Church and State

As I reviewed the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses for my First Amendment Final, I naturally thought of Mitt Romney's speech last week about religion and politics.

I did not think the speech was all that remarkable, and I nearly laughed out loud when one person (probably a campaign staffer trolling news stories) commented on the Washignton Post and said that this speech would be later read in political science books. To steal a line from Lloyd Bentson, Mitt Romney is no Jack Kennedy (transcript of Kennedy's speech on religion).

Then again I really should not have been expected to be blown away by the speech since I am 1) completely biased against Mitt Romney already, 2) not his target audience, and 3) fall more in line with Kennedy's emphasis on separation of church and state view than Romney's religion is essential for freedom view.

I guess if Mitt Romney's candidacy has any redeeming factor, it is bringing this issue front and center. As a church-going Democrat, I love watching the the Republican side of the race and how they deal with religion this time around. We will see if faith and stances of faith based issues (abortion, gay marriage, and all those other things that hurt Giuliani) are really the lynchpin.

In the end though, Mitt Romney rest easy knowing that I do not care that he is Mormon. I would not vote for him because of his views on Guantanamo (we should double it, it is a sign of American resolve), his disingenuous reasons for changing positions on issues like abortion, his stance on Iraq, and almost every other issue. Oh, and because I cannot, as a registered Democrat.