Obama in his handling of the Middle East crisis that emerged this week with the death of Christopher Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya, and would be shocked at the reaction of his fellow Republican, Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Also, TR would be proud of Barack Obama for accomplishing what he first brought up as an issue a century ago–national health care for all—and would be disappointed that his party has set out to repeal “ObamaCare”!

It is clear that TR, were he alive today, would be a Democrat, not a Republican, as TR’s Progressive beliefs have been repudiated by right wing conservatives, and TR would be furious at social conservatives trying to control the American people’s private lives, and promoting religion in government, rather than the tradition of the Founding Fathers, to have separation of church and state!

And TR, were he here now, would love to punch Glenn Beck and other right wing extremists who have attacked him because he was a Progressive, who believed that government was designed to make life better for the people, not for the corporations and the wealthy!

Yes, TR had his faults, as we all do, but he stands out as one of our greatest Presidents, who might never have ascended to that job, but for the evil deed of one man, who murdered William McKinley.

Just the same, Barack Obama will not let a small band of terrorists and thugs in Libya to upend our foreign policy, and he will show resolve and principle in dealing with the issue, just as TR always did in the Presidency!

Barack Obama is a worthy successor to the heritage of Theodore Roosevelt!

Mitt Romney: Total Opportunist, Totally Unprincipled!

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So now Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor, has what he has wanted all of his life: to be the nominee of the Republican Party for the Presidency of the United States!

Now the problem is to WIN the Presidency from a man who is one of the great orators and political “animals” of the modern Presidency, right up there with Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.

Each of the above had his shortcomings and weaknesses, but each knew how to inspire and motivate people, and have people believe in them and their principles.

Mitt Romney has no such problem, no such oratorical gift, no such ability to inspire and motivate people, and no principles he will not abandon in his mad dash to be President!

Mitt Romney offers himself as a chameleon who will change his views on a moment’s notice if he believes it will help promote his desire to be President!

But by being so inconsistent, so changeable, so lacking in embarrassment that he has totally changed his views and repudiated his record as Governor of Massachusetts, he makes it difficult for anyone to feel a commitment to go out there and vote for Mitt as a principled political leader who one can know how he would conduct himself as President.

Mitt Romney is phony even when he laughs, even when he tells a joke, even when he attempts to sing. One finds himself embarrassed for him, that he cannot look at tapes of himself and wince at how he appears to the American people.

This is a man of unknown quality, an intelligent man for sure, a good family man for sure, probably a lot of fun to be around in private according to his wife’s testimony, a man of strong religious principle for sure, and a man who if he was not running for President might come across as genuine if he was not seeking your vote.

But he is asking us to vote for him without having any clue as to whether he will go back to being a moderate, or remain on the right wing of the Republican Party. We do not know if he would be willing to gut the social safety network that even George W. Bush expanded. We do not know if he would be able to get along with right wing Republicans in Congress, or would be his own man and break with the extremism that they represent.

We do not know how he would shape the Supreme Court, whether he would pick moderates or make the Court so right wing that it would set us back for two generations of time.

We do not know how he would communicate with the media, and through them, with the American people on a daily basis. He certainly would have a tough act to follow, lacking the charisma and personality of Barack Obama.

Would Mitt Romney be willing to preside over the dissolution of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as we know it? Would he be unwilling to work with our European allies, and be ready to commit troops to ever continuous war in the Middle East? Would he be someone who would resist religious influence to promote an intrusion in government beyond the wishes of the Founding Fathers? Would the Mormon Church gain a special foothold in government, and be able to promote its backward, resistance to change, mentality with a Mormon in the White House, or would Romney, like John F. Kennedy, make clear that he happens to be a Mormon, but is not the Mormon President, not dedicated to the church’s advancement in a nation that is a country of all religions and also, no religious beliefs?

What it comes down to is that Mitt Romney as President would be a total “blank slate”, an unknown, who we would have no idea of what kind of President he would turn out to be.

The question is whether the American people want to gamble on a man who is so much an unknown quantity, due primarily to his chameleon nature!

