Is
our electoral process better off without the polarizing issues of faith-based
politics at center stage? Or does the absence of explicit moral and religious
expression impoverish our political debate? Our Texas Faith panel weighs
in:
Texas Faith is a weekly column at Dallas Morning News
managed by Editors William McKenzie and Wayne Slater, the material is
contributed by several panelists including Mike Ghouse, for all responses
visit http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2012/07/texas-faith-is-it-good-or-bad-that-god-and-religion-have-gone-missing-in-the-presidential-race.html/
MIKE
GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas
Absence of
faith will not impoverish political debate; in fact, it will enrich it with a
focus on the most important economic need of the day:
jobs.
Congress,
Senate or the President is not in the business of establishing or supporting a
religion; their responsibility is to be a catalyst and serve Americans in the
pursuit of their happiness and economic freedom.
Faith should
not be a factor in this election, as both parties stand to lose; the Democrats
worry about the Catholic vote and the GOP stands to lose if they make an issue
out of Romney’s faith, it would mean back peddling.
Social issues
will be played out by the Democrats; the anti-GLBT-abortion-immigration stance
of GOP will be a fodder to the Democrats. The CBS poll in May discovered that
62% of Americans “believe that same-sex unions should be recognized by law.”
While we remain divided on abortion, Romney cannot afford to flip flop on
immigration.
GOP may not
even succeed in carving up an enemy out of Sharia. First of all, American
Muslims are not asking for it, and secondly it will not pass the House and
Senate, let alone the president signing it. Democrats will hit them hard for
squandering public time on a non-existent issue.
GOP’s chorus
about repealing Obama care on the first day in office will fall flat on its
face, unless both the houses and the Presidency is Republican. The Republicans
would risk losing votes of the young people benefiting from insurance coverage
of their parents.
As a
disclosure, I am Moderate Republican, and when I posted a note on Facebook and
my blog congratulating fellow Americas upon Judge Roberts’s decision, an
incredible number of Republican men and women came out of the closet and
appreciated the decision. Thus we have Obama Republicans
now.
Absence of
faith talk will not be missed, our nation is operating on Maslow’s hierarchy
theory, and Jobs is our priority, food is more necessary than faith, and abuse
of religion for politics may not work this time.
I hope the
debates remain focused on economy, and for entertainment they can resort to
Presidential dogs, vacations, Kissing Children, pipe line, fund raising and the
price of rice in China.
MikeGhouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.com is updated daily.
