I can offer two recent examples from Virginia politicians Tim Kaine and Jim Moran:

Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Virginia, has been talking a lot about a religiously-grounded moral common ground rooted in compassion. “I like what motivates Democrats, we are the ‘Good Samaritan’ party,” he said in a speech in Falls Church, Virginia, last month. “We will stop and pay attention to someone in need. We don’t just walk by. We work for the underdog. We’re concerned for the gap between what is and what ought to be.”

Congressman Jim Moran, at a regional Democratic convention in Northern Virginia last weekend, assailed the Republicans’ “survival of the fittest” and “winner take all” mentality. “There are greater reasons than party loyalty that motivate us,” he said. “We Democrats seek to contribute to making a more peaceful, sustainable and just world, in a conflict of ideas and fundamental beliefs.”

Benton, N.  May 23, 2012.  Seizing the Moral High Ground.  Falls Church News Press.

There are at least four responses that we can make:

1. Compassion is a human act of free will and dictated by each person’s conscience.  Government is the exercise of power whereby it compels its citizens under threat of fine and imprisonment.  Government policies and acts, by definition, can never be compassion and it is anthropomorphism.
2. Compassion is not equivalent to giving money; it is much closer to empathy and mercy.  It is immoral to attempt to outsource to government that which is our personal responsibility to do as individuals or as part of voluntary associations.
3. Government has harmed tens of millions of Americans by creating an entitlement and dependent class, in the name of compassion.  Even in the face over overwhelming evidence, the consequences are never analyzed and the revised solutions are always more of the same.
4. It is a double standard when the Left and politicians like Tim Kaine claim religion as the basis for enacting tax policies and then demand an absolute wall between church and state whenever other people make religious moral appeals for which they disagree.

And in the case of Tim Kaine, we can also talk about specific campaign examples:

Under Barack Obama, the Constitutional protection of the Catholic Church and all churches is now under overt attack in the name of compassion.  Tim Kaine is a key Obama enabler.  He was instrumental in helping to elect the President and he has been one of his strongest advocates.  Yet the only response that Tim Kaine can muster is to feign one day of angst over Obama’s contraception policy, when instead he should be condemning the President’s violation of the First Amendment during every campaign stop.

Democrats like Tim Kaine (who is an ex-civil rights attorney) are casting aside the Constitution and deserting the Catholic Church at a time when they should be defending her rights and our rights.  But meanwhile he continues to use his Catholic faith as a political credential with approving coverage by the Press.

So, last week President Obama announced his plan to move his 2012 political campaign into black churches, as he calls them.  Black churches?  What is a “black church anyway?”  Of course we are all “supposed to know”.  This is the best proof so far that he is in real trouble.   If he is forced to community organize a demographic that voted for him by 96%, then he is a weak candidate.

Republicans need to use this and go on offense.  Let’s illustrate the true American Black History, why the black community will thrive under Conservative principles, and while we are at it, the vast list of sins that the Democrats have and still willingly commit against blacks in order to stay in power.

But the question today is, exactly how does Barack Obama even come close to serving the black community?  Just because he is black?  Really?  Ok, give him that.  Now, what comes next, Mr. Exploiter in Chief?

President Obama is the product of a culturally liberal family and was raised to be a rich black kid who was coddled, spoiled, and sponsored throughout his career.

He is driven and animated by his father’s hate for the West and America.  However, today’s black families enjoy the heritage of a post-war black generation which was upwardly mobile and successful by every measure.  And they saw the good in this country despite its evils and they never gave up.  That is the history which must be reclaimed and shouted from the proverbial mountain top.

He has no love or respect for religious liberty, either here or in Iran.

He refuses to live a modest lifestyle or acknowledge the true unemployment rate as millions of unemployed transition to the category known as “I give up” – and those people will be voting even if they are not counted in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s 60,000 person unemployment sampling process.

He terminated the growing parental control over DC schools, effectively abandoning black children to teacher unions while sending his children to the most elite private institution.

He rejects free enterprise and will not break down obstacles that block movement up the economic ladder.  He has replaced its rungs with food stamps and subjected its recipients to debilitating and humiliating dependence on the State.

