Rick Perry: Shaped By Faith

" The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided." - Casey Stengel It appears that Governor Perry has quite a challenge in securing the GOP nomination if the pettiness of the last GOP debate and the fear and loathing in the mainstream media are any indication. Well here we are. We finally have an upfront, wear-it-on-your-sleeve, tell-it-like-you-see-it Christian running for President and you'd think Godzilla had just waded out of the Gulf of Mexico and was threatening us all with destruction. Have Conservatives gone mad?

Is the Right becoming as snarky as the Left? What is wrong with this picture? Have we gone overboard with rampant secularism and "flavor-of-the-day-phobia?" Are we ashamed of a man who says the same things publicly that we say privately? Can we handle the truth? If the issue is Social Security, States Rights, real job creation, or Faith, apparently not. Apparently, if the terminology ain't in the Establishment GOP PC-Lexicon, it ain't allowed. Bring on the circular firing squad. Bring on the candidacy assassins Dick Morris and Karl "Rovesputin" Rove. Here Rick Perry's crime: failure to genuflect to the Bush Family or seek approval from Rovesputin and Morris before saying anything. By actually embracing his Christian Faith publicly and often, Governor Perry is apparently too scary and extreme to be elected. The Founders are rolling in their graves. Ronald Reagan was treated the same way by the Ford People in 1976 and the Bush People in 1980. Remember? They all refused to accept Reagan as the real deal. The Establishment Left and Right tried to paint him as unelectable and too extreme. What garbage! Reagan's two landslide wins should have put notions like that permanently into cold storage within the GOP.

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But here we go again. Many folks are deliberately trying to paint Governor Perry's past positions, admitted mistakes, and his current narrative as threatening. They know better. Some folks just seem to like "chewing the rag." It is as if Rick Perry were some totally wacked-out person, like a Jim Jones, a David Koresh, or Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. I find this concept at once amusing and disturbing. Those folks fit the Left's profile for being out of touch with reality. Conservative Evangelicals like Perry are anything but crazed suicidal maniacs. Jones, Koresh, Wasserman-Schultz, Democrat Progressives and the rest? ... Well, make that easy discernment on your own. The secular, Liberal Press does not know how to process this either. Trying to discuss this Faith issue with them is like trying to tell a robot android what a human spirit is. Most media people's psyche is too materialist to understand. Perhaps most people can't define it themselves. Indeed, we all mostly talk around the word "spiritual" to describe the word. It's all rather tautological. Many people never get out of the loop. The rest of us rely on our Faith in God that we are making progress towards a closer relationship with Him. We talk easily about the subject. But, Faith has has become an alien concept for most in modern day America. To go even further, I an beginning to think that the other GOP candidates, with the exception of Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, but including Santorum, Bachmann and Sarah Palin, are "jest a tech" jealous of the man from Paint Creek Texas. By any measure, Rick Perry really did grow up in a world apart from the modern conveniences available to most of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. I get it. My sisters and I grew up very poor too ... but even had indoor plumbing in Toledo, Ohio, back then. Growing up with little and appreciating everything is what this is about. It's all about searching your God-given talents to reach the American Promise of the American Dream. If you have come down this path you are eager to share your journey and encourage others. I suppose this sounds like boasting to most. If so, and you consider yourself to be a Believer, then a re-read of 2 Corinthians in the New Testament is in order. You see, we Americans are all given the American Dream, that vision of what could be in our lives because of where we live. But, I believe that we all have to wrestle with our Angel [like Jacob did] to secure the American Promise. I think Rick Perry talks exactly to this issue with forthrightness. When you come up the truly hard way, you look harder for the purpose of your life. The hard way is when you must give second, third, and fourth effort for every achievement. I'd wager Rick Perry was the first to graduate from college in his family. I'd also wager he was very proud to earn the privilege of leading this nation's men and women in the U.S. Air Force for those years of his service commitment. I'd wager that he went back to Paint Creek with a sense of purpose to help out the family farming business because it was the right thing to do. But, I'd also wager that this is a man who practices hard at his faith and sets the same standards for himself that he sets for others. How do I know this? I don't. But I'll wager it's true. So why is the WaPo so snarky and condescending [if you don't see it, read the article again]. Are they trying to portray Governor Perry as a West Texan Elmer Gantry? They have already gone after one jugular vein by comparing his ever present smile to that of George W. Bush. There have been snide remarks about polished cowboy boots and cuff links and Western hats. Well, he's a real Texan for crying out loud! His college credentials are from Texas A & M, not Yale or some other preppy Ivy League or some haughty Private School. Secondly and most importantly, the Tea Party folks see him as strong but approachable, even if they don't agree with his every position. Frankly, I am getting tired of hearing about how much "outside business experience" Mitt Romney has, or how many "children and foster children" Michele Bachmann has raised, or how many "bullets" Rick Santorum has taken for Conservatism. I am especially tired of the condescending arrogance of John "I speak Mandarin fluently" Huntsman. Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry are the only ones debating substantively against Obama. The others are more interested in jockeying for petty advantages. They try to take Perry down rather defining in detail what they would do as President. This is turn allows the Liberal Moderators have great fun in fueling the melee. I appreciate Newt Gingrich's utter candor in exposing this agenda and trying to steer the debates back on course. So where does it all go from here? I would hope that GOP Candidates, especially those who claim the Faith, would ditch the denominationalism and defend each other from a ravenous Left Media. Start piling on Democrats and President Obama. Talk about the Solyndra scandal. Bring up the Holder’s and Obama’s attempt at further gun control with "Operation Fast and Furious." Go beyond the tease of an economic plan and lay one out. The more good plans from which to choose the better. Talk about a new Foreign Policy. Uphold Israel without exception. The Democrat demagoguery will not be able to keep up with or use any of those positions. There is not only a Presidency to win, but a Senate that is seriously up for grabs, and the prospect of an even larger House Majority. So here is some unsolicited advice: Get off of Perry's back. He is not the enemy. He is one of us. Spend the time selling yourself and your own plan. And for Heaven's sakes, don’t be ashamed to talk about your Faith in God and in this exceptional America that He gave to us all.