I know, I know, this presidential race is played out. There are literally hundreds of other big stories going on that nobody is talking about since the media is obsessed with taking the easy way out by covering the race exclusively. I’ve been trying hard to diversify stories lately but Super Tuesday is coming up in a couple days, and since I think this will be the last week the primary is relevant (after this, Romney will have a lock on the nomination) I might as well discuss the very different religious stances the two candidates are taking.
Because something pretty unique is taking shape across the political landscape that I’ve never exactly seen before. Right now, is an interesting case study in two very different men exploiting very different religions and setting up a clear difference for Republican voters. [While both call Obama an atheist or a communist atheist or a Muslim or even the Devil in Santorum’s case.]
On the one hand, you’ve got Mitt Romney, “Moderate Mormon.” Now, most Americans don’t know enough about Mormonism to tell what makes a moderate Mormon or a conservative one. So I guess the easiest way to discern it is that Mitt isn’t too liberal a Mormon because he’s generated literally millions of dollars for his church in personal donations or stock options (Mormonism requires a ten percent tithe to the church like all great Ponzi schemes) and has activated his church’s network of support/mindless-drones to win big in Mormon heavy states. However, he isn’t too conservative a Mormon since he was Governor of Massachusetts, and hasn’t said one word about the Planet Kolob while campaigning.
On the other hand, you’ve got Rick Santorum. A man who won’t shut up about his religion, and has played the Catholic card so often I don’t think he has any other cards in his deck. The problem with Santorum is that even though he’s technically a “Catholic” the man thinks, acts, and sermonizes like the world’s first ever Catholic Evangelical, a type of hybrid where he’s just as hardcore as any radically righteous born-again evangelical, but goes to the right of even them on issues like birth control. It’s a type of radical middle-ground that actually makes him more conservative than either one as he goes against most evangelicals on birth control, and The Pope on the issue of universal health care. He gets to pick and choose what he wants, but you can rest assured it’ll be the most conservative stance possible.
So that’s where we’re at: one very moderate, painfully boring guy from a non-mainstream religion, and one very painfully outside-the-mainstream guy from a widely practiced branch of Christianity. We all know by now that Romney will take the nomination, but the fact that he’s having such trouble despite clear organizational advantages (Santorum isn’t even competing in some Super-Tuesday states because he didn’t make the ballot, giving Romney more delegates by default) really points to where most of the country is right now. They’d rather dismiss something that looks weird on the surface but’s actually pragmatic (a moderate Mormon) and fully embrace something that looks reasonable on the surface but would set civil rights back a hundred years (snake-handler Santorum).
Rick is the one to watch. I have found that if someone is CONSTANTLY spouting religion……..they are the one that puts the knife in your back the quickest and fartherest.
NO one should vote for that man.
Joe: I know exactly what you mean. Whenever someone keeps going out of their way to mention what a “Christian” they are, I guard my wallet and watch my back.