His proposals are abstract and impractical.  Professor in Chief Obama thinks doctors, nurses, and drug researchers will work for free, that petroleum free electric cars do not require coal and nuclear fission, and that every problem in the world Israel’s fault, certainly not Iran.

He cynically toys with social issues refusing to obey his duty to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, despite strong black turnout on state constitutional referendums, which incidentally are passed every time actual people vote as opposed to the elites dictating it.

What black has Barack Obama brought into office and shared the national stage with other than the racist Eric Holder.

He, like all so called black leaders,  ignore and disrespect Dr. King’s main point – character.  Instead he continues to victimize blacks using the politics of victimhood.

So while Barack Obama’s campaign prints tithe envelopes with the Obama logo and replaces lessons on evangelism with literature drops, and while Democrat legislators like Jim Moran continue to throw verbal Oreos, Republicans will keep reaching out to, working for, and electing actual leaders like Allen West.

Silence from our self-anointed keepers of the First Amendment on the Left is expected.  Another Christian who will not bow may be killed.

To start, he could remind the world of the last forty years and the Americans who sacrificed and died, including many Christians, to liberate Muslims.  He could appeal to Iran’s moderate middle that we have been led to believe are waiting in the wings.  He could demonstrate peaceful but firm engagement.  He could encourage the world’s oppressed using American values

For the leader of the free world, occupying a historic Presidency and raised in a tradition of both Islamic and Christian values, this is the opportunity to speak convincingly and passionately of the need for Islam to renounce violence as a tool of redress for any offense, accidental or otherwise.   God is Not the Book.  Certainly such a gifted communicator should be able to reach into his toolbox of homilies about injustice aided by his Christian faith, and fashion a statesmanlike speech that will make us all proud.

And to freedom-loving Muslims who have escaped to this country or to those who have come to Islam while living in this country, now is also your time to speak with American passion.  There is safety and strength in numbers.  Pair up with your Christian or Jewish brothers and denounce what is wrong.  Despite some evidence to the contrary, your country will never accept an ideology that permits absolute control over state, religion, economics, and family.  Advance the cause of your faith by standing for the faith of others.  This country protects your freedom to worship in trying days.  Use that freedom and your influence to honor and protect a courageous man’s faith.

However, let’s talk about those so called social issues.  It is strung up like yellow tape at crime scene to squelch debate by the same people who justify their particular social issues and favorite government intervention of the day.  We can agree that all of us make moral appeals, especially when we feel wronged.  All laws are linked to a moral standard and government exists to mitigate moral injustices.  America herself is a unique moral enterprise.  Yes, government cannot create morality, but it cannot exist without it.

The reality is that fiscal and social issues cannot be separated.  They exist together as a system of cause and effect.  Despite all the talk of fiscal responsibility, we have made no tangible progress because we are only focusing on effects.

We will not right the size our now officially bankrupt country with accounting, Ivy League expertise, or some magic calculus.  We have run clean out of other countries that will buy our debt.  Do we need different leaders?  Yes, but society must first change.  Self-ascribed fiscal conservatives properly sound the alarm over massive overspending.  We simply pose the question – why?  Can you explain why transferring intergeneration debt so large that devalues every hour of labor for generations to come is wrong without making a moral appeal?

Our fiscal disaster stems from uncontrolled entitlements.   Simple math tells us that.  But the root cause of exponential entitlements, for the most part, is a function of my generation’s great experiment in sexual amorality.   Now we have children having children, family disintegration, children without childhoods, more medical costs, women being abused and abandoned, dishonoring traditional marriage, all which and more, generate more entitlements.  Our free sex will cost our children trillions.

This is the linkage that “social conservatives” are making.  Not to micro-manage lives.  We leave that to the Republican and Democrat elites.  If there was a rational, coherent Mind Your Own Business political party, then conservatives would be the first to sign up.  However we will always believe that there are institutions and a handful of standards that must be honored and protected for liberty to survive.  Our pursuit of a consequence free utopia can only end in tyranny and we feel pressing in on us every day.

