Faith in the Bush family

How sincere are the religious beliefs in the Bush family? George W. Bush and Jeb Bush were raised Episcopalian but converted as adults to other denominations; the former to United Methodist, the latter to Roman Catholicism. My impression has been that they both converted at the request of their wives and not for political advancement. But that still leaves open the question of how sincere their religiosity is... especially in light of their party affiliation and its strict adherence to blantantly expressed Christian religiosity.

How do you get around that...

It would appear Ted Cruz wants to president of the United States... the problem is he was born in Canada, which, as it happens, is not part of the United States. So how will he work around the pesky little problem of Article 2, Section 5 of the Constitution which states:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

He is by definition not a natural born citizen at the tender age of 44, not "...a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution..." It doesn't take a fancy law degree to wig out that little nugget.

Update: According to a report at NPR, Ted Cruz is a 'natural born citizen'. His mother was an American citizen at the time of his birth. 'Natural born Citizen' has never been define by the Supreme Court but there seems to include (1) birth on U.S. soil and (2) born to U.S. citizen parent(s) - essentially citizen conferred in utero.

The myth of American exceptionalism…

The myth of American exceptionalism… has been corrupted by a major American political party into a thin justification for xenophobia further morphed into racism which they use to bait the fear of their voters.

We need (an) opposition party(ies)

The worst part of the dysfunctional Republican Party in our two-party system is we’ve lost a true opposition party. Aside from Republican efforts to obstruct the Affordable Care Act, much of the conflict between the Democrats and Republicans is manufactured conflict for dramatic effect. After all, conflict = drama = ratings for news media.

The fact is… there are no significant difference between the two parties on economic or foreign policy issues (Benghazi is a manufactured conflict to discredit then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton). And a few differences on social issues (differences: women’s rights, voting rights, LGBT rights; similar: immigration policy, drug policy, education reform, prison/crime policy).

This nation faces many problems whose scale range from local school board controversies to threats of global economic and ecological collapse. We have the tools and resources and fortitude to confront these problems. What we don’t have are political leaders and worst, because they share the same position on these issues, our politicians actively construct legal means to obstruct attempts by political outsiders to advance these causes. It’s time to demand more of our political leaders.

As an end note, laws are easily circumvented:
-regulatory rules can interpret/re-interpret laws to the benefit of various interests (can essentially nullify the intent of the law).
-by budgeting insufficient funds to properly operate a regulatory agency

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A very short list of issues which would hugely benefit from proper debate from multiple positions:

Financial industry reform

Healthcare reform which addresses rising costs

Immigration

Energy policy, especially relevant to ecological effects

Civil liberties of Americans (NSA spying; voting rights)

Whistleblower protection (including journalists)

Tax policy (including industry subsidies)

Regulatory reform (currently: industry insiders write the rules)