As a fellow Latter-Day Saint, or Mormon, I have listened with great interest to the coverage Mitt Romney has received from many different areas about his faith. It is interesting to me at how much of an issue this really is - or rather, it is becoming. Recently while driving into work I listened to an NPR new story on former Governor Romney and his faith. You can read/listen to it here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16315111

The topic was if a Mormon could be elected or not. Although an interesting topic, I don't think this should be an issue. The Sixth Article of the U.S. Constitution states, "but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." It feels an awful lot to me like this race is becoming so much less about who is going to do their best to keep their oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and so much more about race, religion and gender - three things that, in my opinion, are not the rel event issue. The office of President is not about a statement of gender, race, or religion - it is about faithfully executing the office of the president and keeping their oath.

The duty of the media should not be to make the race, religion or gender of candidates the subject of discussion for any office of this Country - it should be their values, morale compass, competence, leadership experience, stands on core issues, records, plans for the future of this great land and the recognition that God does govern in the affairs of man. Let us not get distracted by the outward form and by so doing get cheated out of tangible substance - a President.

Thank you for reading.

"There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: "A republic, if you can keep it." The brevity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health (Dr. Richard Beeman)."

For some time now I have wanted to post something about our incredible right - the right to vote. Do we even comprehend the great responsibility that lies with this privilege? I do say privilege on purpose too - it is a right but it is also a privilege. In Brazil where I lived for two years, it was required by law to vote - a truly devastating thing (How could that be devastating? Read on).

How many times have you gone to the voting booth and seen the names for those judges going up for election, or the candidates names for the "at-large" city council seat, or that amendment for the state constitution and thought, "I don't think I have ever heard of these people. I will just re-elect whoever is the incumbent (or the opposite)", or "Well, the amendment sure does look fine to me", and they cast their ballot. But they did their duty to vote, right? Wrong. Our duty is so much more than to vote - our duty is to be an active citizen and guardian of our republic - a representative democracy. To be an active citizen and guardian requires that we be informed, vote, be as active in government as we can, and speak up when we need to.

This type of thing does happen - and I would venture to say that it happens millions upon millions of times each and every election day. By so doing I propose that we are electing people that at times do not have our best interest in mind, do not have the same agenda as they want us to believe they do, and are slowly creating a mess of our country that will be so difficult to clean up that it may just be impossible. The United States is certainly the most powerful and influential country on earth and the people we have in office are directing that country and are therefore influencing just about every man, woman and child on our planet. Isn't it prudent then for us to get our opinions from some other source than ABC News, the water cooler, or our parents?

The power to vote is perhaps our greatest right. However, the typical voter in my opinion is perhaps the greatest danger to the future of our country and way of life. The non-voter at least doesn't proactively harm the country - they just don't help it. The typical voter though is very capable of hurting it. They hurt it by being allowed to be swayed by emotion, the crowd, and the half-truths that politicians are willing to feed them in order to get their votes. Do I need to illustrate my point? Brazil is an excellent example - the entire population is forced to vote. Who do they vote for? Because they are extremely poor and have received on average only a few years of elementary education, they vote for whoever promises food to the hungry, houses to the homeless, and money to the poor. They never deliver, but they still promise and they still get re-elected and the people greatly suffer - both the informed and the uniformed. Think of Lenin's communist revolution that went worldwide. Think of Nazi Germany. Think of the French Revolution - and all of these were by the will of the people. Even more recently, think of some the most recent elections and determine how emotion, the crowd and half-truths swayed our willing voters. Think of all of the many recent political scandals around several of our prominent elected officials - all of whom were elected by the voice of the people.

As independent Americans, we should not be so willing to trust those in office but rather we should be more willing to trust facts, our own ability to research the problem, and in the power of choice to make a difference. In a CATO Institute article (http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/11/06/bryan-caplan/the-myth-of-the-rational-voter/), it closes like this:

" Whether or not the people know what they are doing, don’t they have a right to choose?

I can understand when people make this argument about self-regarding choice. Even if an individual does not know his own best interest, I normally think that he should be free to make his own mistakes. The problem with irrational voting, unfortunately, is that people who do it are not “just hurting themselves.” If the average voter is irrational, we all have to live with the consequences.

Every parent eventually asks his child, “If all your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?” I have an even more loaded question for those who refuse to second-guess the wisdom of the average voter: “If the majority said we all had to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you push people who refused to jump?” "

My point from that quote above is that we all suffer from the irrational voter. That is part of being "One Nation." However, those who are not informed should have the courage to not vote. Additionally, the people of our communities, states and country should make the sacrifice to become informed. We have to be more than just voters, we must become informed, active and involved. The power is within us and the duty is laid at our feet to be the guardians of this Great Republic. We indeed have a Republic - if we can keep it. It is my prayer and belief that we can.