Like it or not, restoring a proper moral foundation is the fiscal solution.  If you are not inclined to accept that based on traditional values, then evaluate our 60’s moral standards using cold analytics and data.  Good morals can withstand critical analysis, and they provide their own proof.

Allow our Republican primary process to debate root causes for a change and not simply rail at the symptoms.  Our Constitution is calling us to secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity and time is running out.  The piper is on his way and he will be paid.

1. We are tired of the political class informing us who is electable?  Electability is determined by collecting actual votes from a broad a cross section of America.
2. Romney’s machine tried to cut the process off at Florida, which makes him appear weak.
3. His Super PAC exceeded the limits of criticism and contrast and lied about Newt’s record.
4.  He is not a movement leader.  We do not see a heartfelt reflective trail of writings and speeches like Ronald Reagan provided us as he journeyed away from the Democrat Party.
5. Mitt counters with his resume and not governing principles.
6. He is not sufficiently transparent as demonstrated by last night’s last question, “what is the worst misconception of you?”
7. He has not delivered a positive message explaining why we should vote for him that also addresses our fear over the country’s direction.  He has not even secured his base after many years of campaigning.
8. His continued affirmation of Romneycare is a problem.  The 10^th Amendment answer is correct, but the federal government now controls most healthcare dollars and benefits.  What will he do if another state decides to implement a new and improved version of Romneycare or any other healthcare program and then demand federal dollars to implement it?  The issue is broader than Romneycare and he has not articulated what he believes the federal role in healthcare should be. 
9. Nor has he answered the more basic question, which is why any government entity can mandate that its citizens purchase any product as a condition of simply being alive?
10. His business experience is helpful.  We certainly don’t need any more lawyers wielding power over us.  But a person who builds a lawn mowing business from scratch knows more about the impact of government regulations than a Bain Partner.  Furthermore, business skills do not automatically qualify someone to make sound policy decisions.
11. Finally, I do not believe that he or his staff understand or are prepared for the fight that awaits him.  When he uses language like “President Obama is just over his head”, all I can see is John McCain throwing his cards on the table at the first accusation of racism.  Obama’s machine and the media are maniacal.

So I don’t understand why you are so vested in Mitt Romney at this stage.  But you can take heart that we are desperate to retire our historic president and end his “Dreams from My Anti-West Father”.  I will have no problem voting for Mitt if he is the nominee.  Just let the primary voters speak.

 A compromise is still progress.  The lesson here is that we relied on a legislative majority and failed to adequately present a coherent public rationale.  Even obvious hypocrisies like Planned Parenthood requiring ultrasounds came out too late.

 We must continually remind people that the state’s interest in preventing abortion is because another person’s rights are being unjustly violated. While these one-offs may seem odd, because of Roe v Wade, legislative actions like this are all that we can do within the rule of law, even an unjust law.

 This bill saves lives.  Thousands of people are alive today because their mother made the right choice when confronted with the humanity of another person.

Yes, we tried the individual mandate.  In those days, other Conservatives accepted the personal responsibility argument instead of the Constitution, our mistake.  Massachusetts was the optimal state to try this experiment.  We have a sophisticated healthcare provider, hospital, and payer system.  We do not have illegal immigration problems like Texas has.  But still, it did not work.  I had to request federal funding from Tommy Thompson on his last day as Secretary.   I, more than any other candidate, can prove why government at any level should not be mandating that  its citizens purchase healthcare insurance or any product for that matter.  Other states would be wise not to repeat our mistake.

But Mitt appears to believe in it.  If he doesn’t, then he better read Roger Ailes book, kick some consultants to the curb, and start being more transparent.  Otherwise we are being asked to believe that he will zealously work to repeal a system that works just fine.  He has not confronted the sirens in this corrupt city and they have taken down many a good man.  Yes the Constitutional argument is good enough for me.  But sadly most Americans do not yet share this frame of reference or use the same language.  Nor do they want a President to sit idly by while other states embark on their Obamacare experiments using federal Medicare and Medicaid money.