Serious Political Commentary for Serious Conservatives

	The Independent Voice for Conservative Values and the Conscience of the Conservative Movement Less Government is the Best Government

The Greatest Title of All
-by Scott Rohter, January 2012

George Washington wrote that, “The greatest title of all is to be called an honest man.”  The qualities to look for in a leader are no different today, than they were back in 1783.  The most important quality of all to look for in a Presidential candidate is honesty!  There are many different words in the English language to describe the same thing:  honesty, character, integrity, virtue, morality, and principles.  This is the stuff of which good leaders are made!

Intelligence, and the ability to look and sound good on television, or the ability to debate and  persuade other people, are too frequently considered to be more important than basic core values!  This is a mistake!  These are ‘second tier’ traits that are only useful, if a leader first possesses the foundational core principles of honesty and integrity!  Honesty and integrity are every bit as important today as they were 200 years ago, and all of our Founding Fathers shared this opinion.  For instance Thomas Jefferson wrote “In matters of principle stand like a rock.  In other matters swim with the current.”  John Quincy Adams wrote that, “I would rather be found guilty of making a serious mistake in judgment, than to be accused of being even a little bit insincere.”

There are four candidates left in the Republican Primary, going into South Carolina.  Two of them are honest men, and two of them would say almost anything in order to get elected, and they have said just about anything to get elected in the past!  Two of them are honest men, and two of them are not!  The two that are honest are Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.  You may not agree with everything that they say, but both of them have been very consistent throughout their political careers.  A vote for either one of them would not be a mistake.  The two candidates who would tell you just about anything in order to get elected, and who have done so in the past, are Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney!

It is important to be able to tell the difference between truth and lies.  It is just as important to be able to distinguish between the motives of different people who are saying the same thing, and to know the difference between someone who actually means what they are saying, and someone who does not.  In other words, it is important to be able to distinguish between the genuine, and the counterfeit!  See my article entitled Counterfeit Conservatives, on LessGovistheBestGov.com  from January, 2012.  It is not sufficient to just say the right thing.  One must actually believe it!  Newt Gingrich doesn’t believe anything that he is saying right now!  He is just running for another national political office, for what must be at least the tenth time!  He is a masterful politician who is just trying to get re-elected!  How do I know this?  Can I look into his heart? Of course not.  But I can read his long political record for the past thirty two years!

This National Election is not about some kind of religious conversion that Newt Gingrich claims to have experienced.  It is about politics, pure and simple!  It is about a return to limited government!  Newt Gingrich has never been a proponent of small government in his life, NEVER!  But he is well aware of the importance of the TEA Party, and he is trying to ride that wave back into a position of power and influence again!  Whether or not he has actually sought for, and found redemption and forgiveness from God, this only God knows. It is none of my business!  Frankly I don’t care, and it is not a subject for this election.  But Newt’s political record is public knowledge and it is fodder for this election!  See my article entitled Newtworthy or Not, or Just Not Worthy from March, 2011 on LessGovistheBestGov.com.  It is also republished on NewtWorldOrderGingrich.com  in January, 2012.

Newt Gingrich’s long political record is public knowledge for anyone who cares to know!  His past record and his recent record prove that he is lying now!  I could go all the way back to 1979, when he teamed up with President Jimmy Carter to create the US Department of Education, and grew the Federal Government way beyond its Constitutional role and authority.   But I only need to go back as far as last year, when he was traveling around the country with Barack Obama’s current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, promoting Obama’s “Race to the Top” educational policies, and even more Federal control over education, in order to prove that Newt Gingrich hasn’t really changed at all. Politically speaking, he is the same Newt Gingrich today, as he was thirty years ago, and he is still just as smart as a fox too!

Now you can’t agree with everything that someone says, but Thomas Jefferson said it best when he wrote, “In matters of principle stand like a rock...”  The real question is this:  Is limited Constitutional government really a matter of principle for you?  If it is, then you can’t allow yourself to be hoodwinked, or hornswoggled by Newt Gingrich! It is not possible to agree with somebody all of the time, but it is possible to agree with them enough of the time, and to agree with their core principles, in order to vote for them.  And to me, lying is just not one of the core principles that I can vote for!

I would rather vote for an honest man that I don’t agree with some of the time, than for a dishonest man that I can’t agree with at all.  The fact is I just can’t agree with lying in order to get elected!  Besides the fact, if Newt and Mitt are willing to lie in order to get elected, then you really don’t know what they actually believe, do you?  That’s the problem with Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney.  And if I have to choose between Gingrich and Romney, I would pick Romney every single time!  Why?  Because in spite of the fact that he hasn’t been consistent over the years, and in spite of all of his convenient flipflops that are now coming back to haunt him, and in spite of the fact that he hasn’t shown the courage to publically stand up for his real beliefs…, he has at least managed to remain married to the same woman for thirty four years, and together they have raised a strong, healthy family, and that says a lot!  So what if he doesn’t have a lot of courage.  We’re not sending him to lead a division of Marines into combat!

As far as Newt Gingrich is concerned, all I can say is this.  If you can’t honor your marriage vows, not just once, but twice, to two different women, then you probably won’t honor your sworn oath to uphold the Constitution!  And I can’t vote for a man like that!

"The truth, the political truth, and nothing but the political truth. A journalist has no better friend than the truth." - Scott Rohter
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