If a candidate has a plan to balance the budget, reduce taxes and cut the lines at the DMV, does the fact that his inspiration comes from the Flying Spaghetti Monster really change the merits of the plan? Conversely, would a plan to re-implement the public burning of witches really be taken seriously, or bring credibility to the candidate, no matter how much it coincided with someone's deeply held (and traditional) religious beliefs? &
We're all the sum of our different experiences. & Some of those experiences have taught us what to hold dear and others have left us with fear and pain. & Whether the experience comes from a bully down the street or a Sunday School teacher or some passing stranger in an all-night & coffee shop, the imprint is there, and asking any voter or candidate to ignore those things which make up his whole person is a futile gesture.
How a candidate uses those imprints is the real question. & Big and bold to align to a known demographic? & Internal and personal as part of a larger equation? & Does he adopt a doctrine whole, clinging to it and struggling with it, even in those times it doesn't completely fit? & Does he take each new experience and lesson and add them to himself, adapting and moving forward?
There may be a day when someone who has been touched by his noodly appendage will reach the White House. & Someone whose stomach is full with the sauce of his love could have the strength and energy to lead the free world. & But my vote will have to be based on more than that.
