"Congress should not establish a religion and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contary to their conscience, or that one sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combined together, and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform." (from this link, which is full of great Madison lines)
The fear, of course, is that a national religion would foster a situation where the government controls the church, or vice versa. This is part of what makes America the great nation it is - people of all faiths and religious persuasions are able to gather together and appreciate their differences while knowing that they are free to believe as they wish free from the coercive effects of a national religion. Some people do not like this idea.
America is a nation founded by Christians. It is not a Christian nation. This distinction is essential for our nation to maintain what semblance of standard bearing we have left.
Using religion as a sword to attempt to wrest political gain is wrong, and the McCain campaign, who would serve as the Executive of the Government for ALL Americans, needs to not attempt to rule by division. It was not wrong to have an invocation prior to the candiate's stump in Davenport, Iowa. What was wrong was the political nature of the invocation, mixing fear of the opposing candidate and fear of "alien" religions into the fray. The invocation included the following passage: "There are plenty of people around the world who are praying to their god, be they Hindu, Buddah, or Allah, that (McCain’s) opponent wins. I pray that you step forward and honor your own name... And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day." from Andrew Sullivan). The prayer ended, "In Jesus' name." The message is clear: "Vote for McCain, because he's the Christian who will *properly* run America."
It still stuns me the weakness of faith in so many fundamental Christians that they feel they need the Government's control over their personal choice.
I am a Christian, and I want to believe as I believe, not as the Government would have me believe. My friend is a Buddhist, and I would like for him to believe as he chooses, not as the government would coerce. I want a President who can accept this.
Showing posts with label President. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President. Show all posts
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 03, 2008
Sarah Palin, the Symbol
Understand that I do not dislike Sarah Palin. I don't know enough about her to dislike her. There are things about her behavior since she's been nominated that I don't like, and I don't like the nomination of her. More to the point, her nomination represents a short sighted gimmick that was not well thought out, well planned, or, as it seems, well executed. She was not ready for the spotlight the McCain camp put her under. She might someday, but right now, she's in way over her head and it shows in her "interviews" and it showed in her debate. The fact that the campaign fought so hard to keep "troopergate" from coming out is telling, as is the absolute refusal of the campaign to allow her to take part in any press conferences where she would have to answer follow-up questions.
Her nomination represents the McCain Campaign's impulsive, reckless decision making process. We cannot have another administration that makes decisions before considering the effects of those decisions. It's like jumping into a lake and then realizing you don't know how to swim. Even worse is that he seems to be taking every opportunity to deny the people the chance to learn about Governor Palin to decide for themselves if she's the best choice for Vice President. The audacity of us! He said she was great, that should be good enough for us.
If he's not going to allow us to gauge his decision-making now, when he's applying for the job, then why should we expect anything different when he's in office if we give him the job? We cannot afford this.
This inability to make reasoned, calculated decisions, or to admit when you've made a mistake - this is what Sarah Palin represents. And this is why I cannot support Senator McCain for President.
Her nomination represents the McCain Campaign's impulsive, reckless decision making process. We cannot have another administration that makes decisions before considering the effects of those decisions. It's like jumping into a lake and then realizing you don't know how to swim. Even worse is that he seems to be taking every opportunity to deny the people the chance to learn about Governor Palin to decide for themselves if she's the best choice for Vice President. The audacity of us! He said she was great, that should be good enough for us.
If he's not going to allow us to gauge his decision-making now, when he's applying for the job, then why should we expect anything different when he's in office if we give him the job? We cannot afford this.
This inability to make reasoned, calculated decisions, or to admit when you've made a mistake - this is what Sarah Palin represents. And this is why I cannot support Senator McCain for President.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Truthiness
The Republican convention last night made numerous references to Barack Obama's having written 2 memoirs "but no laws."
This is an interesting bit of truthiness, because really, which congressmembers actually do pen their own laws? Who has the time for that while campaigning for re-election? Staff members write proposed laws. But that's not important, because we need to attack Barack Obama as a do-nothing Senator.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. You see, this was an issue the Clinton camp raised some months back, but, a very simple look into the Library of Congress's website shows that Barack Obama has sponsored or cosponsored 129 bills and resolutions in his time in the Senate this year. But, we're not supposed to go actually look. We're supposed to trust the Republican Party, who has not misled us in anything over the past 7 years...
How many has John McCain sponsored or cosponsored during the same period? 38. Wow. How can the Republicans attempt to paint this issue and not expect people to follow up on it? The fact is, they don't expect people to follow up - they believe that people are not interested in facts, rather image.
John McCain is running for President and was a POW.
