Comment: First, how do you eliminate religion from this or any other election? Does going to church every Sunday make you a better person? Maybe, maybe not. But, isn't secularism just as bad? I will not use either as a lithmus test when placing my vote. You are absolutely wrong about the fair tax. It will only tax consumption on he sale of goods. You will receive a check for the entire amount of your earnings, without the ridiculous deductions. Eliminating the evil IRS would in itself be worth a vote for the fair tax. Who takes advantage of the current travesty we call a tax code? Whoever can afford the best accountant- that's who. Go ahead and vote for any of the 3 Democratic acolytes if you really want to feel the pain of unfair taxation. They will immediately roll back whatever benefits you have gained in the last few years. Furthermore, they'll tax all of those evil companies who provide jobs for us.Two more things to consider:
1. "Internationally humiliated?" Every other viable nation on earth worries about their own good first. You have been watching too much mainstream " blame us first " network news. We are the most charitable nation on the planet. If you feel guilty, look in the mirror first.
2. The single and only difference I have seen between a religious myrmidon and a leftist liberal is abortion. If you remove that from the mix, both of these helpless subsets are nearly identical in their guilty, self-righteous and falsely idealistic notions.

Our only hope is to reduce the size of government (and therby it's insatiable appetite for our money) and return control to the states. Are any of the current candidates suited to accomplish this? Certainly none of the democrats- and just as likely- none of the republicans