Gubernatorial Op-Ed: Jerry Behn
- Thursday, July 23, 2009, 4:23
- Iowa, News Center, Top Story
- 1,262 views
- 64 comments
If you and I were to sit down and talk about the main issues facing Iowa today, what would they be?
Generally, they are the BUDGET, EDUCATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, and SOCIAL ISSUES.
Let’s look at each of them and see if you agree.
Budget- First of all, let me state that our current budget shortfall is simply not your fault. When Governor Culver took office, the state budget was about 5,400,000,000. This year, the state budget is about 6,100,000,000. Governor Culver’s policy has been: tax and spend, bailout and spend, and borrow and spend. Do you notice a common theme? Spend, spend, and spend. With all of that spending, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates next year, that there will be a shortfall of somewhere between $800,000,000 to just over $1,000,000,000.
In spite of what the Legislative Fiscal Bureau says, the governor says things are just fine.
Governor Culver seems to no longer be living in Iowa, but in the state of denial. The governor and his crew are telling you, that you are simply not paying enough in taxes to support their habits. They say that the national and Iowa recession is the problem. What they are not telling you is that the state is receiving near record revenue, in spite of the recession. Did you hear that on the news? I didn’t think so. What they are not telling you, is that if they had spent at just two times the rate of inflation, we would have a surplus. Have you heard that before? Probably not.
The fact is, Governor Culver, and the democratic leaders, have spent money like drunken sailors, and with all due deference to drunken sailors, drunken sailors at least, spend their own money. The governor and democratic leader’s plan is to rely on one time bailout money, one time borrowed money, and increased taxes to get them by. That is not a plan, it is a blueprint for the same financial problems other fiscally irresponsible states, like California, are facing.
Remember that it was not where the Titanic was, that was the problem, it was where it was headed. If the Titanic had just changed course, it would have avoided disaster. We need to change course too, and we need to change it before it is too late.
Fiscal responsibility has been accomplished in Iowa before, and it can be achieved again.
Education- When I was in school, I was taught that a monopoly drives down the quality of service, and drives costs higher. So, how do we incorporate more competition in the school system? One way is to provide parents more options for places to send their children to school. We can do that by increasing the tuition tax credit and increasing school tuition organizations or STO’s. That would not only increase competition; it would lower the cost of education to the state.
Currently there are approximately 40,000 non–public school children in Iowa. If we use $5,500 for an approximate cost to the state budget, and subtract out the current 250 tuition tax credit, that means our current Iowa budget would be approximately $210,000,000 higher if all of those students went to public schools. If we increased the tuition tax credit to $1500 and incented another 20,000 children to attend non-public schools we would save another $30,000,000.
Economic Development- Have you ever watched some children on a beach building a sand castle? They can work for hours, and build some truly intricate designs. Then, in a matter of seconds, a wave comes in and wipes it all away. It is if it never even existed. Job promoting legislation can be just like that. We can remove hurdle after hurdle to the job creators in this state and take years to build a good reputation.
Then, when even the talk of repealing the right-to-work, or allowing doctor shopping, or passing a prevailing wage law, or rewriting our chapter 20, or failing to couple our tax code to the federal code occurs, it wipes all our work and reputation away. It is as if it never existed. We need to be clear that our right–to–work law is here to stay. We need to be clear that our reputation is sound. That we will promote job-creating legislation. We have done it before, and we can do it again.
Let me give you and example of a wasted opportunity. We had a chance for a $1,750,000,000 investment in Iowa. Alliant was going to build a state-of–the-art, coal-fired power plant with biofuel capability in Marshalltown. After working long and hard at the permitting process, the plan finally come up before the Iowa Utilities Board for their approval. They did not allow a rate of return as high as Alliant needed, so Alliant gave up, and dropped their plan.
That plant would have provided over 1200 construction jobs and would have employed around 50 full time people. It would also have provided opportunities for us, our children, and our grandchildren to have a plentiful, reliable clean energy source for years to come. What was our governor’s response? Indifference.
We had the potential for an investment that was basically a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it was simply allowed to vanish. I have subsequently asked Alliant to reconsider, and reapply. As your governor, I would try again as well. We simply cannot allow that kind of opportunity to be washed away, by a wave of indifference.
We may not have the power to change the governor’s mind, but we do have the power to change the governor.
Social Issues- In 1998 I voted for, and helped pass the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA as it was called. In 2004, I voted for, but was unfortunately unable to pass a resolution that would have allowed you to vote on a constitutional amendment as to whether or not marriage should be between one man and one woman. That measure lost by 2 votes in the senate. I still believe the people of Iowa, not 7 justices sitting behind a bench, should decide, and I still favor letting you vote on such an amendment.
I was also the point person in the senate attempting to preserve our ban on human cloning. Unfortunately that ban was overturned in a completely partisan way, and even with heavy opposition from Iowans, our current governor signed the bill allowing cloning right here in Iowa.
We had a chance to talk a little about a lot of subjects, but I read a quote a while back that summarizes my political beliefs, and I would like to share it with you.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently, by doing for them, what they could, and should, do for themselves.
-Abraham Lincoln
Senator Jerry Behn
SD 24
About the Author
Craig Robinson has written 700 stories on this site.
Craig Robinson serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheIowaRepublican.com. Prior to founding Iowa's largest conservative news site, Robinson served as the Political Director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. In that capacity, Robinson planned and organized the largest political event in 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. Robinson also organized the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa, and was later dispatched to Nevada to help with the caucuses there. Robinson cut his teeth in Iowa politics during the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes and has been involved with most major campaigns in the state since then. His extensive political background and rolodex give him a unique perspective from which to monitor the political pulse of Iowa.
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There is much here that I like. My only criticism is I fear we are going to end up with too large a slate of candidates and none of them will get a real consensus of voters going into the primary. Jerry, I applaud what you have said here, but in my personal opinion I think we may all be better served if you, Rod, & Paul stay in the legislature and continue the fight there. We are going to need experienced leaders in both houses to help stem the tide and hopefully turn around the slide into economic and social disaster this state is experincing right now.
To my critics who will undoubtedly ask why I haven’t added Rants to this list, I feel his candacy is much more viable than the others at this time. Again this is not intended as a slight to these men, but I’d much rather see a short list of 3, at the most 4, candidates. Just expressing my personal opinion, Timmy.
Another great Republican throwing his hat into the ring. Our problem is not a lack of good candidates, our problem is too many great candidates. What a great problem to have.
Hopefully, some of them will reconsider and for the good of the state decide to stay in the offices they now hold. We need them badly just where they are now. We have a great bunch of conservatives on which to build a majority.
Let’s take back our state and restore it to some kind of fiscal sanity.
Timmy–this Fong kid is something else. He really shined yesterday. In fact, I think he is going to catch on like a wildfire. I really like the fact he is from E. Iowa which is often overlooked by consevatives as barren country. Believe me, there are lots of conservatives east of I-35 who are waiting in the bushes for the right candidate. The fact that there are so many candidates reflects the weakness in the quality of candidates as a whole. Fong may prove me wrong.
DVFO,
I appreciated your comments. It was refreshing to be reminded that “we have a great bunch of conservatives on which to build a majority.”
MIE, not so much. Are you seriously trying to make the party better? “The fact that there are so many candidates reflects the weakness in the quality of candidates as a whole.” Even if that were true, which it is not, how does your constant negativity help the Republican party? Your posts are unproductive, argumentative, and often disrespectful.
Thinking–I believe my comments are helping the Party. I’m not posting to make anyone feel good. I posting to wrest the party back from extremists, grow the party and ultimately win elections. I am old enough to remember when the middle controlled the party. Even during the turbulent 60’s and 70’s. Repubs won and controlled the State. I’m sure C. Robinson would agree that these sites are designed for open unfettered dialogue. I’m not going to slap you on the back and agree with you just because we are both Republicans. I don’t expect you to do the same. This wonderful marketplace of ideas will allow the cream rise to the top. Our goals should be to challenge each other’s thinking. Maybe one of us will be successful in convincing the other to change their mind. Only time will tell.
“Maybe one of us will be successful in convincing the other to change their mind. Only time will tell.” How ironic!!! Unfortunately, I won’t change my mind because I have principles, not simply positions.
I’m all for open discussion, you say whatever you want. The thing I don’t understand is that you say you want to “grow the party and ultimately win elections,” yet you refer to the Republican candidates as “weak” despite the fact that there are several very strong candidates. You can agree, or disagree, with me and I assure you I couldn’t care less. What I am saying is that your posts are unproductive in reaching your stated goals, argumentative towards those who disagree, and often disrespectful in nature. But like I said, keep posting whatever helps you “wrest the party away from me.”
Just the other day, MIE told us that Marsha Ternus was conservative. Now he says that Fong is conservative as well. If Fong is the same kind of “conservative” as Ternus, I don’t think that’s going to go over too well in a GOP primary.
Thinking–I’ve renamed you “reacting.” All of the candidates at the forum have contributed greatly to the Party and are good decent people. None with the execption of Fong have a tinker’s damn of a chance of meaningfully competing and winning an election against Culver. BTW–the fact that I disagree with you does in fact mean that I am argumentative. Isn’t that what these posts are for? Why so thin skinned? I’m the one that’s daily reviled as being a backsliding compromiser. I understand why people think that because I am a centrist when it comes to politics. I was once like you where I thought that my deeply held religious beliefs should serve as a litmus test as to who was worthy and not worthy to serve in an elective office. I learned through bitter experience that is not how the world works. Hopefully you will learn faster than I did.
Tell us about this bitter experience. Sounds interesting.
Lydia–I suspect that Fong will attract the monied set. Raising $100,000 in a few weeks tells you something. Also, as evidenced by his performance yesterday, he is being noticed as the bright shining light in an otherwise dull background of gray. Fianlly, lots of fertile conservative ground in E Iowa awaiting a person such as Fong.
Lydia–one bitter lesson I learned when fresh out of a Wisconsin Jesuit training school was trying to prevent through a zoning challenge the construction of Morton shed within the city ( a very Catholic NE Iowa city by the way) limits that was to house a conservative remonstrant church. I was unsuccessful (rightfully so in retrospect). My efforts to oust the city council member who voted for the construction was also unsuccessful (rightfully so).
MIE,
“Raising $100,000 in a few weeks tells you something.” David Adelman, running for the Des Moines City Council, raised $30,000 in one night. Does that mean he should run for governor because it would only take him three days to raise “Fong type money”? How much do you think the grassroots volunteers of BVP is worth? Just curious. In the caucuses, Huckabee’s grassroots (the same as BVP will have) seemed to fair far better than Romney’s money. Just a thought.
Disagreeing with me doesn’t make you argumentative, it makes you an independent thinker. What makes you argumentative is saying that Lydia, Christian, and the others are apart of Westboro’s depravity (remember that comment, you great Catholic hypocrite). And comparing Christians to the terrorists and jihadists would be characterized in my book as argumentative, disrespectful, and unbecoming of a good Catholic, as well.
Reacting (thinking). I only use strong words for zealots. I have never used strong words for Christians in general. Zealots are zealots whether Christian. Muslim. Catholic, protestant or whatever. Zealotry leads to religious wars and theocracies. Lydia, Christian are no different to me then the zealots that rule Iran. BVP’s drones are only useful to the extent they help the Party win the general. They hurt the party to the extent that in the end the primaries result in an extremist being nominated. BVP is viewed as an extremist by the vast middle.
” In the caucuses, Huckabee’s grassroots (the same as BVP will have) ”
WHY would this be true? There really isn’t that much difference between our announced candidates. Actually, I like the fact that VP is willing to repeal the smoking ban. I agree with him. It flies in the face of private property rights.
I am skeptical of his EO and I’m also skeptical of his strategy. It’s great to have a strategy to win a general but then there is a general election. I question his appeal to eastern Iowa voters.
I want to defeat Culver.
See, the difference between me and those hard-core VP supporters are that I believe that a certain segment of the VP supporters will take their ball and go home if VP does not get the nomination and I have no idea why they would even consider doing such a thing.
Like I said, there is not much difference between our announced candidates.
