The God Thing

[sniffa]

from the 'common conservative. feel free to stop reading now.

It is perfectly clear from the historical record that the Founders believed: a) the personal character of the candidate is of great significance to the nation, and b) the religious attitudes of that candidate have some bearing on suppositions about their character. I think it is also clear that the specific sect or denomination is mostly irrelevant, unless it has a very strong bearing on the formation of their character (i.e. it would be difficult to view a Scientologist with neutrality).

If we apply these guidelines to the Republican Presidential field, some perhaps non-intuitive things come across. If we force-rank the candidates according to evident strength of character, I think that Romney comes out awfully near the front, but I do not feel that Huckabee does. I would put him middle of the pack at best. There is a little slickness there that reminds me of another former governor from Arkansas, and perhaps even a whiff of Huey Long. Clearly John McCain has significant strength of character, as does Fred Thompson.

Unfortunately, Rudy Giuliani – who I generally really like – seems to be weak in the area of moral character. Coincidentally or not, he is also probably the least religious person in the race. If I think of what George Washington would say when faced with this, it would probably be that leadership skills that are not built on a foundation of sound moral character are illusory at best, and easily subject to contamination.

What I would recommend to my fellow Republicans as we head into the primary season is to make personal character a prerequisite – insist that a candidate demonstrate it to your satisfaction before you consider voting for him. Then, among those who pass that test, select based on the best fit with your ideological requirements. Do not take religious affiliation directly into account, but use it as a guide to, or evidence of, character.

http://www.commonconservative.com/shanahan/shanahan121607.shtml

i enjoy reading the slam on Teh Ghoul, and i'm laughing so hard, tears are streaming on what they say about Romney. also, the idea that they think they are moral is funny too, but that's old hat.

[NMMNG]

1. They have one thing right:

It is easy for us to imagine that America today is soooo different than it was 200+ years ago. But our Founders, and Washington in particular, had a profound understanding of the nature of human nature. We would be wise to follow their guide in thinking about the intersection of religion, politics and the religion of politics.

"The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian Religion." 1797 the treaty of Tripoli, signed by President Washington, and approved by the Senate of the United States


" ... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should `make no law respecting establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state." Thomas Jefferson, Letter, Danbury Baptist Assn. January 1, 1802

"I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered itself to be used for political objects I would meet it by political opposition. In my view church and state should be separate, not only in form, but fact. Religion and politics should not be mingled." Millard Fillmore (1809-1865) 13th U.S. President

"When religion is good, it will take care of itself. When it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one." Benjamin Franklin, Statesman, Inventor, Author, Letter to Dr. Price.

"there is not a shadow of right on the general goverment to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation. I can appeal to my uniform conduct on this subject tha I have warmly supported religious freedom." James Madison - father of the Constitution

http://www.americainprophecy.com/famous-american-leaders-quotes.asp

[sniffa]

2. very true

i <3 u

:loveya: