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Posted on 12/05/2007 5:24:16 PM PST by Reaganesque
Mitt Romney’s problem isn’t that he’s a Mormon; his problem, in the eyes of the crowd now nipping at his heels, is that he’s serious about it.
That makes him dangerous because it makes them uncomfortable.
When you know what you believe and why, and you’re not ashamed to have it known, faith is not a position you take on an issue; it’s a position you bring to an issue, reflecting values and beliefs that have stood the test of time because you’ve discovered they’ll work when nothing else will.
Americans, from the founding of this nation, have always understood this, even though today’s wayward culture is doing its best to suppress any expression of tenets that have defined us down through the years.
In crises, however, we always return to our bedrock faith.
Remember how, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, members of Congress stood shoulder to shoulder, singing “God Bless America?”
The ACLU said nothing because at moments like that it has nothing to offer.
But expressions of faith are becoming regrettably rare in public life today, unless they’re wrapped in what’s deemed a proper context.
For instance, when trolling for votes it’s not unusual to see liberals popping up in the pulpits of black churches, liberals such as John Kerry, rambling on about the Apostle Paul before urging the congregation at Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church to “run your life in a Christian way.”
That was apparently OK.
And it was certainly OK for Deval Patrick to surround himself with pastors who laid their hands upon his shoulders and showered him in prayer the day he was inaugurated. Then he took his oath upon a slave ship Bible and urged the commonwealth to become that “city on a hill,” the beautiful metaphor commonly associated with John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
It made a great photo.
Of course, if the new governor had properly attributed that quote to its original author, Jesus, who coined it during His Sermon on the Mount, there’d have been hell to pay, if you’ll pardon the expression.
Faith is a lot like fireworks; it, too, can be explosive, which is why it must be handled carefully, especially here in Massachusetts, where secularists are working overtime to separate us from our moorings. Nothing alarms them more than a man or woman who can’t be bullied and won’t be silenced.
Romney knows that all too well.
Back in 2002, late in his campaign for governor, he saw his wife, Ann, dragged across the coals of political correctness by the Democratic Party after she expressed her disapproval of gay marriage.
That’s why so many good people choose not to enter politics, even though they have much to offer.
What happened to her was undeserved and ugly, nothing less than a philosophical mugging, all because this happily married mother of five dared to let her faith inform her opinion.
Two years earlier it was Joe Lieberman’s vice presidential candidacy that had this same crowd in knots. An Orthodox Jew, Lieberman insisted America was never meant to be a secular nation, but rather a nation in which people were free to be secular.
He was absolutely right.
Hanukkah is here and Christmas is coming, meaning secularists will soon be on the warpath, even though these holidays are as symbolic of our heritage as the flag.
Dogma? No. That’s American history.
Imagine, a man of faith, comfortable with his beliefs, running for president.
No wonder Mitt has them terrified.
Huck is a “man of faith” a whole lot closer to mine than Mitt is but I won’t vote for him either.
YIKES!!! EEEEEK!! GASP!!!! HORRORS!!!!
I might even go so far as to say "Heavens to Betsy!!!!!
Great piece....thanks.
BS, the problem with Mitt is that he is a liberal, trying to pretend to be a conservative.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
As I was driving to work this morning, they were dishing dirt on Huckabee. Apparently when he was the governor of Arkansas, he let a convicted rapist go free (the rapist held a gun to the teenager's head and raped her in full daylight. He received life plus 20 years. Huckabee said it was a general conversation, the victim said she went to Huckabee's office and pled that rapist not be released.) I think Hillary! is dancing her happy dance right now and releasing the stuff on Huckabee... And if the Christians think that the Dems, the Left, and the media will stop with the Mormons, they are sadly mistaken.
Oscar-Mayer couldn’t produce more baloney than in this article if it tried.
Plus, the MSM doesn’t bat an eye when Hillary! talks in church about her religious experiences. I am not going to judge whether or not she is sincere, but it seems to be only the conservatives who are getting grief over their beliefs and values.
If Willard were such a strong man of faith, he wouldn’t have been pro-abortion for 35 years.
It’s odd that his consistent personal values haven’t been translated into a central, consistent political view, that is other than ever higher office.
~”$50 copay for the planned murder of the most helpless.”~
There’s an old saw. You do know, of course, that Romney vetoed that particular provision, right? And that his veto was overridden by the MA legislature?
You may want to learn a little more before you resume repeating the libelous mud that people have tried to stick to Romney.
I think if he were comfortable discussing his faith, his people wouldn't be push-polling on the subject and blaming other candidates. His religion is a big part of who he is - he is or was a Ward Bishop in his church, he ranks high in the hierarchy. It's a big part of who he is? Fine - why is he so uncomfortable that he needs to make a special speech about it? Why can't it be part and parcel of what he says all the time?
The fact that he doesn't discuss it is very disturbing. The fact that he's changed so many of his opinions about so many key issues, coupled with the fact that he dodges the religious issue makes me wary and makes him look slick and slippery.
I'm Catholic - it's an integrated part of who I am and it doesn't take any effort to figure out that I'm happy and comfortable with it. It comes up in conversation. Not so with Mitt Romney.
Mitt will be President, G-d willing and numb ones here say will make any difference. You’ll notice that almost all their effort is directed against Mitt; they hardly raise a whisper to support Thompson.
I do NOT want another cracker snake-handler in The Oval Office. It was Jimmy Carter's and George Bush's implacable faiths that got them into so much trouble and led them to pursue policies that make no sense politically or logistically. I'd rather have Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office than another southern governor like Huckabubba, who thinks Jesus speaks to him from his breakfast burrito. And, I am a regular church-going Catholic.
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