Electability is likely to be a factor in who I ultimately support as there appears to be very little difference in their philosophy so electability may become a bigger factor than normal.
Deace–you may be correct on electability. That’s why Fong has banged my gong.
MIE,
Are you kidding me? Islam and Christianity are not the same thing. That’s an outlandish claim that should disgust you as a Catholic. Have you ever read the Qur’an? How about the Bible?
Romans 12:11 says, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Convince me as a Christian that I shouldn’t have zeal. Please, seriously, make an educated effort. Further, the sole focus of the Bible is love (see Matthew 22:36-38).
Find a comparable passage in the Qur’an. The Qur’an, in contrast, has 164 verses that specifically reference Jihad. You can look them up yourself, but one that strikes me is K 2: 190-191 which says “[2.190] …fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you…[2.191] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.”
You can tell me that Islam is a peaceful religion, but not if its “Holy Book” is to be obeyed. Then again, maybe some Muslims view the Qur’an the same way you view the Bible. Pick and choose what they choose to believe so that it aligns with their lifestyle, goals, and priorities.
Muslims are commanded to fight unbelievers until they are either dead, converted to Islam, or in a permanent state of subjugation under Muslim domination. Allowing people of other faiths to live and worship independently of Islamic rule is not an option. Read the Qur’an for yourself before you compare Christians to Muslims…you hypocrite Catholic!
Let’s see here. My theory is that MIE is a Doug Gross lackey, perhaps even some who works in his law firm. Now MIE has come out as Fong’s biggest cheerleader (besides Mr. Hawk a/k/a “Mr. Hawkeye Review”).
It will be interesting to see if, perhaps, Branstad has now decided not to run, and the Gross machine is now backing Fong. When we get the campaign disclosure reports, it will be interesting to see if any of this early Fong money came from the Gross crowd.
FYI… Fong’s soundbites on the news from this forum were not impressive.
Reacting: you really need to think before you write. I was referring to zealotry. I was NOT comparing one religion with another. BTW–you keep calling my a hypocrite. Explain please.
Lydia–you give me too much credit. I am not a lackey for anyone but myself. I have not made up my mind on any candidate but in my opinion Fon stood out yesterday. He has some of the youthful charisma that many found in Obama. I have no idea what Doug Gross thinks of Fong. However, if Doug finds him attractive I think Fong will benefit greatly from Doug’s support. Finally, the press seems to have noticed him.
thinking: Sorry I reread my post and I used the word “general” when I should have used the word “primary”. Brain got ahead of hands.
DVFO,
No worries, I knew what you meant.
MIE, A zealot is someone who has zeal. You criticize zealots though your Holy Book commands you to always have zeal. You are criticizing those who obey what your Holy Book teaches. Now why would you be a hypocrite?
Thinking: I have no problem with zealotry within the confirnes of faith. I doesn’t work with politics, however. Remember one thing about my words. I draw big thick black line between my sacred life (Church) and my mundane life (politics). When it comes to Church I will always respect the intensity of your religious beliefs as well as those of Lydia, Christian and Peggy. The only difference I have with you and them is what happens in the political world.
“I will always respect the intensity of your religious beliefs.” Now you’re a liar too, because you have in no way respected my beliefs or Lydia’s, Christian’s, or Peggy’s. This is evidenced when you referred to Lydia and Christian as Westboro Baptists (i.e. the people who protest military funerals yelling ‘God Hates Fags’). Really, you will always be respectful. You, MIE, are a liar!!!
Secondly, where does your “bible” ask you to separate your life into sacred things and mundane things. How can you trust God with your eternity, yet you are unable to trust him with your politics? Author and professor Dallas Willard has observed, “There truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into the sacred and the secular does incalculable damage to our individual lives and to the cause of Christ.” Did Jesus Christ die on the cross for all of your sins or just the spiritual sins? The truth is when God redeems your life, he redeems all of who you are. He doesn’t just redeem your spiritual life, but he redeems your work life, family life, recreational life–essentially all of you. Your life cannot be divided into “sacred” and “secular” categories.
