Who Decides Electability – “We The People” Or The Media?

By Rev Michael Bresciani

The term ‘electability’ has become a catch word in this primary, but under scrutiny, it is easy to see that it is misused sometimes and generally overused at all times. With Gingrich falling to single digit results in the recent primaries and perennial candidate Ron Paul hanging on by a thread in most states, it is apparent that voters don’t care what the newsmen and commentators have to say – they plan to vote the way they want to. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?
In a time when we have a president whose particular religious beliefs are still in question after three years, the desire to know a candidate’s real beliefs has never been greater. Recent polls determined that 53 percent of Rick Santorum’s supporters believe that religious beliefs should influence a leader’s decision-making process, as opposed to only 28 percent of Romney’s followers.
There is no system of checks and balances to determine a candidate’s religious leanings and how they might affect his decision making, but there is plenty of information about each candidate’s particular religion.

It is well known that Mormonism is still considered a pseudo-Christian religion. That is a religion that seems to be Christian and has all the trappings of a regular Christian faith but lacks the doctrine, polity, and practice of a real (or should we dare say a ‘normal’) Christian religion. The Mormon faith has problems with its founders and its founding documents, particularly the ‘Book of Mormon.’ To some, the spurious and highly questionable book of Mormon puts the entire religion in a category with the cults.
To others, the Catholic Church’s dependence on Pontifical authority rather than scripture makes it another pseudo-Christian religion or a heresy in the eyes of many. The truth is that when Catholic patristic teachings and doctrine are compared to the scripture, much of Catholic dogma comes up short or is actually diametrically opposite the scriptural teaching.
The problem with both Catholicism and Mormonism is that they both have two authorities from which to guide their adherents. In a moment of crisis or decision, the followers of each must decide which authority they are going to be guided by. Will it be the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Pope? Protestants who hold the Scripture to be the final authority are never bothered with such problems.
It would seem that the differences between Catholicism, Mormonism, and the Scripture is nothing more than an endless debate than can be answered by anyone with the strongest opinion or most vociferous argument. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The truth of the argument is not found somewhere in between each faith’s doctrines or that grey area known as “your guess is as good as mine.” The argument is forever settled by authority, an authority that has been certified by God through the resurrection from the dead. Joseph Smith is still dead, as are all the Popes since Catholicism began; the one risen from the dead said these words about what we should accept as final or authoritative words:
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (Joh 12: 48)
We may give a certain level of respect to what all men say, but only the words of Christ will be the measure of our lives in the very end. Religions notwithstanding, why would anyone adopt an additional authority if it has no bearing on our final destiny?
While 73 percent of Evangelicals and protestants see Rick Santorum as representing Biblical teachings in his stand, it is harder to see where Romney stands on scripture. This is  not because of the book of Mormon, but because he talks about his faith much less than Santorum. Since it is only in public discourse that anything can be known about what is generally held as a very private matter, who knows what Romney really believes about the Bible?
What is clear is that Santorum believes that abortion is evil and that the general decline into immorality (including every aspect of the gay agenda) is anti-biblical, anti-Christian, and anti-moral and is leading to the decline of the nation.
Hiding behind terms like “women’s rights”, “women’s health” and the “right to choose” doesn’t fool some people at all, including Rick Santorum. Excluding all male fetuses for the sake of argument, what rights, choices, or health is considered for the female fetuses that are ripped from mothers and thrown into a medical waste receptacle?
These potential ‘women’ (fetuses) are deprived of all the same benefits their mothers are demanding. The pro-abortion mantra that demands these rights gives new meaning to the word “hypocrisy.” Even without the Bible, it takes no great wisdom to see that abortion continues on the strength of a sorted, faltering, and absurd argument based on selfishness and raw stupidity.
The argument that if women are not allowed to abort that they will all resort to using coat hangers to remove their offspring is part of that stupidity. Let’s see: would 54,000,000 women have resorted to coat hangers since 1973 if Roe had failed? Were the same 54 mil subjected to the crime of rape and had no choice? Even as the immorality of the day deluges the American landscape, those ideas and arguments are at best juvenile and silly.
The tendency to put what is right on the back burner in place of what might produce more riches and security has never been more evident as it is today. This notion that the economy and jobs are the real issues has produced a term we now use to put the moral issues out of sight with called ‘hot button issues.’
It is time for America to grow up. We can’t go on calling the extermination of six million Jews a holocaust while referring to the murder and genocide of 54 million American unborn children as a “hot button issue.” If we continue to think the economy is a better issue to focus on, we will not see a full recovery until, as Jesus said, we have paid “uttermost farthing.” (Mt 5: 26) No juvenile language here; put simply, that means there will be no recovery.
To make a choice for president based on the false assumption that only the economy is the real or worthy issue to deal with may get Romney elected. What it will not do is save a nation that even with an economic rebound will not survive the coming worldwide changes.
No one can tell the American people who is the most electable candidate. That is, and always will be, for ‘we the people’ to decide.
http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.