Commitment to Truth

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Romney vs. Santorum?

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Fortune Cookie

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Fortune cookie yesterday:

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

Good advice for Presidential candidates this election year!

Truth can be, and has been analyzed both by me and by more noteworthy philosophers throughout millennia of history.  Cultures have differing attitudes towards truth and toward its value.

Without embarking on a long philosophical discussion, suffice it to say that the foundations of European and United States governments rest on Christian principles; that Christ is the Word and the Truth; and that our innate common sense indicates the importance of truth during an election year.  A vote is meaningless if it is cast for a lie.

Democracy does not work when candidates lie.

Election year compels us to question the trustworthiness, truthfulness, and dependability of political candidates.

Barak Obama

Our President Barak Obama is not famous for truthfulness.  The issue under consideration by the Supreme Court today, the constitutionality of ObamaCare, is one prime example of Obama’s lack of commitment to truth.  ObamaCare was passed only very narrowly, and only after Obama promised Stupak, who was holding out for the exclusion of abortion from ObamaCare, that abortion would be definitely be excluded from ObamaCare.  70% of Americans oppose federal funding of abortion, yet the Obama administration has included abortion in ObamaCare.  That’s a pretty big lie, going back on a public promise, and railroading federal funding of something that half of America considers equivalent to murder and to the Holocaust, and something for which 70% of America opposes public funding.

Other lies of President Obama’s include :

  • Saying that 80% of Americans support higher taxes (actually 34% support)
  • Claiming his mother was denied health insurance (not true)
  • Pledging not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000
  • Promising shovel-ready construction jobs with stimulus; later telling the NY Times there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.
  • Pledging that Americans would be able to keep their doctors under ObamaCare
  • Claiming he would not reward lobbyist with jobs
  • Making false statements about the involvement of foreign money in U.S. elections
  • Misrepresenting Arizona’s immigration law
  • Pledging transparency, then refusing 1/3 of Freedom of Information Act requests, failing to televise health-care negotiations on C-SPAN, and failing to wait 5 days so people could read the ObamaCare legislation online.
  • Violating his Oath of Office, by failing to protect the Constitution and ignoring the 10th amendment, which states that all powers, which the Constitution does not specifically allocate or prohibit, are reserved to the states (to the people).   President Obama has claimed many powers for the Executive branch; primary example is ObamaCare.
  • Additional lies
  • Obama’s biggest lies

With Obama, when it’s not lies, it’s disregard for and manipulation of the will of the American people, which is just as serious.  In fact, today, President Obama was caught on a hot microphone betraying his electorate, asking Russian President Medvedev to put off discussions of nuclear defense reductions until after the November election, when Obama would have more “flexibility” (to disregard the will of the people).

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney’s truthfulness has also been questioned.

These questions stem from his reversals on several key issues including abortion, and from his misrepresentation of his past positions on national healthcare.

The genuineness of reversals by politicians is always subject to the test of time, but for Mitt Romney time is short, with the election coming up in November 2012.

So it is not clear exactly where Mitt Romney stands on abortion.  Not only has Mitt Romney flip-flopped on his position on abortion, but he has also recently refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony List’s Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge in this primary, a pro-life pledge which has been signed by Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry.

Another elephant in the room complicates the public’s understanding of Mitt Romney — his Mormon faith.

Most Americans value tolerance, go to great lengths to ensure fairness for candidates of all religions, and hence are reluctant to vet Mitt Romney on his religion.  However, it is crucial to admit honestly that our individual votes are subject to our understanding of what is right and what is wrong.  And most of us are ignorant of what Mormons consider to be right and to be wrong.

Is abortion right or wrong under Mormonism?
Is truthfulness important?
Do Mormons view morality in a similar way as we do, coming as most of us do from our Judeo-Christian roots

If MormonWiki  (the free encyclopedia about Mormons from the perspective of faithful members) is anything to go by on Mormonism, the press does need to question Mitt Romney on a couple of issues:

If these MormonWiki statements are true, the press needs to question Mitt Romney to ascertain the details of his moral and philosophical commitments and beliefs before most of us can make a commitment to him.

