First GOP Presidential Debate – “The Kid’s Table"

The first Grand Old Party (GOP) Presidential debate is over.  The political pundits have stated their opinions.  Those expressed in this article come from a Biblical Worldview.

Unfortunately, the split format of seven lower tier candidates in the afternoon and ten higher tier ones in the evening failed to yield a clear front runner.  Of the 17 presidential hopefuls, I think any of them will make a better public servant then the Democrat Party’s offerings and here is why.  Most of the GOP representatives put their love of our Constitutional Republic and the protection of individual, God-given rights and responsibilities above party interests.  The Democrat social progressive, MASTERMIND, ideology dictates what Carly Fiorina exposed in the afternoon session: “Progressives believe they are better than others, they are smarter than others, and they must take care of others.”  Democrats believe they must govern, tax, and regulate every facet of peoples’ lives because they know what is best and the American people are too stupid to govern themselves.

The mule party hides behind two false doctrines.  1. The common good is more important than protecting individual liberty.  This war between an all-powerful, centralized Federal government control versus individual liberty is what’s at stake should America have the opportunity to conduct a 2016 general election and inaugurate new leadership on January 20, 2017.  2. Statists follow with religious fervor the undisclosed, “Obama Doctrine,” as summarized by Frank Gaffney during the 2015 Western Conservative Summit (#WCS15, & Centennial Institute): “Embolden our enemies.  Undermine our friends.  Diminish our country.”

However, true disciples of Jesus Christ comprehend a different war – one between good versus evil.  We recognize our civic responsibility to engage in public discourse, but our motivation is to the highest calling to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  This is the standard by which I graded our potential future leadership, for Jesus taught to know all people by their fruits – don’t listen to what they say alone, examine what they’ve done and what they do.  Do their words and deeds match?

Based on the only, truly objective standard – The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness – I can eliminate all DNC candidates and several of the Republican hopefuls.  The reason I can remove all DNC contenders; their god is the Federal government – not Jesus, the Holy One. 

Long before I watched the debates or put pen to paper, I prayed and asked God to remove all prejudice from my thinking, to grant me His gifts of wisdom and discernment, and to come under the governance of His Holy Spirit, as I evaluate the GOP hopefuls.  Relying on this firm foundation, the afternoon session yielded a clear winner.  Of the seven lower-tier candidates, Carly Fiorina performed well enough to move from the, “Children’s table,” into the top tier, most likely displacing Junior Kentucky Senator Rand Paul or New Jersey Governor, Chris Christy.  I will address Ms. Fiorina’s showing in more detail below.  But first, I will address the other six lower tier contenders.

Former three-term Governor of New York, George Pataki is a progressive, pro-choice Republican and a member of the political class.  Now, he claims to abhor abortions and believes life begins at conception.  In light of the sale of murdered babies’ body parts, Mr. Pataki claims he would defund Planned Parenthood.  He is willing to grant due process protection when a pre-born baby reaches twenty weeks.  This is easy to manipulate and shows no mercy to a pre-born baby nineteen weeks and under.  From a Kingdom perspective, George Pataki is disqualified to lead all American citizens.

The next unlikely candidate is former Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore.  His strength is his commitment to our nation’s defense.  However, I didn’t see much difference between him and the other Progressive, Political-class member, Senior Senator for South Carolina, Lindsey Graham.  Both claim that the nation needs a serious Commander-in-chief to take the fight to Islam.  Senator Lindsey Graham wants to send ground troops back to Iraq and into Syria right now to fight and destroy ISIL.  From a military perspective, deployment may be necessary.  Unfortunately, the American people are war weary.  They will seek a President who will present another approach (see Carly Fiorina below).

Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, former United States Senator, Rick Santorum, and former three-term Texas governor, Rick Perry, may have done well enough to break into the top tier candidates, but I seriously doubt they will.  I like all three gentlemen.  They project optimism, they all have quality strengths and good policy ideas, and they apply Christian principles to their personal lives.  Governor Jindal claimed that he is a leader that does not follow the shifting wind of popular polls.  He had the best line regarding our nation’s illegal immigration problem: “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The Constitution demands our government defend us – WE THE PEOPLE – against foreign (and domestic) invasions.

Former Senator, Rick Santorum had, in my opinion, the best ideas for stimulating the nation’s languishing economy.  For example, America can and should be the number one manufacturing nation in the world.  It starts with reducing personal and business born taxes.  Then, remove strangling federal and state regulations.  Finally, offer other incentives for manufactures to hire and train middle-income earning personnel.  Regarding, welfare reform, he reiterated what he accomplished in the senate during Bill Clinton’s presidency, applying time limits to entitlement recipients.  I supported Senator Santorum in 2012 because I observed the way he treated people with genuine kindness regardless of their economic status.  He remains one of my personal favorites, but I don’t think he’ll break into the upper tier.

Former Texas Governor, Rick Perry performed much better than he did during his 2012 debates.  He didn’t say, “Oops,” this time.  However, he did misspeak when he said our military personnel fought and died in Iran.  Obviously, he meant Iraq.  It is an easy error to forgive since much had been said about the Liar-in-Chief’s Iran nuclear deal.  Governor Perry’s strength is his passion to secure our southern border.  I wonder if he has the same attitude toward our northern boundary and our coastlines.  I think he lost his opportunity to advance while discussing the Iran deal.  He pointed to Carly Fiorina and stated that he would have rather had her negotiate the deal than John (get us all killed) Kerry.

This brings me to one of the true rising stars in this campaign, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hewlett Packard, Ms. Carly Fiorina.  She is focused, she is principled, and she speaks with clarity, purpose, and civility.  As I wrote in a previous post, Carly Fiorina covers more topics with greater depth, brevity, and skill better than any other Republican candidate.  President Ronald Reagan earned, “The Great Communicator,” title.  Carly Fiorina runs circles around his sorely missed talent. 

Carly Fiorina has a better Iran deal solution: 100% any time, anywhere (nuclear and military facilities), without restrictions, inspections, or else we will make it impossible to move Iranian money around the globe.  She has a better ISIS approach: meet with our better middle-eastern allies and provide them with the tools they need to destroy ISIS.  Most importantly, she is a truth teller. 

In the Kingdom of God, truth is most important.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  She spoke the truth when she compared the difference between Conservative principles and Progressive hope and change.  We military types frequently say, “Hope is not a strategy.”  The change we’ll see under another progressive regime will come in the shape of a mushroom cloud.  Understanding this, she committed to be strong against Hillary Clinton.  She said she would not pull any punches when confronting Hillary.  For these few and numerous other reasons, as people get to know more about Carly Fiorina, she’ll move up.

I will address the top tier contenders in my next post.  However, I want to provide a preview of the current frontrunner.  Regarding Donald Trump, an old saying comes to mind, “A self-made man worships his creator (himself).”  This is the pride of life and epitomizes how I perceive Donald Trump.  Carly Fiorina asked a reasonable question, “By what principles will he govern.”  Senator Ryan Paul exposed how Donald Trump buys and sells politicians to get them to do what he wants.  The Bible teaches, “A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.”  He has changed his mind about healthcare, gun control, amnesty, and abortion.  If he is a Christian, when did he become one?  What is his testimony of repentance and conversion of trust in Jesus for salvation?  It is hard to balance his behavior against the weight of scripture.  According to Kingdom of God principles, I have examined his tree and I do not find edible fruit.  He’s been weighed in the balance and he’s come up wanting.

Thanks for reading.  Let the restoration of our Constitutional Republic begin.

For further entertaining and educational reading regarding a past Constitutional crisis, I linked my Christian, Historical Fiction, Civil War novels here: Destination Hope.