This is an interesting bit of truthiness, because really, which congressmembers actually do pen their own laws? Who has the time for that while campaigning for re-election? Staff members write proposed laws. But that's not important, because we need to attack Barack Obama as a do-nothing Senator.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. You see, this was an issue the Clinton camp raised some months back, but, a very simple look into the Library of Congress's website shows that Barack Obama has sponsored or cosponsored 129 bills and resolutions in his time in the Senate this year. But, we're not supposed to go actually look. We're supposed to trust the Republican Party, who has not misled us in anything over the past 7 years...
How many has John McCain sponsored or cosponsored during the same period? 38. Wow. How can the Republicans attempt to paint this issue and not expect people to follow up on it? The fact is, they don't expect people to follow up - they believe that people are not interested in facts, rather image.
John McCain is running for President and was a POW.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Reactionist Politics
I'm still not sold on Sarah Palin as a pick. She may be a fine governor. She may someday be a fine governor (if you're going the route of there's not enough experience to get a good grip yet). What I don't like, more than anything else, is the rapidity of the pick - the day after the Democratic Convention ended with record ratings. I don't buy the argument that she was fully vetted, despite the revelations over the weekend that perhaps she wasn't until now (source: Talking Points Memo), or at least, not so deeply as to look into the newspaper of the town where she was mayor (source: the Huffington Post). I don't like that she was for the Bridge to nowhere before she was against it. I don't like that this pick does strip the Republican race of the experience argument, even though they will try to argue that these are apples and oranges.
The more that this drags on, the more it looks like John McCain and company reacted to the Democratic tide rather than acted to choose the best available candidate (who I think was Romney, even though I don't care for him). I think it shows a rash nature, one that is not something the President can afford to have. It shows a counterpunch mentality that works in the right situations, but not when applying for a position that requires tempered decision-making. We don't need four more years of "Bring 'em on!" We need someone who can reason a decision with the mind rather than spewing a decision from the gut.
While I'm not sold on Obama, I think the Palin decision helped him.
There is another possibility from this decision, though. The choice has given MUCH attention to the Republican candidate, who did not need a 14th trip to the Jay Leno show to get some more airtime. Perhaps this is a Harriet Miers pick. Maybe John McCain has his Samuel Alito somewhere - a pick that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten through had it not been for the horrific initial choice.
With Karl Rove involved in the process, I wouldn't put it past them.
The more that this drags on, the more it looks like John McCain and company reacted to the Democratic tide rather than acted to choose the best available candidate (who I think was Romney, even though I don't care for him). I think it shows a rash nature, one that is not something the President can afford to have. It shows a counterpunch mentality that works in the right situations, but not when applying for a position that requires tempered decision-making. We don't need four more years of "Bring 'em on!" We need someone who can reason a decision with the mind rather than spewing a decision from the gut.
While I'm not sold on Obama, I think the Palin decision helped him.
There is another possibility from this decision, though. The choice has given MUCH attention to the Republican candidate, who did not need a 14th trip to the Jay Leno show to get some more airtime. Perhaps this is a Harriet Miers pick. Maybe John McCain has his Samuel Alito somewhere - a pick that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten through had it not been for the horrific initial choice.
With Karl Rove involved in the process, I wouldn't put it past them.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Is He the Guy?
Is this man the best choice for president out there? There are many people, including myself, who say yes.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Why should this matter?
I don't care for Mitt Romney. I don't think he would make a good president. I think he's polarizing. I think he played both sides of the gun issue.
But all of my opinions are based on my impression of Mitt Romney, not Mitt Romney's Great- or Great-great grandfathers. Seriously, I could give a crap if his great grandfather had five wives. That does not mean that Mitt supports polygamy; in fact, he has gone on the record as being against it. He doesn't practice it. I don't see how what his ancestors did has any bearing on his qualifications to lead this nation. In my mind, this is as asinine as it would be for an article to come out saying "so and so, a candidate for the presidency, has in his (or her) family tree members who owned slaves. Candidate, however, has spoken out against slavery." It would be seen as stupid, which it should.
As idiotic as this article's topic is, I'd almost be willing to believe that the Romney camp had it released to garner airtime to attack its relevancy in his campaign for president, to get people talking about him, in his defense, to garner support... almost.
But all of my opinions are based on my impression of Mitt Romney, not Mitt Romney's Great- or Great-great grandfathers. Seriously, I could give a crap if his great grandfather had five wives. That does not mean that Mitt supports polygamy; in fact, he has gone on the record as being against it. He doesn't practice it. I don't see how what his ancestors did has any bearing on his qualifications to lead this nation. In my mind, this is as asinine as it would be for an article to come out saying "so and so, a candidate for the presidency, has in his (or her) family tree members who owned slaves. Candidate, however, has spoken out against slavery." It would be seen as stupid, which it should.
As idiotic as this article's topic is, I'd almost be willing to believe that the Romney camp had it released to garner airtime to attack its relevancy in his campaign for president, to get people talking about him, in his defense, to garner support... almost.
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