You can take Salem out of the country but, you can’t take the country out of Salem.

So in this case I refer to religion and government instead of Salem cigarettes and the country. In other words:

You can take Government out of religion but you can’t take religion out of government. It would have been just too long of a title but I hope you get my point. Or I should say – this is what Republicans seems to want us to believe nowadays.

Recently there has been a very heated battle going on between social conservatives and liberals and in that battle, conservatives are insisting that government get out of religion as far as allowing religious institutions to be able to decide to provide certain types of health care if someone’s religion has an ethical problem with it.

At the same time, social conservatives – or actually Republican lawmakers in the federal government along with state governors and legislators are trying to enforce their religious views on government and they want government to intervene with laws to enforce certain religious edicts such as forcing women to have a transvaginal ultra sound in which a probe is inserted into the woman’s vagina. This is a bill poised to be passed in the Virginia legislator and will likely be signed by Republican governor Bob McDonnell.

This is just the latest of legislation being introduced and sometimes passed in state houses by Republican governors and Republican legislators. Several bills across the country have been introduced to try to circumvent a woman’s right to an abortion. This is the first bill of its kind that actually forces a woman to undergo an invasive probe that’s not medically necessary and will not likely be covered by the woman’s insurance.

My own state of Oklahoma passed a law to force a woman to undergo an ultrasound but not an invasive one. That law was overturned by a state judge.

It would seem that Republicans would like to have their cake and eat it too by pushing laws that are obviously meant to enforce their own religious beliefs on the general electorate by passing laws that govern what a woman can do with her own body when it comes to abortions and to restrict gays from being able to marry but they also want government to stay out of religious organizations, such as the current contraception fight that was started by the Catholic church but continues to play out in Congress by Republican lawmakers.

So let’s be clear; they want government to stay out of religious organizations but they want religion injected into government laws.  It would seem that Republicans are working to destroy the wall that exist between government and religion but at the same time, demand that government stay out of religion. It would make one to ask: what exactly does Republicans want?

Republicans seem to want to have a theocracy in which our government is controlled by the religious moral beliefs of the Religious Right and yet also protect that same Religious Right from government interference.  What about the religious rights of those who don’t believe like the Religious Right; are their rights to be overruled by a group that seems to have so much sway over the Republican Party?

The same group that wishes to impose its moral beliefs on the rest of the country, which is mostly made up of Evangelicals is also concerned that our government will be influenced by Sharia Law or Islamic Law. My own state of Oklahoma passed a law back in the 2008 General Election to bar courts from considering Sharia Law or international law when deciding cases. This is the same Sharia Law that the Taliban used when they ruled Afghanistan in which women basically had no rights. It would seem to me that this country’s laws are being intruded upon by the same type of laws that restrict women’s rights.

I would suggest that our Republican lawmakers make up their mind; if they want government to stay out of religion; then also expect religion to stay out of government.

Related articles

• Contraception Fight: Religious Freedom or Religious Domination? (fidlerten.com)
• Too Sooner For Sharia? Tenth Circuit Rules Against Oklahoma’s Anti-Sharia Law (jonathanturley.org)
• John Holbo: Republicans Going All-in Against Contraception Watch (delong.typepad.com)
• Republicans Push For the Supremacy of Religious Law (polentical.com)
• Christians ‘aren’t above the law’ – Equalities Commission (kiwianglo.wordpress.com)
• The Campaign Against Sharia in America Heats Up (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
• Tenth Circuit Says Oklahoma Anti-Sharia Law Is Likely Unconstitutional (volokh.com)
• If a Muslim-American Organization Attacks ALAC then it’s Un-American (oneway2day.wordpress.com)
• They Call This Bunk Sharia (socyberty.com)
• Democrat hypocrisy and sharia (creepingsharia.wordpress.com)

If we use some of the same criteria to judge Evangelicalism as we do maybe Mormonism or maybe another religion that Evangelicals consider cults, we might also consider Evangelicalism a cult too. For example, the idea that if you’re not Evangelical then you’re not a Christian; this in itself is a good sign of a possible cult when you exclude everyone who doesn’t belong to the group you belong to as being not of God or not Christian.