Since Mitt Romney is a devout and active member of the Mormon Church and contributes 10% of his sizable income yearly to his Church, it is important to learn what Mormon beliefs are, and to know the extent of Mitt Romney’s commitment to these beliefs.  Mitt Romney has a cousin, Park Romney, who was a former Mormon high priest and now denounces the Mormon Church as a cult.

Mitt Romney’s political positions are confusing and political pundits’ perception of Mitt’s philosophy are muddled.  Wikipedia indicates :

  • Writer Robert Draper: “The Romney curse was this: His strength lay in his adaptability. In governance, this was a virtue; in a political race, it was an invitation to be called a phony.”
  • Writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells sees Romney as a detached problem solver rather than one who approaches political issues from a humanistic or philosophical perspective.
  • Journalist Neil Swidey views Romney as a political and cultural enigma.
  • Political writer Joe Klein concludes that Romney “has always campaigned as something he probably is not.

Bottom line: is Mitt Romney committed to truthfulness, or is truthfulness expendable for Mitt, as it is for Obama?

We can laugh off Rick Santorum’s jokes about Mitt Romney, as Rick accuses Mitt of discarding his previous image like a shaken

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Etch A Sketch toy, or as Rick implies that Mitt is an Obama twin, so electing Mitt would be much like replacing Tweedledee with Tweedledum.  But in actual fact, is Mitt Romney a strict utilitarian with no fixed values, and with no commitment to a fixed moral philosophy?

In truth, are we just trying to replace Obama, who sacrifices right and truth for goal achievement, and who uses Alinsky tactics in opposition to Judeo-Christian values—with someone who might be fickle?

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

Is Rick Santorum truthful?

Rick has been accused of supporting a bill in Congress that peripherally included Planned Parenthood funding, despite his pro-life views.  However, Rick’s opponents have been hard pressed to come up with any additional accusations or discontinuities in his record.

Rick Santorum has not flip-flopped on his previously held positions.

He is not accused of lies or reversals.

Rick is very open about his Catholic faith and his family values, which exemplify those of 80% of America.

Rick Santorum’s recent surge in popularity comes does not come from political connections or campaign spending.  It seems to come from a personal connection with voters.  Exit polls in Louisiana, his most recent victory, show that he won support from all classes of Americans, with the exception of the most wealthy.  (LINK)

Rick’s values are pretty traditional; cards-on-the-table honesty, love of family, deep Christian faith, fiscal responsibility, humor, and above all, truthfulness.  Some have even called him “the next George Washington.”

Rick is not afraid to stand for what he believes in; he does not shy away from admitting his faith, from criticizing radical feminists, nor from challenging his opponents on their inconsistencies.

Rick’s values are consistent.
Rick tells the truth.

America’s Fortune

The coming November 2012 election will determine the direction of America’s fortune.

One overriding issue is abortion.  Economy may be important, but is closely linked to the abortion mentality.  A nation that kills its own children cannot prosper– neither in the economic realm, where fewer and fewer young people cannot continue to support more and more old people, nor in the spiritual realm, where God does not favor mass exterminations of pre-born children.  So this election is about abortion in the minds of many.

Republicans are the only party in 2012 opposing abortion.

If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, we pro-lifers plan to vote for him.

But America would be more blessed and would be more fortunate to be led by someone whose commitment to truth and to faith is unswerving and which stems from our Judeo-Christian roots – and that would be Rick Santorum.

Are you unshakably committed to Life?
Then you must be unshakably committed to Rick Santorum.

It’s so simple and so true, you can find it in a fortune cookie.
If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.
Maybe that’s why Rick Santorum doesn’t need Teleprompters, and why he has such appeal to all the American people he meets.  He’s not frantically trying to remember what he previoiusly said.

For Good Measure

When we put what’s most important first, the rest follows.
Abortion comes first – so we will vote for whichever Republican gets the nomination.

But if Mitt Romney wins, we will be nervous about his failure to sign the Pro-Life pledge, as well as his commitment to truth, which has not been verified.

If Rick Santorum wins, not only are we assured of a pro-life, pro-liberty and pro-economy candidate, but truth is thrown in for good measure.

Wouldn’t that be nice, for a change!?

This is one man who will be UNSHAKABLE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Article, 7/27/13:

The Missing Link – Redefining How We Approach Politics