Does (R) stand for religious?

You know, those little letters they put behind everyones name to denote which political party they belong to. (R) for Republican and (D) for Democrat. Unless of course that (D) is involved in a scandal or in legal trouble, in which case you have to read the story to the end to try and deduce it for yourself.

Rule of thumb. If the story is about illegal, immoral or scandalous conduct and no party is shown in the first paragraph it is a safe bet to assume that it involves a Democrat.

Back on topic now. In listening to the political pundits and all the talking heads as well as more then a few of the caucus goers from Iowa it would seem that the (R) now stands for Religious. I guess it means I will have to change my party registration now. I am not what most people would consider religious. I don't attend church every Sunday, heck I don't even attend on Easter or Christmas. The reasons are varied.

I grew up in a household that was Episcopal and Baptist, but mostly Episcopal. Well the Episcopal church left me long ago to begin their grand social experiment. Episcopal services now are merely a Sunday morning meeting for the local GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bi Transgender) coalition.

The Baptist church just couldn't quit asking for money. They asked at church, they sent pleas in the mail, they called and they sent people door to door. They worked so hard on shaming me for not giving enough that I hung my head in shame when I walked out of the church.

So here I am. No religious preference and the front runner for the Republicans is a Baptist minister and everybody tells me he got there because of the Evangelical vote. What about the issues? Oh never mind he gives a good sermon and that is good enough for them.

The runner up has had so much made of his religion, not of his own doing but because everybody felt it necessary that since he was running as a Republican his religion or lack of it should be important to us. Never mind that there are at least half a dozen other members of congress or other elected officials who are also Mormon and have never been asked about their religion. Right Harry Reid?

The man that came in third, earlier had made a statement that he didn't attend church regularly. Did that play into the voting?

I will gladly go to being an Independent since I don't seem to have the proper credentials to be a Republican.

So why isn't it a big deal about religion when it comes to the Democrats? Why don't these evangelicals expend their energy on getting the word out about the Dems religion or lack of it? Why don't the pundits ever bring up their religious credentials?

Oh sure you can find a Democrat in church. Normally it is predominately black churches in the south pan handling for votes. Why are there never any questions brought up about the Dems campaigning in church instead of how many times a Republican attends church? How is it that Dems can go to churches asking for votes when most of what they stand for goes against what most religions stand for?

Year after year the Dems go into the mostly black churches, and just because they are Dems the congregation will vote for them. Never mind the fact that they do not live the life these churchgoers strive for or preach about. It is just good enough that they have a (D) behind their name. Doesn't make sense to me.

I am not such a slave to a religion or a political party that I am willing to vote for it just because the person has the right letter behind their name.

If Huckabee winds up being the (R) choice, which is still a long shot, for the first time in 30 years I will sit out the presidential election.

Just to prove how Independent I am here are my previous choices.

Carter (Hey I voted for the home team)
Reagan
Reagan
Bush
Perot (Another time when I was fed up with the status quo)
Dole (Against Clinton more then for Dole)
Bush

By not voting however I am going against one of my guiding principles, and something I have admonished many people on. If you don't vote, you can't complain! But this year I may not have any choices. I may wind up having to vote for a religious leader with no principles or the Democrat.

If the Democrat wins I will take steps in the time leading up to them actually taking office to protect my assets, but there is very little I can do to protect my paycheck. So well my gross pay may increase with a (D) in office there is no doubt my take home pay will continue to shrink since the government will be taking more and more of it to pay for their grand plans.

I will continue to work only up to the point where I can make money sitting at home. You know, like a Katrina survivor.