I was raised in a Pentecostal background and belonged to what was considered a Full Gospel church when I was a child. I was even a boy preacher when I was 11 until I was 15 years old. Now most denominations would not accept such a thing as a boy preacher. I wasn’t the only boy preacher though. There were even a couple of famous boy preachers in their day such as Little David and Marjoe Gortner and I was never that famous.

Some might consider the idea of a boy preacher as a cult also but that doesn’t make it so of course.

What would be the most telling aspect of what is considered a cult is brainwashing which some consider the Mormon Church; or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to do to their own members. But why wouldn’t some of the practices of Evangelicals also considered brainwashing? Surely dunking someone in water to save their soul might be considered unusual and maybe a form of brainwashing from those of another religion who’s not familiar with the practice. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in baptism too and I also understand that it’s only a symbol of salvation because salvation comes only through the repentance of sins as far as Christianity goes.

Pentecostals at one time would have been considered to be a cult by many outsiders as their practices can be quite different even if they are scripturally based, by many Protestants and even Catholics. But those practices aren’t considered unusual to anyone raised Pentecostal and in fact, they’re very normal to us. Speaking in tongues, dancing in the Spirit, falling out under the power of God; all these things are considered very normal in Pentecostal services. Though those kinds of practices are much more accepted among Evangelicals nowadays, even if they didn’t believe in them in the time when I was a boy preacher forty years ago.

Many Pentecostals in those days even thought of other religions as being false; and I speak from experience here because I heard many ministers or preachers preach against other faiths and denominations back in those days when I was a child. Some old-time holy rollers (as I might affectionately use as a term for Pentecostals) believed that if you didn’t speak in tongues, then you weren’t even a Christian. They basically considered other religions cults the same way many Evangelicals do now with Mormons and even some Protestant groups.

Now Evangelicals make up several denominations but I think it would be safe to say that most are Baptist but there are a few other denominations, even Pentecostals and Charismatics within the Evangelical movement. They all somewhat accept each other and their differences to some degree. That really isn’t that way in the Pentecostal movement entirely; there are Trinity Pentecostals and there are Apostolic Pentecostals and some of these two groups, even up to the present, doesn’t accept each other as true Christians.

Now I could get into explaining the difference between a Pentecostal and an Apostolic but it’s really about semantics and their differences really are not that important, at least not in the grand scheme of things, but some of them think so. They still believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died for our sins and rose the third day. But because of their different interpretations of the same Bible, they can’t fellowship together and even some believe that the other group is not even Christian.

I point all these out to show that just because one group doesn’t believe the same way as another group doesn’t make them a cult. Surely God is a many splendor being and many of us see Him differently and believe in Him differently. What is wrong is when we believe that our own religion is so right that other religions are entirely wrong and not Christian or should be held in some kind of suspicion because of their beliefs.

Right now we have a Mormon who is running for president; Mitt Romney and we have a Catholic, who is also an Evangelical also running for president; Rick Santorum. Now I don’t care for either of them but it has nothing to do with their religion. I don’t care what their religion is as long as they don’t think that I should be forced to follow their religion, as Rick Santorum seems to suggest in many things he has said since being on the campaign trail.

We’re at an important time in American history and because of the recent contraception issue that has come before our nation and because of the long fought battle over abortion and gay rights; there are questions that need to be answered. To me the most important question that needs to be answered is this:

If one religion is the largest religion in the land, does that mean that it’s also the right religion and all others are not?

I’m a Christian and I believe in Jesus the same way many Evangelicals believe. I don’t agree with many things they believe in but no; I don’t believe they’re a cult. But I do believe that it’s just as easy to call Evangelicalism a cult as it is to call Mormonism a cult. I also believe that it’s wrong and it’s judgmental and that none of us have the right to judge one group over another or one individual over another, simply because we’re a member of the largest group in the land.

We should heed the words of Jesus and “Judge not that ye be not judged” Matthew 7:1

For what’s most important is that we look within ourselves and we simply set an example of what Christian faith is all about and then by example we can lead others.  Respect everyone’s beliefs or non-beliefs because this is America and we have the right to be free from religion and a right to the religion of our choosing as much as we have a right to religion, even of the most popular kind.