MIE~ You cannot compartmentalize your faith. One of the greatest Heresies of today’s church is “Separation of Church and State.” Life is about worshipping and influencing the world for Christ in all venues. God has dominion over all aspects of life…including politics…He established government (Romans 13:1). We took Him out of schools, out of the courthouses (Ten Commandments), and look where that has led us. If you believe God is omnipresent(and he is) there is no place that he isn’t. As long as you keep separating the creator from ALL creation, you are living the same heresy.
Christian: You don’t understand. Nothing compromises my faith. Nothing. I am talking about politics. Politics is all about compromising. I fail to understand why you think my faith is being directed by my politics. It simply isn’t so. If you are stating that I need to do like you and use the political process to advance my faith, that simply is not going to happen for the reasons I have set out on these posts almost daily. The danger of your position as borne out by history time after time is that the admixture of religion and politics leads to war and theocracies. If Fred Phelps had his way both you and me would be burning at the stake and he would be holding the somores. Why, because he sincerely believes what he preaches and sincerely believes you should believe the same way. Therein lies the problem. Oh by the way, my religious convictions are not compromised in the least by participating in politics.
Thinking: You side stepped my question as to why you believe that VP will have the same voters as Huck. I know of someone who was a Huck voter that will not support VP but I know the perception is there that the same group of people will support both men.
Why? I don’t understand. In actuality, there is very little to distinguish one of our announced candidates from another.
It looks like a leap to assume anything at this point.
Reacting (thinking)–my repulsion of Lydia, Christian and you only extends to the fact you are using religion to advance your respective faiths. To be blunt, your religious beliefs are your business. Worship how you wish.
MIE,
“Worship how you wish.” What if I believe worship is the way that I live my life? What if the way I live my life involves politics? What if my politics are in the Republican party? Can I still worship how I wish, or would you like to kick me out still?
“Then, when even the talk of repealing the right-to-work, . . . or rewriting our chapter 20 . . .” (sigh). The only folks who ever talked of repealing right-to-work were the Republicans who completely mischaracterized “Fair Share”, which only dealt with PUBLIC employees. Not private business.
What frustrates me about this kind of stuff is that the attempted re-write of Chapter 20 by the Democrats would have been an utter disaster for the State. You can win this one on the merits, Republicans! Why, oh why, must you nonetheless engage in brain-dead and dishonest spin? It’s the ethic of “I can say whatever I want as long as it makes a passing reference to a GOP talking point.” Until intellectual honesty finds a home in the Republican Party, you will continue to lose elections, and in particular lose younger voters and more educated voters.
DVFO,
I don’t necessarily disagree with what you say about VP vs. Huckabee. Obviously they are not the same person, and people will gravitate toward one or the other.
What I do think is that they have very similar viewpoints (regardless of whether you agree with them). I also think Huckabee’s endorsement (especially as early as it came out) more or less unifies the same volunteers that Huckabee had. Additionally, much of Huckabee’s grassroots was set up by VP and those in VP’s inner circle. In the poll last week, everyone concluded that VP is ahead in the polls because of his name recognition. Where did he get that name id? From the Huckabee campaign.
I agree that the candidates right now are very similar, I just think a lot of grassroots support will be with VP for the reasons listed above. You can call it a leap to assumptions, I would agree, but its definitely not a blind leap. Certainly it seems like a rational conclusion at this point.
Reacting–I don’t want your brand of Christianity stuffed down my throat. That’s why I don’t want you mixing politics with religion. Get you and friends and start knocking on doors for those who believe in fiscal sanity and limited government. That’s a good start. With that you get to stay in Party and not have to eat your lunch all by yourself.
Fortunately, VP seems to be far more conservative than Huck. I would consider VP. I would never have considered Huck. That guy was a liberal in conservative clothing.
MIE, I’ve renamed you Lying Hypocrite (but out of respect I will capitalize it). I hope you can see the irony in telling me to get my friends and then telling me I’m alone at lunch.
DVFO, I still don’t really buy the argument that Huckabee is a liberal, but I do appreciate the fact that you are looking at all the candidates without automatically writing any off. I hope to do the same. Great work outta you today!
