Why Integrity Should Matter

And why we should vote as if it does:

In the wake of this country's post-election high some of us, the Republicans mostly, find reason to sing the blues. There are many reasons why this election is so different from past elections, but one I found somewhat disturbing: the majority of this country's individuals voted for the candidate that possessed the least obvious integrity. Not only does Barack Obama possess less integrity than Mitt Romney, he has no problem demonstrating that he does. What's interesting is that there are so many people to whom this mattered little. 

While Barack Obama openly confessed in his book, Dreams From My Father, that "pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it", Mitt Romney admits to abstaining  from alcohol and coffee. If this election had been held in 1992, Romney would have won by a landslide. 

Another aspect of Mitt Romney that adds to his integrity is his family life and his honesty. That is the man that would have filled the seat at The White House, the man I believe would have fulfilled his duties as president with honesty and integrity. It was my belief that he had this country and our freedom as his first priority. Barack Obama's integrity was already in question before the election concerning the Benghazi situation but so many voters chose to ignore that fact and others before it. 

What's equally disturbing is the efforts that went into Obama's alleged dirty campaign. This is where integrity comes in. When you have an incumbent president campaigning for another four years, he already has enough power to bypass certain efforts to ensure that his lack of integrity is not a factor in his success as a candidate. One of the examples are Obama's  campaign donations that may have violated federal election law. And this fact was exposed well before the actual election.  And this is the man people voted for? 

Add to that the voter fraud committed in many areas of the country, voter fraud that may have been coordinated, but it's still too soon to say. The jury is not even out on that one yet. And if Obama has his way, the whole voter fraud controversy will just be covered up and just go away. 

The reason that integrity is so important, is that when a candidate has enough of it, nothing needs to be covered up. That's why if Obama and his campaign staff had enough integrity, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Mitt Romney demonstrated that he possessed more than enough integrity to be this nation's leader, not only was it obvious in the debates, but he has a proven track record to have brought our country back to greatness. But so many people were afraid of it. They were afraid of it because they thought it meant that he would take away their freedom. The freedom that they currently have to continue living their life as they see fit. Mitt Romney didn't want to take away freedom. His goal was to work hard so that we could hang on to our freedom, our fundamental freedoms. 

No, Americans voted for a man that is more like many people, lacking integrity, with a disregard for Americans and our laws, and a self-centered point of view. 

I voted for Mitt Romney because he is a born leader, groomed for the presidency since he was a child, and because of his track record at balance budgets. This country needed him, our budget and our economy needed him. I wasn't thinking of myself when I voted for him, I was thinking of America. American needed a president with integrity packed into every inch of his mind, body and soul. 

We still need someone like that.

October 11, 2009

Gathering Music: Let All Things Now Living, Tune - Ashgrove

Centering Music: I Love You Lord by Laurie Klein

Offertory Anthem: Steal Away, African-American Spiritual, choral setting by Lloyd Larson

Special Music: My Jesus, I Love Thee by Adoniram J. Gordon

Postlude: Jesus, What A Friend For Sinners by Rowland H. Prichard

October 4, 2009

Gathering Music: L Bouffonne, from Ordre No. 20 by Francois Couperin

Centering Music: Lament, from Capriccio (describing the departure of his beloved brother) by J.S. Bach

Offertory Anthem: In Remembrance, words by Ragan Courtney, Music by Buryl Red, Choral Setting by Lloyd Larson

Special Music: La Lutine by Johann Philipp Kirnberger

Postlude: March by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach

September 27, 2009

Gathering Music: Solfeggietto by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Centering Music: To A Wild Rose by Edward MacDowell

Offertory Anthem: I Know That My Redeemer Lives, music by G.F. Handel, words by Jessie Brown Pounds, Revised by Mary Kay Beall, Adapted by John Carter

Special Music: Sarabande by Arcangelo Corelli

Postlude: Toccatina, from Children's Pieces, Op. 27 by Dmitri Kabelevsky

September 20, 2009

Gathering Music: English Suite 1: Bouree by J.S. Bach

Centering Music: Largo by G.F. Handel

Offertory Anthem: You Are My All In All, Words and Music by Dennis Jernigan, Choral Setting by Lloyd Larson

Special Music: French Suite No. 5 in G Major, Gavotte by J.S Bach

Postlude: Gavotte by George Frederic Handel