Related articles

• Cults in Culture: Was Jeffress Right? (Part One) By Gabrielle Devenish (trinityspeaks.wordpress.com)
• Are Mormons A Cult? (lukeford.net)
• Mormons Baptized Parents of Nazi-Hunter Wiesenthal (newser.com)
• Evangelizing the non Christian Cults, Reaching the Lost, Being Witnesses: Are you willing? (rootedinchrist.org)
• In America, the religious left is gaining ground (khanya.wordpress.com)
• Christianity: The Brainwashing Cult (truelogic.wordpress.com)
• The Romney Conspiracy (theocrats.wordpress.com)
• The Mormon Un-Moment and Its Consequences (bycommonconsent.com)
• Mormonism: Cult, Christianity, or Both? (atheistrev.com)

The desire to have stability in one’s life is probably the most practical reason why gay and lesbians wish to walk down the aisle but it probably isn’t a good reason by itself. Love helps. When two people love each other, they should have the option to spend their lives with each other and not in just a living arrangement; that kind of relationship comes with no real commitment besides each other’s promises.

But marriage is more than just a living arrangement, which up to the last few years, living arrangements were the only way that most gay people could have a committed relationship. The question might be, what does a piece of paper and some vows have to do with making a relationship work over just a living arrangement?

First, there’s the legal part of it which says that it’s not so easy to break it off as one packing their bags and heading out the door when there’s a piece of legal paper that says you’ve got more to think about before you end it all. There’s also the vows, and as far as religious gays – and believe me; there are some religious gays, such as myself, those vows are made before God and must be taken with all the seriousness that they should have.

I must say that heterosexuals have not been a very good example, for the last couple of decades. Divorce being so popular nowadays, you’d think that when someone walks down the aisle and makes those vows, back in their heads they’re thinking “We’ll try this out and if it doesn’t work, we can always get a divorce”. That’s a shame that people take marriage so lightly.

Then there’s being normal. I do know that thanks to those heterosexuals in my life who have judged me for being who I am as far as me being gay, have made me feel more times than I wish to remember; inferior, perverted, outcast, immoral and unwanted.  It took me a long time to realize that those feelings didn’t come from God but from narrow-minded individuals who chose to throw judgment at me and try to speak for God themselves.  I also came to realize that being gay was not something I could change no matter how guilty I felt about it. Can marriage change those feelings for gay people who are like me? I don’t know but I do think it will lead us in the right direction. It should be more than just about feelings but about being normal – that is what’s so important if gay people are to feel good about their selves.

Surely there will always be those who will look down on gay people though they get married or not and it doesn’t matter how normal their lives can become through marriage. We’ll still hear things like “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” though I beg to differ; God made Steve too. But what matters most here is not what some folks think but what gays think about themselves.

Then there’s envy; maybe the one thing I can relate to most. The reason why is because I well remember many lonely nights thinking about what it would be like to be able to love and then marry someone of my own choosing, just like some of the straight marriages I’ve known in my life. To be more specific, I had a terrible crush on an uncle of mine. He was married to the person I loved more than anyone; my aunt. And though I loved my aunt very much, I envied her also because she had what I wanted so much. I of course kept those feeling to myself but I can remember lying in bed and thinking about those two and what they had; there was nothing that I wanted more and nothing that would fulfill me more than being able to love and be with the one I love through marriage.

Gay marriage is well on its way to being accepted in our society and eventually I’m sure, the federal government will repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and more states will begin to allow it. I will never see my dreams come true as I’m growing old and I just don’t see it happening for me. But I look forward to the day I can see my gay brothers and sisters tie the knot and find happiness all across the country and in every state. I also hope that they put heterosexuals to shame when it comes to fidelity and commitment. Surely it’s a good thing and surely it will finally end much of the loneliness, the rejection, the guilt feelings and hopefully the suicides of many of the teens who’re growing up gay in households that fail to teach them that they should not be ashamed of who they are and of the natural feelings that they feel within themselves. And finally gay people can love and be loved, just as we all want to be.

Much hope for the future  and for a life of stability, normalcy and the end of envy because for once marriage is obtainable, even for gays.

