Religion and Politics

I remember growing up when there seemed to be so much time between presidential elctions. Kennedy was elected when I was in 3rd Grade, Johnson in 7th and Nixon in 11th...eons of time between elections. Now it seems that candidates are running for president continually.

I've found myself voting for various candidates from various parties all across the politcal spectrum, from Gus Hall to Bo Gritz, knowing that my vote or non-vote in Utah will make little difference in the big picture. I've also voted for John Anderson and Ralph Nader.

The other day I received a group emailing about how weird it is that the Republicans can support Newt Gingrich, who cheated on his wife. The following is my response:

Ah, the conundrums of the far right and far left, where ideas become ideologies and where fear and hate flourish and dictate actions, REactions and votes. If there were an adulterous democratic challenger to the left of Obama, he or she might win a primary run-off because of all the times our "Uncle-Tom President" has "caved."

Just curious how many of you would vote for a monogamous democrat over a polyamorous republican? :-) I wonder how many people in Utah would support Romney if he were not LDS, given the perception that he is a moderate.

We really don't vote on issues, do we? It's basically emotion, fear of Mormons, fear of minorities, communists, fear of terrorists (which means they win). We are moved by a need to blame and mistrust groups, the media, the government, corporations, Jews, Muslims, unions (especially teacher unions) or anything that offers alternatives to our ideology, which possesses and identifies us: liberal, conservative, tea party, occupier. Are there any people left out there who exist independent of their self labels or the labels we tag onto them?

Gingrich's second wife's interview gave him the chance to attack the media, tap into that mistrust and need to blame the messenger. If we can discredit the media then we are free to believe whatever we want to believe... neat trick, eh? I don't have TV and am curious how Fox covered the ABC interview. The lady may have been vindictive, delusional or whatever. For sure she's opening up her life to all kinds of scrutiny.

Here are a few of my predictions, based on my narrow perspective and having been alive during the past 11 administrations and having seen a few elections. If Santorum stays in the race, he will be Romney's main opponent. He may not because of $, but the Cain, Edwards...infidelity thingy should catch up with Gingrich. Of course, he's a good communicator, clintonesque, and may get by it, but I think his ex has some fire in her belly and is willing to take it to the next level. Romney should win the nomination. The commercial media would have us believe that every primary or caucus is a king maker-breaker (stay tuned after a word from our sponsors) I'm not as confident as I was before of Romney being able to beat Obama because he doesn't have the emotional appeal that would get the ultra-christian conservatives to the polls, especially as he moves to the center to appeal to more voters after the primaries. Plus, if the economy is swinging up come the summer there are a few who would rather vote for a left-of-center Christian than a right-of-center...whatever Mormons are. Gotta love religion and politics.Save Now