Reflections on Today's Congressional Hearing

   I spent this morning watching the hearing in the US House of Representatives which was to focus on whether the recent HHS mandate was a challenge to religious liberty.  That was what the title of the hearing indicated, even though the title went a little overboard in mentioning Pres. Obama trampling on religious freedom.  After watching this hearing, I definitely feel the need to vent.
   There was a definite contrast between the approaches taken by the Democrats as opposed to the Republicans.  Every Democrat that spoke, directed their words and questions at the issue of women's health and contraception.  By the way, none of them ever referred to some of the drugs provided by this mandate as being those which resulted in abortion.  Every effort on their part was made to deflect the argument away from the discussion of religious freedom.  The Democrats seem adamant about extending the influence of the government into the lives of Americans.  I am even more convinced now that the Democrats are all about making the government bigger, but even more importantly, they want the government to be more in control of the lives of Americans.
   The Republicans, on the other hand, spent their time talking about the Constitution.  Their comments and questions had to do with mainly the First Amendment which prescribes the freedom of religion.  The Republicans even asked the panel if they were willing to go to prison over this issue, which they all said they would be willing to do. 
   The panel gave excellent answers.  They all did NOT want to be there.  They all said their church bodies are not in the business of supporting or opposing legislation.  All of them stressed that their concern about the HHS mandate was that it was an example of the government getting involved in the day to day operation of their churches.  These men were not there to debate contraception.  They were there because the government has meddled into their business, and that meddling was a hazard to their abilities to carry out their ministry.
  Now I fully expect the media to also create the false impression that this hearing was one which was about women's health and contraception.  They too, are involved in this whole conspiracy which is meant to make this controversy into something that it is NOT.
   By the way, I happen to think that this is all part of a bigger plan to re-elect President Obama and his fellow Democrats.  They will use deceit to paint the GOP as being the party that wants to eliminate contraceptives.  The fact that this is not the case does not matter to them.  It is just a matter of creating a perception in the mind of an electorate that is not well-informed.  In fact, they are in the business of mis-informing.
   I cannot tell you enough how important it is for this country to get back to its founding principles.  The kind of government our Founding Fathers envisioned through the writing of the US Constitution is fading into oblivion.  Just like in the time of Martin Luther, we need a Reformation.  We need to go back to what our founding document says and stick to it.