Related articles

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• Bigots launch coalition against gay marriage (liberalconspiracy.org)
• Same Sex Marriage Continued (socyberty.com)
• California’s “Poster Couple” For Gay Marriage Are Getting A Divorce (inquisitr.com)
• Gay Marriages (kayleaspage.wordpress.com)
• Minnesota’s Anti-Marriage Amendment (alittletourinyellow.wordpress.com)
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Recently Santorum spoke concerning President Obama’s agenda, saying “not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs. It’s about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.”

I would suggest that maybe Rick Santorum reads a different bible than I do and I read the one that is the most popular among mainstream churches – the King James Version. Of course, Rick is a Catholic and reads the Catholic bible but it’s my understanding that the Catholic bible has some of the same books, especially the New Testament that the King James Version has.  And, I would like to remind Mr. Santorum of the words of Jesus:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.  Matthew 7:1-5

I do know that President Obama’s agenda has been largely based on helping those who need help the most and to me that would be quite in line with the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus. Instead, Rick Santorum should take a look at his own party – The Republicans and look closely at their agenda. Protecting the wealth of the super wealthy I don’t believe was ever on the agenda of Jesus or his disciples for that matter. Jesus was concerned about the poor and had compassion for those who suffered.

Republicans over the last thirty years have sought to enrich the rich through tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. They have sought to end social programs, labeling them “socialism”. It would seem that Republicans have decided that any program that’s meant to provide charity to the poor and needy is an evil thing called “socialism” and must be stopped. Then at the same time, they’ve claimed the Christian mantle and have used that Christian mantle to push an agenda that’s everything but Christian or that represents what Jesus taught.

There are of course, many fine Christian conservatives who belong to the Republican Party because they’re under the impression that the Republican Party stands for Christian values, all the while the Republican Party is doing what they can to make the wealthy even wealthier and themselves.

What I would like to know is why Rick Santorum believes that the Republican agenda represents what Jesus taught and what real Christian values is over Democrats. Does he actually believe that Jesus would support the kind of agenda that Republicans support; hateful bigotry, guns, anti-environment, attacks on social programs that the most neediest count on just to put food on their table; is this what Mr. Santorum believes represents the teachings of Jesus?

I would suggest that Rick Santorum go back and read his bible again and find out what they real teachings of Jesus are and then he can think twice before he criticizes President Obama’s agenda again.

Related articles

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• Democrats Want a Rick Santorum Nomination (fidlerten.com)

“God willin’ and the Libertarians don’t get elected”; it looks like I am mere months away from actualy seeing a check.

I have a hearing on the 22nd of this month and the Lawyers and Doctors are Optimistic.

Optimistic. Nice word. Won’t feed the family though.

It is interesting that for Thirty-five years I worked. Hard.

I showed up everyday; even when I was sick; unless I was unable to leave home due to my symptoms.

I did whatever was asked of me in the various jobs I held and didn’t complain when the work was hard or the hours long or the pay; less than I deserved.

Now; I’m not saying that I was an ambitious go-getter out to take on the world.

Not me. But I was a good , solid, employee who could be trusted with responsibility and was so trusted.

I never told the Government that they would have to wait two or three years for me to send them the Social Security Tax I owed.

And I owned my own business for ten years and payed the one and a half times self-employment rate.

I never questioned their veracity when they promised that they were using the money wisely and that I would be able to count on Social Security if I were ever disabled.

I never asked them to apply for my money or provide proof that they actually would do what they said
No; I worked for thirty-five years; payed my taxes; and then when I became disabled; after my Quintouple By-pass Surgery; due to an unhealed (Non-fused) Sternum and several other issues; easily proven by a series of  X-rays, MRIs, Blood Tests, Nerve Conduction Studies, Breathing Tests, and REPEATED manipulation of painful joints, muscles and nerves by several Physicians, Psychologists, and Medical Technicians; and my obvious Agony in response;;  I applied as required for those disability benefits that they promised I would recieve if I became disabled and……………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………TWO YEARS later; I am on my THIRD appeal.

Most peope who receive benefits go through at least three appeals in addition to the original application.

The first two are mearly repeats of the original application process except that your case gets reviewed by different people; assumedly with ever increasing levels of authority.

The third appeal; now that is a critter all it’s own.

This appeal takes the form of a hearing before an Administrative Judge.

Finally; after two years; I get the chance to actually speak to a living person about my disabilities and pain etc.

