An NC Role in the Primaries?

polifrog



A nice change.

Under The Dome:

The May 8th North Carolina Republican primary depends on the Newt Gingrich factor.
If the former House speaker remains in the race, then Mitt Romney is leading among North Carolina Republicans. But if Gingrich drops out of the race, conservatives rally around Rick Santorum.

That is according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning firm based in Raleigh.

It should come as no surprise, though, that without Newt dividing the vote of the majority of conservatives who are not weak conservative Romney supporters, Santorum comes out ahead.  But it is just as likely that if Santorum were to drop out, Newt would pick up NC.

It is just nice that NC may play a role in the primary process. 

Santorum Applauds Separation of State From Church over Separation of Church and State With Stephanopoulos...

polifrog





Santorum gets it right on the concept of "separation of church and state". It is not absolute. My only quibble is that I wish he described how it is not absolute in a bite worthy way: when he denies the "separation of church and state" he should rephrase it as a separation of government from church, as church should not be rejected from having a role in our representative democracy.

I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says the free exercise of religion. That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square. Kennedy for the first time articulated the vision saying, no, ‘faith is not allowed in the public square. I will keep it separate.’ Go on and read the speech ‘I will have nothing to do with faith. I won’t consult with people of faith.’ It was an absolutist doctrine that was foreign at the time of 1960.

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To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?

That makes me throw up and it should make every American who is seen from the president, someone who is now trying to tell people of faith that you will do what the government says, we are going to impose our values on you, not that you can’t come to the public square and argue against it, but now we’re going to turn around and say we’re going to impose our values from the government on people of faith, which of course is the next logical step when people of faith, at least according to John Kennedy, have no role in the public square.

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