Kenders' Musings

If Barack Obama manages to become President will the simple fact of his holding office violate the separation clause? Before the reader scoffs give me a minute or three and I will explain myself. Even though the separation of church and state is not actually, in those words, anywhere in the Constitution the premise of the government being separate from religion is very well ensconced in our society. What the Constitution actually says is the government shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. It means there is to be no state sponsored religion. They can’t back one religion over another, or prop one up with public monies.

The separation clause, as it exists, comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists in 1802 discussing the combined effect of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. It has been quoted in several Supreme Court opinions through the years. It is a legal and political principle and one that has, coincidentally, been abused by the ACLU and activist judges but that’s a story for another day. Suffice it to say that the government cannot make a law that respects an establishment of religion.

Keep that in mind. Later on in this article it comes into play and there will be a test.

Ask any supporter of Obama why he should be President and they will respond with empty rhetoric about change and hope. They will claim Obama will heal the rifts in the country. Forget about the fact of the rift being between those who love and defend true freedom and those who push an agenda of socialism. The only way it can be healed is for one side or the other to put down, once and for all, the other side. The rift can only be “healed” one way. If the left wins, i.e. socialists, the rift will be beaten into silence and the population spoon fed lies for all eternity. If the right wins there will be no rift, as the rift that exists now will have healed over when people realize that socialism is a dead end philosophy and reject it out of hand, thereby healing the country with common sense and freedom.

If socialism wins the rift becomes a scar. If freedom wins the rift will heal. It’s as simple as that.

However if Obama does become our next President I put forth the idea that he violates the separation clause. Those that follow Obama and support his candidacy cannot point out any factual way he will change anything save place higher taxes on “the rich.” His entire campaign is a faith based initiative. Given the well established separation of church and state thing, if Obama become President we will have the de facto head of a faith based organization as head of state. Given Obama’s standing as head of this faith based group and the fact that his entire campaign is faith based wouldn’t Obama’s every act become a religious edict?

If that comes to pass we will have a national religion. Religious bigotry will be the basis of every decision President Obama makes. Every action he undertakes will be considered Holy. Every utterance could become new scripture. Newspapers and magazines would no longer just be published pieces of news and gossip but religious tomes. Throwing one out may very well be considered heresy. Every news show covering politics would be considered a religious program.

Tax revenues would then go down as every media outlet in the country that covered President Obama would demand to be considered a church and their tax exempt status would be assured. President Obama would be forced to raise taxes on the citizenry even higher to make up for it.

Then the UN could sue us in international court for religious bigotry. If, God forbid, hate speech laws are passed here as they have been in Britain speaking against the President then becomes religious bigotry. Would the State of the Union address be considered a sermon? Would voting become a sacrament? Could you write off political donations to Obama twice, once as a political donation and once as a donation to the church?

Would this make Election Day a religious holiday? Will the ACLU sue over these developments? If Election Day is a religious holiday can the ACLU get it abolished under the Separation of Church and State Clause? If Election Day is abolished does Obama remain President for life? Where does it end?

This could be a disaster of epic proportions.

If anyone can tell me how these nebulous promises of change and hope will actually bring about change I would be glad to withdraw my theory of Obama as Head of Church and State. However, I don‘t see it happening. Obama’s commitment to change would be admirable if it were backed up with concrete plans explaining how he plans to accomplish these goals but until such a time as these plans are made public his candidacy remains firmly in the realm of faith and fairy tale.