I have completed multiple (Approximately 75 between the various entities) pages of handwritten documents detailing my condition both for Social Security and for the State Retirement Board before them; and the Short Term Disability Insurance carrier; and then again for the same carrier for my Long Term Disability Insurance because photocopying my previous responses and passing them across the desk to the Long Term Disability people was not possible for some vague reason I like to call the ; “I won’t say so but the reason for the new documents is that we are really hoping you; or your Doctor will screw up or give up and fail to complete them thus giving us a “Valid” reason to stop paying you”; explanation.

In fact; all of these various entities could easily have used a single document designed to cover everyone’s questions.

Of course; simplification is not the goal here. The Insurance Company; like Social Security recognises that the more complex and difficult to understand you make the application process; the fewer people will complete it.

Dedication and Perservearence are required here.

Also the Patience of a Saint and the Long-suffering of Job.

And while we’re at it; we should also throw in the Mental Stability and Self Esteem of Superman to boot.

Unless you have Savings or other income to support you; or friends and relatives who are in a position to help; there is no help for you while you await the approval of your Disability Claim.

None.

Nil.

Nada.

But; you say; what about that FAT Retirement check?

What about that Long Term Disability Insurance you worked so hard to get?

Tell you next time.

I’ve been having quite a bit of pain lately and I find it hard to sit too long or key too much.

This should be a relief to any of you who have suffered through one of my lengthy predictions of our National Demise and the impending take-over of the New World Order.

So; keeping it brief.

Besides; I was writing another article for this site when I was sidetracked by a call from my Attorneys

It’s Political and as I say: brevity is not my Forte’; especially where Politics are concerned.

Neither is speed. Not anymore. But more next time. In “Part 2: The Wait”.

Attorneys. and Doctors………………Very Optimistic; these fellows……………..As I said.

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I must admit, I’m being quite selfish when I say “Let those gas prices soar!” and that’s because I live within a few blocks of my job. I’m also a homebody – meaning I don’t go out much and I don’t spend much in gas. Even when gas prices are the highest, it only adds a few dollars a month to the cost of my gas.

The point I’m making here is that the higher and the longer prices soar, the demand for alternative fuels goes up and that’s very good for the country.  For me, the most important reason why we need to move at even a faster pace to switch to alternative fuel is the fact that oil is hurting our environment but there are other very good reasons also; one being that countries like Iran hold such a grip on America.

Don’t believe it when someone tells you that we just need to drill for more oil here so that we don’t depend so much on foreign oil. Sure, it helps but it’s never going to be enough – our demand for oil continues to grow and there’s just not enough oil that we can pull enough oil out of our own ground to cover that demand.

There is no other method that will push us into changing over to alternative fuel more than soaring gas prices. When you hit American’s pocketbook, you help wake them up to the facts that we can’t continue to listen to oil barons and their interests that we need to “drill baby drill”. Of course, we still have a long ways to go to design cars that use alternative fuels, especially renewable fuels, but the more the demand goes up for alternative fuels, the more money will be invested into designing cars to meet our needs. Along with the rise in the demand for cars that use alternative fuels, the price for those cars will also go down.

One very important aspect of our demand for oil over the years is the lives that have been lost. Millions of people have died just because of the need for oil and the greed it’s taken to obtain more of it. So surely, the price of oil should reflect the price of blood because it certainly has cost much blood. I strongly believe that we went to war in Iraq because of the hunger for oil. Our own government has a history of butting into Middle Eastern politics and forcing regime change, simply because of the influence of oil barons and their greed for more wealth and their desire to get their hands on more oil.

We can also count on the continued influence of Big Oil on our elected government with huge campaign contributions going to those who will serve them best. And to serve them best, politicians will fight the rise of alternative fuels as long as they can. They will seek wars in countries like Iran to feed the need and the greed for that oil. This is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington and they have lots of money to back them up and to pass around. It doesn’t matter to these interests how many lives are lost in war because of oil, just as long as their profits continue to grow.

So yes, “Let gas prices soar”. It may hurt in the short-term but eventually, it will push us down the road to the end of oil dependence.

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My mother and I had to move into a mission because she no longer could afford rent. There are other kids here too and they’re just like me; no place to live and no food to eat.

I hear that there are millions of people like you who fought to see that I was born but where are you now that I have no place to go?

