Some Politics

Last Thursday night, I was falling asleep at about 11 pm after a busy evening whenI realized that I missed the Mitt Romney "Faith in America" address. I got up and went to see if I could watch it online. Luckily, it was on the first page of his web site, so I watched it and you can, too. It was refreshingly fundamental with little mention of Mormonism and a huge reminder about the separation of church and state that our coutry was founded on, and the freedom OF religion, not FROM religion.

Some favorite quotes:
I liked how he echoed JFK's speech about being a Catholic candidate. He said, "I am not a Mormon running for President, I am an Americn running for President."

Regarding the question of whether LDS authorities would control his actions in the White House: "[if I am elected] When I put my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath beccomes my highest committment to God."

Quoting someone else--I don't know the reference: "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith, for if he becomes President, he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths."

***

On another political note, I got this email today and it made me sigh. It reminds me of an email convo I had after Hurricane Katrina.

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to k now why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote.