On Feb 5, 2008, at 2:09 PM, Jean Laeremans wrote:
> Something that puzzled me for a long time : does it matter which or
> any religion a politician has ?
> That's never discussed in Belgian politics as we consider religion to
> be a private matter.
It's not supposed to, but people here vote for candidates based not
on policies that they will affect when in office, but around certain
"hot button" issues. These are issues that the elected official may
have zero power to influence, but arouses emotional reactions among
simple-minded voters.
Recent issues like this have been:
flag-burning
gay marriage
abortion
school prayer
confederate flag
crime / prison
Sex used to be in that list, but so many of the candidates,
especially those who talk the loudest about "family values", tend to
be multiply-married and have a history of affairs.
So religion is a sort of "litmus test" for a candidate. You have to
belong to one of the "accepted" Christian groups before people will
vote for you; you have to say "God Bless America" at the end of every
speech, and you have to be seen going to church.
-- Ed Leafe
_______________________________________________
Post Messages to: [email protected]
Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox
OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech
Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox
This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the
author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added
to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
