Losing the big mo'

I saw two stories in the news today that will probably mean blog posts for me. One of them is the military budget. I'll hold off comment on that for awhile, probably until the full budget proposal is submitted by President Obama's administration. The other is the debate last night in Jacksonville. The last debate for nearly a month.

Everyone noted that Gingrich lost the debate and Romney won. This is, obviously, bad for Gingrich in the lead-up to Tuesday's primary in Florida. Santorum did well. If Gingrich should implode he'll be well-positioned to be the conservative alternative to Romney. He won't win as said alternative, but he can be it. Congressman Paul had a couple of memorable lines, but no breakout performance. He's doing a better job connecting to the electorate, though, and being less wonk-y.

Romney looked good on offense against Gingrich. Gingrich looked unable to respond effectively. That'll hurt. With no debates until late next month, Gingrich's momentum will have to come nearly entirely from primary/caucus results and issues in the campaign like Romney's taxes. Such an issue can't be counted on again, though. Leaving actual contest results. Hard to know how he he'll do. Polling is looking favorable from Romney at the moment though.

Gingrich made one of the most lame attempts at an attack on Wolf Blitzer and the "mainstream media" I've ever seen or heard or read. He attacked Romney, then Santorum attacked him sideways, and he tried to, on his very next answer, suggest the four Republicans don't attack each other and told Wolf Blitzer his question was nonsense. Blitzer held his ground, and Romney played Gingrich for a sucker.

Romney lied about his blind trust and his investments in Fannie and Freddie. But Gingrich didn't make that clear in the debate so we'll see how fact-checking goes and how much play it gets in the media.

Gingrich's moon colony idea was the subject of considerable discussion, relatively speaking. It's a big, grandiose idea. As he admitted. He was also the only one to support it. It led to one of Romney's would-be bad moments when he said he'd fire anyone who brought such an idea to him had they proposed it when he was a businessman. But, aside from that, Romney's point was accurate. It'd be difficult at best, likely impossible, to get private enterprise to commit to that no matter how many tens of billions are offered in incentives. But, I like the big-ness of the idea. I like the commitment to manned space flight and further exploration. And, contrary to Romney's assertion, Gingrich had had this idea well before he started campaigning on the Space Coast in Florida. That said, a lunar colony is just not practical. As the other three made clear.

The last thing I'll say is that I'm tired of the likes of Gingrich and the others talking about, and agreeing with, this notion that there's a war on Christianity in this country. Persecution is part of that religion. And it's not alone in that. However, the idea that the US is anti-Christian is just ridiculous. Three quarters of the country is Christian. All of the presidents following Lincoln, starting with Andrew Johnson, were nearly certainly Christian. From James Monroe to James Buchanan they were all nearly certainly Christian. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln were all, at minimum, highly doubting. Lincoln was the only one who seems even reasonably possible to suppose was a Christian by a modern definition. And we've never had a president of any other religion. The Founding Fathers did not make a Constitution on the basis of Christian ideals and morality. It's true. But that was because of the notion of separation of church and state. Which the founders certainly supported. Several of them were deists, among which were the first through fourth presidents, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and many others. Hence people being endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

My point is, though, that this isn't a nation founded on Christianity. But neither is it a nation with historical persecution of Christianity. Persecution of non-Christians, certainly. Not of Christians, though. I don't know from where grown Christian adults get the gall to claim they're persecuted in this country. Atheists are the most mistrusted minority in the country. It's a disqualifying belief for well over half the citizens in this country regarding their votes for would-be public officials. Can Christian leaders say the same thing about their theological beliefs? Obviously not. For a country as wealthy as the US is, Americans have an abnormally high level of religiosity. In the country at large, there is a strong direct correlation between poverty and religiosity. There are two countries that defy that correlation: the US and Israel. Both are abnormally religious given their level of wealth.

If Newt Gingrich and other Republicans and non-political Christian leaders could come home to reality and stop this nonsense talk about persecution of Christians and a war on Christianity we'd all be better off. If nothing else, that truth Christians are so fond of claiming to have with a capital 'T' wouldn't be backed and defended by blatant and patently obvious falsehoods. If nothing else, I am tired of hearing it and I can't imagine I'm the only one who is.