MIE~ I did not say you were “compromising” faith, I said “compartmentalizing” faith. The church is not the brick and mortar building you go to for worship. The church is the people, and where the people is there also is the church. You are a member of a body wherever you are. If you are at home, you are a member of the church. If you are at a game, school, work, POLITICAL engagement, you are a member of the church. There is nowhere that you can go that God does not have authority and dominion over. Therefore we have to serve and stand up for his commission everywhere all of the time.
Reacting–you can call me “Al” if you like. If you do I will show you the angels in the architecture. Christian–I agree with your comment I am a member of the Holy Roman Catholic Church no matter where I go.
Reacting (thinking)–one more thing. You might want to consider using a smidgen of wit when you insult me. Your insults are, well, a, kinda ordinary. A little creativity goes a long way if your goal is to get my goat. Cheers!
Thinking’s comments are quite witty, far more so than Lying Hypocrite’s.
What strikes me is the narcissism and misplaced confidence of Lying Hypocrite. He’s the smartest, he understands things we don’t, he’s so much more of a Christian/Catholic than anyone else here (at least on Sundays when he’s buying tombstones for the unborn at his church, but not on elections days when he’s voting for candidates that will keep killing babies). And he obviously likes to hear himself talk since he never shuts up.
Maybe we should modify his name further to be the Greatest Ever Lying Hypocrite.
Lydia–actually I expected more out of you when it came to insults. Coarse, unrefined, barren of wit with not a trace of understatement. That’s not you. Give it another try. Please hurry. I can barely wait.
“Reacting–I don’t want your brand of Christianity stuffed down my throat.” — MIE
Actually, MIE, their “brand” of Christianity is the same as yours essentially, i.e., based on the moral teachings of JESUS CHRIST.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you are all wet on this. You can NOT separate your faith from your politics. What good is compromise if you’re sacrificing unborn babies and the institution of marriage?
Do you also separate your faith from your workplace dealings? Do you decide that theivery is okay if it means sealing a deal with a client? Total absurdity, my friend.
Peggy: Imagine that your neighbor is gay. Are you saying that you have obligation as a matter of faith to confront the neighbor and convince him that he is sinful and he needs to repent. Do you go as far as carrying a placard that says “God hates Fags.” Where do you draw the line. I would imagine that you probably avoid the subject just to be neighborly. Same with your neighbors that are pro-choice. Peggy, as a faithful and devout Catholic you know better to say Lydia’s brand of Christianity is essentially the same as ours unless you know for a fact she is Catholic. You and I are on the same page when it comes to the primacy of the HRCC. And finally, your analogy about thievery doesn’t work. Stealing is anathema to my faith. Advocating for a certain candidate is not. Certainly you are not saying that I am sinful if the candidate I support is not on all fours as prescribed by my faith?
I see I missed nothing new by being away from the computer all day. Why do you think we need to turn the GOP into God’s Own Party? As a (conservative)Christian, your zealous cluelessness infuriates me!!!
Timmy: You are right. I have tired make my point endlessly it seems. There is no need to continue on with the debate. It is what it is. Let’s leave room for new ideas and thoughts and perhaps some new posters.
MIE,
I’m actually past putting a lot of energy into insulting you and am basically down to feeling sorry for you. It is obvious that you are completely spiritually bankrupt, and you are too blind to see it.
Instead of insulting you, I should be praying for you soul. Anyone who exhibits such a disdain for people of faith who are trying to change hearts and minds and live out God’s principles needs it.
Believe it or not, I’m really trying to be sincere, but I’m sure I’m just angering you more.
Lydia–I can assure you that you have never angered me. Amused, puzzled, scared, yes. Angered, no. Moreover, I have never doubted your sincerity.
Timmy-sorry for the typo. It should read “I have tried…..”
And where do those Democrats get off saying there’s something immoral about war???
You people, self-described as Christian Republicans all, are really being terribly cruel to each other, and particularly-so the posters using female nom-des-blogs.
Let me get this straight. Republicans and/or Christians are not allowed to 1. whine, 2. enter into a heated debate with a Democrat, 3. speak ill of Barack Obama, 4. let our morals steer our political decision-making, etc., etc., etc.