When I grow up and can’t afford to go to college and end up with a meager job that barely feeds me and my family; where will you be then? Will you be there to help pay for my college if my mother can’t? Will you feed my children if I lose my job and can’t afford to feed them anymore? Where will you be then?

What kind of life will I have if I have no opportunity to better myself? Why do you say you care that I’m born but you’re nowhere to be found, now that I’m here? You don’t support me in the government anymore, now that I’m born. You fought to be sure my mother didn’t abort me but then you left me to fend for myself.

There are millions of kids like me and some who have it worse. Some kids are born to parents who abuse them because they never wanted them in the first place. But you made sure they were born by pushing laws that protected them, but then you left them to fend for themselves in a world that didn’t want them either.

I may end up in prison and then you’ll see that I’m locked away for a very long time, or maybe I’ll die an early age from street violence or just hunger or malnutrition from having no food.

But, I just wanted to know; where are you now?

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I’m sure those that read this are first wondering; who is the Devil that I refer to? In a biblical sense, the Devil is the destroyer and seeks the destruction of his enemies. I’m not quite referring to the Devil, or Satan himself but I do refer to those who would cause harm to Barack Obama’s chances to be reelected by standing in the way of anything he does. So at the risk of being a bit overboard, we all know who we’re talking about.

Obama has played it quite well I think, he’s managed to put those who would destroy him in a very small, conservative box. They claimed that he has hurt the economy and he’s been apologetic concerning our foreign policy.  It took him longer than he thought it would and that played into their hands, but only long enough for Obama to make them eat their words.

They say he hasn’t kept many of his campaign promises but I beg to differ. I’ve never seen a president in all my many years that have fulfilled all their campaign promises and many of them were made just to win the White House. But Obama   I believe was sincere in what he believed he could do and because of it – was quite successful in fulfilling quite a few.

Let us count the ways – he said he’d do something about health care so that we’d all have access to it, the poor and those who had pre-existing conditions. It wasn’t what he planned it to be but with complete opposition from those who would destroy him, he managed quite well.

He said he’d overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and he followed through on that promise for sure. He also said he’d get us out of Iraq and that’s been accomplished too. He said he’d get Osama bin Laden, just like his predecessor – let’s not forget the “Dead or alive” statement. But Barack took care of business and bin Laden is at the bottom of the sea.

He’s done many other good things and tried to do more; financial reform, credit card reform, rescued the auto industry; he even tried to pass the Dream Act but Republicans blocked him from accomplishing that.

He stood against great odds and tried his best to fulfill them all, but he’s no fortune-teller and had no way of knowing the kind of opposition he would face.

Barack Obama has been called all kinds of names and accused of all kinds of ungodly things. Yet he’s remained calm through it all, strong and resolute, because he knows in the end he’ll win, against his dance with the devil when he’s done.

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I have to admit, I may have miscalculated in earlier posts that Rick Santorum had a chance at the nomination, but that’s because I actually gave Republicans more credit for intelligence when it came to choosing their candidate. I figured that they’d understood clearly that even if they like Rick Santorum and support his stand on most of the issues, he still wouldn’t do well with independents which they need to win over to take over the White House. It’s getting to look I was wrong.

I suppose I underestimate the aching need for ultra-conservatives, whom Santorum’s policies represent, to have their candidate to stand for what they believe in, even if it means losing the general election to Obama in November.

It surely also has a lot to do with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who had been the frontrunner and expected winner of the nomination – that is up until recent state primaries and caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri in which Rick Santorum won. Romney has never really won the support of rank and file Republicans because of issues with his credibility as a real conservative. His record as governor of the liberal state of Massachusetts, as far as his health care bill which the Democrats and President Obama credits for their similar health care bill, the Affordable Care Act and his support for gay rights and abortion rights while governor, puts in question his true conservative credentials.

Republicans really don’t have a candidate that they can entirely get behind and who they honestly believe can beat Obama, no matter how confident they try to paint themselves as. With a Rick Santorum nominee, they have a candidate who is far right when it comes to gay rights, abortion and especially the most recent issue that has been in the news and at the front of many American’s minds of late and that is contraception. It’s also not just Mr. Santorum’s stand on these issues but for the fact that from what he has said in the past, makes one believe that he would use the office of the presidency to push those issues on the rest of America if he was elected president. And, for many Americans; that is a scary thought.