The betting is clearly that the answer will be NO!

Rick Santorum And Barry Goldwater Would NOT Be Friends!

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Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the MOST right wing nominee for President we have ever had, and lost in a massive landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Barry Goldwater was an economic conservative, who was against the New Deal, wishing Robert Taft, the earlier conservative Republican leader, had become President, because he wished to repeal the New Deal, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower institutionalized the New Deal as the first Republican President since Herbert Hoover. Goldwater wished to make Social Security voluntary, rather than required as part of the tax collection, which it had been for a quarter century.

Barry Goldwater was also a foreign policy conservative, who believed in ultimate confrontation with the Soviet Union and any foreign enemy, including potential use of nuclear weapons.

Barry Goldwater appealed to states rights advocates, and although supportive of the broad concept of civil rights for African Americans, he criticized the civil rights movement and its leaders, and accepted the backing of Southern segregationists.

BUT with all of his faults, one thing Barry Goldwater was NOT–a social conservative a la former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Barry Goldwater was NOT a believer in the role of religion in government, and was a major critic in later years of the Christian Coalition, and the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and other evangelical Christian ministers.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was the business of government to interfere in private life of individuals and their families, so did not support the Pro Life Movement against abortion rights for women.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was anyone’s business to condemn or vilify people because of their sexual orientation, and so supported the rights of gay men and women.

Barry Goldwater believed that all Americans should be allowed to serve in the military, so was against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” interfering with the right of gay men and women to serve our nation, asserting that he did not care what one’s sexual orientation was, as long as he or she could “shoot straight!”

Barry Goldwater would have been mortified to see a candidate who condemned sexual relations except for procreation purposes, and to observe a candidate speak out against the use of contraception by couples for their family planning and the health and welfare of women.

It is clear that were Barry Goldwater alive and active today, he would repudiate Rick Santorum as a social totalitarian, an extremist, a dangerous man to give power to, as there is nothing worse than a “Puritan” trying to promote morality by force!

Conclusion: Barry Goldwater and Rick Santorum would NOT be friends!

Barry Goldwater came across as whacky, extreme, untrustworthy to be our President, and he often “shot from the lip”, getting himself into major troubles that could be exploited by Democrats and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. IF Rick Santorum ends up as the GOP nominee in 2012, the same weaknesses will get him in major troubles that could be exploited by the Democrats and President Barack Obama!

Rick Santorum The Promoter of Class Warfare, Not Barack Obama!

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Republicans have, on a regular basis, accused President Barack Obama of promoting “class warfare”, because he promotes the concept that the wealthy have been very fortunate, with the biggest tax cuts in history during the Bush and early Obama years, and must start to pay their fair share of taxes to help support the national commitments and responsibilities.

But actually, it is Rick Santorum, above all, who is promoting class warfare, by advocating an anti elitist view about the news media, colleges and universities, and liberals, blaming them for reporting what is going on, and promoting investigation of the mess created by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party during the years they controlled the national government, and advocating open inquiry and analysis and thinking, rather than accepting what we are told is the ultimate truth from a man who advocates religion in government, rather than separation of church and state.

Santorum is trying to organize blue collar whites who are not educated beyond high school and have a much higher unemployment rate against white collar workers and college educated people who have a much lower unemployment rate.

Instead of seeing that education is the road to success and the stable middle class, and despite the fact that Santorum himself has three college and university degrees and will certainly hope his own children will get a college education to advance themselves economically over a lifetime, Santorum calls educated people snobs, and Obama is blamed for promoting a better life for the future generation!

This campaign pitch of Santorum is promotion of resentment, anger, and against the role of education in attainment of life’s goals. It is sick, insane, destructive of social mobility for the future of the nation, and Santorum needs to be repudiated in a massive way by his party, but they seem unwilling to take him on, and they are therefore promoting further degradation of the middle and working classes by NOT advocating what Obama says is necessary for success–as much education as any young person can handle, rather than a drive to the bottom!

