It's not a criticism, it's an observation.
Whom would Jesus elect?
Mike Cox

Just before the S.C. Republican primary, I got a phone call from William Murray. Not the Saturday Night Live guy; the conservative Christian son of atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

Murray called to alert me about David Silverman. According to Murray, Silverman is trying to get In God We Trust removed from our money and is somehow involved in the plot to remove prayer from schools. My daddy warned me to refrain from discussing politics or religion, and now they have merged.

I suspect politics has always been like professional wrestling; fake, choreographed, adversarial, and over- hyped. We assume the men who formed our country were statesmen; and some were. But history tells us politicians haven't changed much since Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr squared off.

We remember what was accomplished by the guys who appear on our currency, but we don't know or care how it happened. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were world class political opportunists and the sainted Abraham Lincoln filled cabinet posts with political cronies and used the introduction of the Emancipation Proclamation as a political tool.

Current politicians have dragged Jesus into the fray. Kicking and screaming, I hope. When someone tells you voting for the right guy might mean the difference between Heaven and Hell, the stakes are raised tremendously.

But that's Politics 101. Find something divisive, and then make it an issue. It is a whole lot easier to crusade against taking In God We Trust off the currency than to fix health care without irritating campaign contributors.

Candidates are talking about issues that weren't issues a few elections ago. The economy is always a problem. Taxes, social security, and taking care of the environment are things we haven't fixed since I was a little boy. But no one wants to address any of those issues.

Saving the family is big this time. No one wants to save families by getting fathers more involved in parenting or addressing the divorce rate. We can only ensure the sanctity of marriage by infringing on the rights of gay people. How is this is going to keep families together?

Ever since 20 Saudis outwitted the FBI, CIA, and NASA in September of 2001, we have been worried about keeping Hispanics from entering the country illegally. A friend from New Hampshire told me illegal Canadians are a problem up north. How come there's no fence bordering Manitoba?

In 1960 the religious leaders of our nation were worried John Kennedy might turn the country over to the Pope if elected. That didn't happen. Now religious leaders are worried Mitt Romney might turn it over to Brigham Young. But most Republicans think even Romney is better than electing some Godless liberal democrat, or worse, Hillary.

Last weekend, the democrats brought their circus, complete with clowns, to the Palmetto state. Half the people who voted were black, and Obama ran away with the primary. He immediately said the result wasn't about race.

And we're still a year away from the real election. Let the real race begin...