Get Me to the Church on Time!

by Norman HorowitzWhile from time to time I find it difficult to remember where I parked my car, there are many things that are totally useless that I remember that take up a lot of my very limited "brain space."One of these is from the play Plaza Suite when Maureen Stapleton confronts her husband George C. Scott with her knowledge of his having an affair with his secretary and she says something like: "I know that you have been having an affair with your secretary and it is very sad in that I expected more of you. Everyone has an affair with their secretary."I expect better from our political process.Starting with my valiant Air Force service while defending democracy for four years in Belleville, Illinois, and working for a variety of media companies, I have had an expectation of "management excellence" and it was rarely, if ever, satisfied. I did believe that, if you became the head of a multibillion-dollar enterprise, you needed to be smart and effective.Boy, was I ever wrong about that!As I complete my eighth decade of life, I have transferred my expectations of excellence into the political arena.I am a big-time supporter of our President Barack Obama, who has had a three-year opportunity of managing the unmanageable and has done as good a job as possible.In my "declining years," I have wondered why I continue to expect reasonableness and sanity from the Republicans?I do not differentiate between "Republican smart" or "Democrat smart", but rather my concept of just plain "smart."With a couple hundred million "grownups" in our country, why is Rick Santorum a leading candidate for president?Santorum has said that not only was the separation of church and state not absolute; there is a role for religious faith in the federal government. He went on to say that the definition of separation of church and state does not appear verbatim in the Constitution. What it does say is:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

Santorum wants to blur the line between the religion and government.Santorum said that liberals are the real bigots in the debate over same-sex marriage because, he said, they argue that conservatives oppose gay marriage because of "hatred and bigotry." He cited a recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that California's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional, and that the ban "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California." Santorum said this was tantamount to the court saying, "If you believe marriage is between a man and a woman, it is either because you are a hater or a bigot."Someone should tell Santorum that the Constitution is the law of the land for America. It is a secular document and does not "appeal to God." Our government derives from people (not God), as it clearly states in the preamble:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union...

While the Constitution does not include the phrase "separation of church and state," neither does it say "freedom of religion." However, the Constitution implies both in the First Amendment.Santorum might note that keeping religion separate allows atheists and religionists to practice their belief systems without government intervention.Closing with another Neil Simon play, the musical Sweet Charity had a song entitled, "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This!" Well, there just has to be something better than Santorum![youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wGgfYJoZts[/youtube]