BY SHARON MARTIN

We just finished one election cycle and the next one has begun. I’m reminded of an old Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel in which a group of space travelers start a new civilization. The president is chosen in a random drawing. However, if a person wants to be president, that person’s name is removed from the pool of potential leaders.

Considering some of the recent remarks by candidates, I’m thinking Clarke’s idea might be a good one.

Newt Gingrich, a convert to Catholicism, spoke at John Hagee’s church in San Antonio. Rev. Hagee has called the Catholic Church “the great whore” and “a false cult system,” but he and Gingrich seem to be on the same page now. Gingrich told Hagee’s parishioners that America was in danger of becoming a “secular atheist society.” Which is it, secular or atheist?

In a theocracy every citizen must practice the same religion. There is no freedom of choice. With our secular government, each of us has the right to worship as we choose. It is one of the principles on which America was built and one of three accomplishments that Thomas Jefferson wanted carved on his tombstone.

Freedom of Religion. Let’s not lose it in someone’s desperate attempt to be president.

Rick Santorum spoke to a crowd in New Hampshire. He said that abortion is the reason Social Security is in trouble. He’s hitting two lies with one verbal stone. Social Security is not in trouble so long as legislators keep their hands off the money that comes in through payroll taxes. We pay our insurance premiums and get our annuities back, and it will continue to work for generations with some tweaking. Listen to the economists instead of the politicians.

Santorum says that because of our abortion culture there aren’t enough workers paying into the system. How about this Mr. Santorum: there aren’t enough jobs for the workers we have.

And with this logic, he, too, thinks he can run this country.

If you want to be sure this country doesn’t fall into the wrong hands in the next election, I suggest that every one of us start keeping track of what comes out of the mouths of politicians from either party. Listen to the candidates themselves, not to ads that twist the truth. Listen to more than one news source. Think. Make an honest choice. Vote.

It’s our right and responsibility to vote, but we must choose wisely. Our way of life and our country are at stake.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer