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The role of faith in politics gets dragged through the mud with alarming frequency. Faith has little to do with religion or organizations defined as religious, as faith can be defined in any context. Faith is an intangible that resides within every person alive.

Faith goes above and beyond religious organization and I contend that every person votes from a base of faith.

Examine the role of Oprah Winfrey in politics. Some people will vote for Barack Obama, not because they know what his platform consists of, but because Oprah says he's the best candidate. This is an example of faith in Oprah's recommendation.

An atheist or agnostic has a process that leads him to vote his choice. His thoughts, knowledge, wishes, and his decision process follow what he believes. His faith is in his ability to select the candidate who best fits his ideology. His faith is in his beliefs.

My faith might lead to a different process of selection. I choose to eliminate one candidate from my choice because I see the person as a power mad candidate who will stop at nothing to gain the nomination. Past dealings and shady tactics involving FBI files have made this a belief.

Why should it be different for anyone else?

We take what we know, which may be little or much, about each candidate, their party ideology and process this knowledge into a choice of vote. Remember also, that the Party picks the nominee based on delegate votes, so our choices are watered down by the time the National conventions are held.

Voting is a simple process, but going through the process of choice is complex if a person wants to be informed about issues. The 2008 Presidential candidates have crucial issues in Energy Independence, Global Warming and the War in Iraq.

If you think you know what your candidate will do about the war in Iraq, don't be too sure.

We've popularized the notion that the President has a great amount of power, but with the checks and balances of Congress and the Supreme Court in place, we know that he or she is not the ruler and does not have total authority. Your new President won't either.

For my own faith process, it would be extremely difficult for me to consider voting for a Party whose trajectory is toward socialism, but there are a critical choices to be made in other areas, and therein lies the dilemma.

Learn more about this author, Mona Gallagher.
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