Days of Change

Day 1205 – Jesus Freaks Out On the Street

Lately, I’ve wondered if some people just have a problem with religion or if they don’t like to think there’s a power higher than them. My experience is that the people with the biggest grudges against organized religion are the ones most familiar with it. This seemed to start with an attempt by President Obama to force religious organizations to pay for what we euphemistically refer to as family planning services. Some feminists will accept no compromises. Religions are just Mens’ clubs to them. When it gets to contraception, however, the backlash is more considerable. People love having sex without having kids.

These are the pieces that seemed to fall into place to bring Rick Santorum to front-runner status. He’s the one candidate left who believes in something, even if it’s not standard Republican fare. Ron Paul literally believes in nothing. Newt believes in something different every week. Mitt believes in whatever will get him elected.

Ultimately, it comes down to two facts. First, Rick Santorum has not tried to make contraception illegal and people with strong convictions don’t usually lose elections. The last time a candidate lost for being painted as a crazy warmonger was Barry Goldwater in 1964, and he was attacked by crazy warmonger LBJ. To paraphrase Goldwater, extremism is no vice.