If the blue collar whites of the Midwest back Rick Santorum, they are guaranteeing their continued decline into poverty and degradation!

Santorum’s pitch is the closest to that of Pat Buchanan in 1992 and George Wallace in 1968, but he is more of a threat to be the standard bearer of a major political party, and this could, therefore, be a calamity in the making!

Mitt Romney, Gutless Wonder: Refusal To Stand Up Against “Crazy” Rick Santorum Proves He Would Be Weak President!

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has proved to be a “gutless wonder”, unwilling to stand up against “Crazy” Rick Santorum, and if he cannot do this, what kind of a President would he be? How could we believe that he would fight against right wing extremism, or stand up to foreign nations, or believe anything that comes out of his mouth? He would lack all credibility in the White House!

Mitt Romney has shown he has no principles, no core, no stands he will not back down on if put under pressure!

This is not the kind of leadership that America needs in troubled times. He has not convinced America or his party that he cannot be pushed around, and that is totally scary and troubling at the same time.

If he cannot condemn Rick Santorum for saying that promoting college education for young people is a sign of snobbery; if he cannot stop being petty in advocating that “Big Bird” and PBS being cut from government support (a miniscule amount of money) as a reaction to what Santorum is saying, trying to outdo him in the attack on education; if Romney is unable to speak up for separation of church and state, as he himself is from a minority religion in America as a Mormon, just as John F. Kennedy was a Catholic; and if Romney cannot look us in the eye and say he wishes to govern as a moderate centrist, the only way to govern, rather than a hard line right wing conservative against his entire history, then Mitt Romney should not be President, and were he so, he would be a disaster in the White House!

The answer is to wish that Rick Santorum is the nominee, is walloped by Barack Obama, and that defeat would force the extremists out of the Republican Party, and allow the mainstream moderate center to reclaim control of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike and even Reagan, to return to sanity and a future where Americans could again trust the GOP with national power in the White House and Congress! The only fear about asserting this is the concern that IF some tremendous economic or foreign policy crisis arises in the eight months to the election, that Americans might be crazy enough to vote in a right wing extremist, Rick Santorum, in a moment of fear and emotion. If that were to happen, then all faith in the common sense of the American people will have been lost, and we will be in deeper trouble than we have ever been in our entire history!

Rick Santorum: Angry, Pessimistic, Intrusive Into Personal Lives, And No Ronald Reagan!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum represents angry, pessimistic Tea Party mentality; hating government; hating educated people; hating the world outside America; wishing to dominate women’s lives;wanting to promote hard line Christian theology on Americans; trying to enforce a Puritan standard on personal behavior; rejecting privacy rights on social matters; invoking Satan as no other Presidential candidate ever has.

All of the above is said to be continuing the heritage and tradition and example of Ronald Reagan, but that is a total lie, as Ronald Reagan was optimistic; had a sunny disposition; avoided social conservatism except in rhetoric; hardly ever attended church; understood the need for government and taxation despite his rhetoric; knew how to work with the opposition, as for instance, Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill on Social Security reform; and worked to promote the end of nuclear weapons despite an earlier hawkish viewpoint of foreign policy.

Rick Santorum could not ever be as presidential as Ronald Reagan, with all of his faults recognized. Ronald Reagan was a comparative giant, while Rick Santorum could not stand in his shoes.

Rick Santorum has no respect for the office of the Presidency, with his sharp attacks on a revered President, John F. Kennedy, who understood the sensitivity of being Catholic, and advocated separation of church and state, instead of promoting theocracy as Rick Santorum does.

What kind of President would condemn parents who would wish their children to attend college, when the unemployment rate for educated people is half of what it is for those who have not attended college or some kind of community college or training program? Should not President Barack Obama want to promote that? What is wrong with Rick Santorum?

Any sane person would have to wonder whether Rick Santorum is having a mental breakdown, as NEVER has there been any candidate for the Presidency so negative, so destructive in his assertions, in living memory. Rick Santorum is a good argument for psychological testing of all Presidential candidates, as we can ill afford to have a mentally deranged person in the White House!

Rick Santorum Declares War On Two Democratic Presidents: John F. Kennedy And Barack Obama!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum continues to rampage in his “cultural war” against liberals, progressives, and the Democratic Party.

He seems not to understand that what he is doing is political suicide, and if he is selected as the Republican nominee for President, a disaster awaits the party.

Establishment Republicans realize this, and can only hope that Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts Governor, can stop Santorum’s ascent in the 14 primaries coming up in the next eight days.

Santorum is stopping at nothing, not only attacking President Barack Obama, but also President John F. Kennedy.

Santorum continued his attack this past weekend on Barack Obama as an elitist, and a snob, for promoting higher education for all young people, continuing to assert that Obama is trying to poison the minds of young people, making them liberal and hating religion, and promoting indoctrination.

And he has attacked Kennedy’s declaration of the absolute separation of church and state that Kennedy uttered during the Presidential campaign of 1960, stating that religion should be part of government as the Founding Fathers intended, except for the fact that they were very clear in agreeing with Kennedy’s statement that religion and politics should not mix.

Santorum seems to be totally out of control, and one can wonder whether he has ever been able to accept those who disagree with him, as he still does not have even one US Senator and only three House members from Pennsylvania willing to endorse him.

The theocracy he is promoting will not be accepted by the American people, and hopefully, Republican primary voters will realize the dangers he presents and repudiate him finally, and send him back to Pennsylvania, where he should be, helping his poor wife and older children take care of his very sick three year old daughter, instead of pontificating on what he calls the “truth”, which is totally false!

The “family values” candidate needs to focus on his own family, and stop pursuing his ego that he is qualified and acceptable to be the President of the United States, which he most certainly is not. There is no way that he could ever unite the American people in any fashion!

A Forecast Of The Future? Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Vs. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell

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Yesterday, the political website POLITICO sponsored a debate between Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell over the controversial social issues that have come to the forefront in the past few weeks.

Martin O’Malley came to the strong defense of President Barack Obama, and hailed the successes of the administration, while being critical of the Republicans, led by Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell, who became embroiled in a controversy over an invasive vaginal ultra sound bill to undermine abortions by women.

O’Malley at the same time defended the decision in Maryland to make that state the eighth state to legalize gay marriages.

Bob McDonnell was on the defensive, as he explained his change of heart on the invasive ultra sound bill, after much outrage by women and the news media and others who believe in the right of privacy and women’s rights.

As one watched this debate, one could imagine the scenario of a possible 2016 Presidential debate between the two men, governors of neighboring states, with totally opposite views, and both strong defenders of their viewpoints.

Martin O’Malley is already seen as a top tier Presidential candidate for 2016 in the Democratic Party, and Bob McDonnell has obvious ambitions on the Republican side, and has made it clear that he is interested in a Vice Presidential slot with Mitt Romney, if Romney were to choose him. That is the obvious, although denied, reason for his backing off on the invasive ultra sound bill that he seemed ready to sign.

O’Malley has showed evidence that he would be a hard, aggressive campaigner if he ran for President, as he has become one of the major defenders of President Obama’s record, and a critic of the governors of not only Virginia, but also Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, all hard line conservatives, who he accuses correctly of presiding over very poor employment growth, while Obama, by intervening in Michigan and other Midwestern states, has promoted a revival of the auto industry and the general economy, along with the general progress in decline of the unemployment rate.

Not only is Martin O’Malley demonstrating that a Catholic can have an open mind on issues such as abortion and gay marriage and labor rights, but also Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, is showing the same on these issues, and both are certainly to be considered front runners for the Presidential nomination in 2016.

Not all Catholic politicians allow their faith to dominate their politics, although Rick Santorum, particularly, and convert Newt Gingrich, both seem to feel that their religious views should be dictated to the population at large, even though we were founded as a nation on the concept of separation of church and state, which John F. Kennedy so clearly enunciated as the first Catholic President of the United States!