Today, Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican party nominee for president of the United States went to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia- my State- to talk family values, to face the bastion of American political Evangelism,and to sell himself; Mitt Romney, the Mormon, as the choice for the conservatives Americans to run for president. The University is the largest Evangelical Christian University in the world,. Conservatism in America, by large, means, Evangelical Christian political values and institutions- The Catholic Church also has joined most of the times in this quest of preserving political conservatism. But in reality, although powerful, historically, their actual voting power does not exceed, based on my own calculations, more that 20% of the overall registered Americans who go and vote, but still, they are powerful, and among them are leaders who influence others- like any other political medium. It also has been a tradition for Republican party nominee to go to these universities and talk, a normal political tradition, to talk and address the base- although the base and the demography in America are changing rapidly, still religious Christians and overall evangelicals and catholics christians, make a large chunk of the, politically, influential voting population. The issues Romney addressed today were not the same issues, although the theme is the same; family values, when *George W. Bush on 02/02/200, as a the Republican party nominee, to be, visited another, yet much more controversial university, Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today the compelling religious /political issue is gay marriage and what constitutes a family, when George W. Bush visited Bob Jones University, the issue was worse, I believe, which was institutional discriminations that the university had in place; banning interracial dating. *On 05/24/1983, The US Supreme Court ruled against Bob Jones University in Bob Jones v. the United States (461 U.S. 574). but the university refused to reverse the interracial policy, not until after George W. Bush visited that the university in 2000 dropped its policy all together. The relevance is not only, in my opinion, in visiting religious schools although the tradition is very interesting, but the controversial debate that accompanied and coincides with these two visits. In 2000, America did not have any problem with interracial dating and marriage,except of course for those that until now continue to struggle with their prejudices and continue to have issues with it but it is something that exist in every county in the globe, if it is not religion, it's the color of the skin, or the national background or the social class and so on and so forth. Today’s issue is much more controversial, maybe as but not as strong or near the interracial mingling in the 1950s and the 1960s and with Bob Jones University continued until 2000- Not sure how the university was not held in contempt for not executing the Supreme Court ruling of 1983 to ban discrimination and separation of mingling together for various the ethnic groups. So in 2000, Bob Jones University was a sore thumb to the Republican party. Liberty university does not have any controversial policies or history as far as I’m concerned so the School itself today was not the issues as Bob Jones was then, but the issue is the issue, if I can use the term- there is always something in politics and if none is found, which is almost impossible, then the politicians would create one. Gay marriage; President Obama and the Democratic political establishment and media and fundraising machines came very strong to address it and elevate it at this crucial juncture of the political debate just few months away from the presidential elections., Yet, the elevation was calculated, started with Vice President Biden approving Gay marriage- actually, before that ,the former president, Bill Clinton, in an interview approved it and said that gay couple can enter into a normal traditional marriage- President Obama gave it his approval afterward, but Biden apologized for putting the boss on the spot; usual political maneuvers, good cop, bad cop, style. The bottom line is that the Democrats, came out of the of the closet, and approved. and it became a hot politically debatable issue few months before the presidential elections- but the Republicans do not like it. Romney today, did not talk directly about gay marriage ; very smart, anything else, would have been a political stupidity at this stage, he talked values, and talked about that marriage is between a man and a woman, but did not criticize other options and did not blast gay marriage or the gay lifestyle in general. Romney the Mormon, talked to the heart of America’s Protestant evangelical, bastion, talked politics, and talked pragmatism and addressed what America loves the most; debate the issues, keep the door slightly open, do not close it or shut it all the way. The American Bill of Rights can be interpreted in many ways, and by many advocates or judges or politicians; the bottom line is this; nothing stays the same, and people or individuals will have their beliefs and the state will do the same and both can switch, or change or amend, or work a deal or something. Obama started reversing, including the immigration policies, policies that constitute that marriage is only an institution between a man and a woman; the way I see it, no president after him will reverse what he reversed.
*Sources: Wikipedia research on Bob Jones University and the Supreme Court decision (461 U.S. 574).