Who died and made Democrats God?
If it weren’t for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all.
“Stealing is anathema to my faith.”
So is the failure to defend innocent human life, MIE.
Con Dim: I never thought I would ever agree with a Dim.
dvfO sez: “Con Dim: I never thought I would ever agree with a Dim”
Ooh-oh, mebbe I otta go wash out my mouth (or typing finger) with Fels-Napha.
Mod, I think you had it right the first time. I’m certainly tired of all this crap from the “Christians” amongst us!
BTW, Lydia, Thinking, Christian Ilene Onum, et al: since you all seem so driven by your Christian faith, why don’t you lay the cards on the table and tell everyone your denomination? I’ll start first. I’m proud to be an active L.C.M.S. Lutheran, according to other posts I assume Mod and Peggy are Catholic, anybody else wanna share?
Con Dem: admit it, you love hangin’ with us!
I believe as person’s religion tells us very little about the person. It shouldn’t be that way but it is.
If Catholics were true to their religion, we would not have Harkin, Kennedy, Pelosi, Vilsack, Kerry and a host of other pro-abortion Dims.
We would also have Republicans winning almost all elections because Catholics would not be voting Democrat.
Same with other religions. They mean nothing in assessing a person’s political beliefs.
It shows a disconnect between people’s faith and their actions.
DVFO,
You got that right! Orthodox Catholics refer to them as CINO’s (Catholics in Name Only).
To prove my point, VP appears to be very much against homosexuality, yet he attends the Reformed church which is very soft on the issue. http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=501
The Reformed church is also very soft on abortion and belongs to the extremely liberal National Council of Churches.
I recall reading about two Reformed “ministers” in NY blessing a new abortion clinic.
So which VP do we have? The one who is a true Christian conservative or the one who if of the Reformed Church faith?
If he’s truly a Christian conservative, why is he still attending a Reformed church?
Sorry, I forgot the link. http://www.accsd.org/Reformed.html
DVFO, while I may agree with you a person’s religion tells very little about the person, why shouldn’t some of us here be willing to share their religious affiliation, especially when they are more than willing to disparage others for not being “Christian” enough by their standards?
I guess that means VP is not Christian enough by my standards because I wouldn’t go to a Reformed church because it is extremely liberal.
A lot of people don’t know what their denomination thinks or professes about any given doctrine. Lots of denomination don’t preach about tough issues. I happen to be an exception, however, I am not in a denomination where I have people voting on what we believe or don’t believe. I believe what the Bible teaches. No creeds, no articles of confession, just the plain old Bible. As for what religious affiliation, I am a member of the church of Christ.
Here’s the story about the Reformed ministers blessing the Planned Parenthood.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1958843/posts
You want to be really sick, read what these Reformed “ministers” have to say:
“The Rev. Abby Norton-Levering led the group in prayers for the center’s doctors and staff. “We pray that you will make this a place of safety and give a sense of sanctuary,” she said.
Rabbi Matt Cutler of Temple Gates of Heaven blew the shofar as “a renewal of commitment to keep reproductive rights in the hands of women.”
The Rev. Bill Levering, senior pastor of First Reformed Church of Schenectady, said the right to privacy is endowed by God.
“There are some decisions that are left to the individual. Even God respects the right of privacy. We make women into children when we say they cannot control their own bodies,” Levering said.
Phillips led everyone outside where they laid their hands on the brick and limestone as the minister declared, “This is sacred ground.”
Good Grief…what a shame.
“Affiliations: The Reformed Church in America is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. With the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, USA, it entered into a “Formula of Agreement” with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, allowing full pulpit and table fellowship.”
The ELCA already has homosexuals in the pulpit and the Bishop looks the other way and they’ll be voting next month to make it official. The Reformed Church is in full pulpit and table fellowship with the ELCA.
So much for VP’s religion.
Christian, if you really care about a person’s religion, Rod Roberts is far better. He is a Church of Christ minister and at least he’s true to his religion. Who knows what VP really believes.
If he really believes the things he claims, he would not be in a Reformed Church and supporting them financially.