Republicans find themselves in this position because they have allowed the Tea Party to pull them by the nose into a conservative corner that they cannot get out of.  They’re also living in the past, believing that moral issues will help them win over Americans. What they don’t seem to either accept or either are too blind to see, is that Americans are a great deal more liberal than they were twenty or thirty years ago and attacks on women’s rights, gay rights and especially birth control, will only cause them to alienate more Americans, not gain their support.

A Rick Santorum nomination doesn’t just improve the numbers for President Obama in the general election but it also motivates not only Democrats and liberals but independents as many take seriously their availability to contraceptives and a Rick Santorum possible presidency threatens that. Mr. Santorum will also have a difficult time moving toward the middle if he wins the nomination and faces a general election as he’s made statements that cannot be backed off from as far as gay rights, abortion and most importantly, contraception.

So yes, this is a battle that Democrats would relish with a Rick Santorum nomination. Democrats will be jumping in glee if in the end; Republicans make the mistake of choosing Santorum for their nomination. But maybe Republicans figure they’re in for a penny, they might as well be in for a pound.

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The biggest problem we have with our election process is the need for politicians to raise oodles of money to run for office. They also need to become whatever those with the most money want them to be. For Republicans; they need to show how conservative they are, if they’re Democrats; they need to show how progressive or liberal they are.

Most of the time for both Republicans and Democrats, they will need to vote and support legislation that benefits the wealthy because they have powerful lobbyist who have the most money to throw at them. If we ever want a country that listens to its people, then we need to rid the nation of the influence that these lobbyist have over our government.

Many conservatives, especially Tea Party activist, believe that it’s government that’s corrupted. That’s true; government is corrupted. But to only attack government is like only attacking the symptoms of a disease and not attacking the cause of the disease. The disease is powerful and wealthy interests behind our government that’s using their vast amounts of wealth to control government.

While we protest government corruption and insist that our government officials change and begin to listen to the People of this nation, they’re doing what they can to make sure they get elected the next election by playing up to those who have the money to make the difference so that they can compete against their opponents in the next race. They’re not working to take care of the needs of the People and doing the People’s business; they’re taking care of the wealthy and doing the wealthy and Big Corporation’s business instead. They only give us; the People, lip service so that we’ll vote for them next time.

As I’ve advocated many times before, taking money out of the equation is the only way to insure our elected officials do what is best for the country, otherwise they’ll always do what they have to do and that is raise tons of cash to be reelected.

We must ask ourselves this; do we want our government elected members to spend their time trying to find ways to raise money by playing favorites to wealthy interests? Or would we rather have a government that works for the People from the time they step into office and until they step down and allow someone else to take their place? We pay through our tax dollars, excellent salaries to our elected government yet that amount doesn’t cover the cost of an expensive campaign and that’s the only way they can expect to get reelected.

I would suggest a new way to rid ourselves of election year politics; let’s end the current privately-funded campaign system and replace it with an entirely publicly-funded campaign system.  We can do that by a designing a system that anyone interested in running for office will need to go to the People and get a petition signed by enough voters for the office they’re running for.  With enough signatures on a petition, let our tax dollars fund campaigns.

Along with that, let’s make private contributions entirely illegal and by law, considered a bribe and punishable by imprisonment.  If wealthy interest wants to hire lobbyist to go to Washington and speak on their behalf; they can, the same as anyone can go to Washington or write a letter to a congressman on our own behalf.

Level the playing field so that we all have as much influence over our elected officials as the wealthiest and the most powerful lobbyist. End this never-ending need to raise cash for our members of Congress and any other branch of government. Then and only then will we have a government of the People.

Related articles

• House Republicans Pass Bill to End Public Campaign Financing (fidlerten.com)
• Corrupt Lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s Plan to End Corrupt Lobbying [Crooks] (gawker.com)
• Kill Hollywood? Let’s fix politics instead: kill lobbying. (news.ycombinator.com)
• The Scourge of the SuperPACs (themoderatevoice.com)
• Trailer for Ethos: the truth about the U.S. Government and its corrupt system – Boing Boing (chomskywatch.wordpress.com)