Teddy Bear 'Mohammad'

[Lilavati]

With my tail between my legs I say... Excellent retort. But for the record, I never would WANT a Fundamentalist government.....



Again, cannot argue with you here. Devout was inded the wrong word to use. However, I think it is safe to say that their moral compass was based in Biblical principle. That is what worries me about the modern understanding of the words "seperation of church and state". It could be argued that the general consensus is that if a person draws their belief system from Biblical standards, they cannot serve in government. The best current example being Mitt Romney. There is way more to the man than his religion, but that is all people want to talk about. Sad.

And I both thank and curse you now. Your excellent retort is motivation to reread what I currently have on Jefferson and the other founders, AND I am going to end up spending more money on some new resources. LOL

Unfortunately, I think the problem with Mr. Romney is not that he is Christian, its that he is Mormon. I will say honestly that I think the Mormon belief system is strange. Not bad or evil or anything like that, just, from my perspective, very odd. On the other hand, unless he lets it interfere with his judgement, I see no reason why he shouldn't be President.

We have some very religious people (at least, so they say) in office right now. I don't think their beliefs were an impediment to their election . . . if anything, their beliefs were a benefit to them, even if they offend many people. This being a democracy, those who were offended were outnumbered by those who agreed or didn't care.

Romney's problem, so to speak, is that he comes from a branch of Christianity that is viewed by some as either:
1) Not legitimately Christian
2) Christian but heretical or blasphemous
3) Fanatical (which isn't true, I've met Mormons of every stripe of dedication)
4) Just this side of a UFO cult (Not quite fair)

A better question is whether Ron Paul could get elected if we are asking about Christian beliefs, or even Biblical beliefs as the majority of Americans view the Bible.

Romney is actually more of a question like: can a member of a minority religion be elected President? Mormonism is, at least by its own claim a branch of Christianity, but many don't see it that way.

PS: there has been some excellent recent scholarship done on the Founding Fathers that is accessable in paperback; try "Founding Brothers" (I think that's the title) for a quick overview

 

[MelissaCato]

It's amazing how our media works ... I have compiled the real charts of who "we the people" favor. Ya can believe what ya want of course. Map view on Candidates

 

[GipsyQueen]

It's amazing how our media works ... I have compiled the real charts of who "we the people" favor. Ya can believe what ya want of course. Map view on Candidates

So most Americans favor Ron Paul? Interesting... I'm not following on the campaigns *why should I*, but it is rather interesting! ^^ I can't wait to vote at our next election. =)

 

[MelissaCato]

So most Americans favor Ron Paul? Interesting... I'm not following on the campaigns *why should I*, but it is rather interesting! ^^ I can't wait to vote at our next election. =)

Yes it is interesting, what I find very interesting is notice the Indian Reservations ??? Talk about limited government. LOL

 

[Gempress]

It's amazing how our media works ... I have compiled the real charts of who "we the people" favor. Ya can believe what ya want of course. Map view on Candidates

Umm.....I have problems with surveys compiled by random people on MySpace. *disclaimer: I didn't actually visit the MySpace pages, I don't like MySpace* And just from the first few sentences, this has to be one of the most inaccurate surveys I've ever seen. It seems to break every rule in the book on Statistics 101.

It says that the surveys were made possible by people "visiting meetup.com". How many voters actually visit meetup.com to check out political canditates? I imagine it's a very small percentage. You also have to take into account the *type* of people who visit those websites. It looks as if a lot of forum/Internet people seem to favor Ron Paul (at least from what I've seen). So of course, an Internet website would show a lot of hits about Ron Paul.

This survey doesn't show what "We the people" want. It shows what "We the Internet-savvy people who frequent meetup.com" want. And I'm not sure what percentage that is of the actual voting body.

I'm not saying anything bad at all about Ron Paul. I honestly don't know enough about him to decide one way or another. I try to avoid election/candidate hype until closer to the election.

But I just had to point out that you're trying to counterpoint suppossedly unbalanced surveys with a wildly innacurate one.

 

[MelissaCato]

Umm.....I have problems with surveys compiled by random people on MySpace. *disclaimer: I didn't actually visit the MySpace pages, I don't like MySpace* And just from the first few sentences, this has to be one of the most inaccurate surveys I've ever seen. It seems to break every rule in the book on Statistics 101.

It says that the surveys were made possible by people "visiting meetup.com". How many voters actually visit meetup.com to check out political canditates? I imagine it's a very small percentage. You also have to take into account the *type* of people who visit those websites. It looks as if a lot of forum/Internet people seem to favor Ron Paul (at least from what I've seen). So of course, an Internet website would show a lot of hits about Ron Paul.

This survey doesn't show what "We the people" want. It shows what "We the Internet-savvy people who frequent meetup.com" want. And I'm not sure what percentage that is of the actual voting body.

I'm not saying anything bad at all about Ron Paul. I honestly don't know enough about him to decide one way or another. I try to avoid election/candidate hype until closer to the election.

But I just had to point out that you're trying to counterpoint suppossedly unbalanced surveys with a wildly innacurate one.

You can check for yourself here individually, I just have them all together for comparison ... http://www.meetup.com/
..again you can believe what ya want. But to say it's not to be believed even if only internet-savy people, your only fooling yourself.

Edit to add: I'm a member of 3 RP meetup's in PA, weekly meetings at establishments in each county. The red you see are active people like me, not just internet browsers. The white markers you see, are inactive.

... and to correct you on "It says that the surveys were made possible by people "visiting meetup.com".... it actually says "we can see who The People are supporting by their own actions by visiting meetup.com."