The final round of our 2016 Republican Presidential Straw Poll has ended.  In all three rounds combined, over 3,100 votes were cast and 20+ candidates were eliminated as each new round narrowed the field.  Here are the final results:

As we've been doing at the end of each round, here are a few key takeaways from this round:

Write-ins are always interesting.  In Round 3, we had 5 write-ins for Trey Gowdy, 5 write-ins for Donald Trump, 3 for Carly Fiorina, 2 for Jeb Bush, 2 for Sarah Palin, 2 for John Kasich, 2 for Mitt Romney, and 2 for Joel Grewe.  Allen West, Tom Cotton, Mike Pence, Alan Keyes, Susana Martinez, Ron Paul and former Congressman Dave Weldon each scored one write-in vote, as did Robert Macleod Jr., Celina Evans, Yvonne Simpson, Webster Barnaby, and "None of Them."

Ben Carson's base is organized and excited.  Ben Carson did pretty well in previous rounds -- 5th place in Round 1 and 3rd place in Round 2 -- but his supporters really showed up for this round.  Carson won with a 7%+ lead over Cruz and Walker, who tied for second place.  Notably, Mike Huckabee did pretty well in this round, with a late boost pushing him up to 4th place and close to 12% of votes cast.

About the poll:  This is a non-scientific straw poll.  Each participant could choose up to five candidates.  In Round 1, there were just over 30 candidates and the bottom 33% were dropped.  In Round 2, there were twenty candidates and the top 10 advanced to Round 3. 

For the last week the news has been dominated by discussions of Indiana's new law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  This law allows businesses to not engage in practices that are contrary to their faith.  This law does not allow for example, a business to refuse to serve someone who is homosexual.  It does allow a business to refuse to participate in something that violates the business owner's conscience. 

For example a wedding is a sacred institution in the Christian church.  Cake making, taking photographs, or decorating all help the couple in their ultimate goal - the wedding.  Christians cannot in good conscience help someone violate the laws of God and thus they do not want to participate in a homosexual wedding.  If the same homosexual came in asking for a birthday cake a Christian baker would still, under this law, have to provide it.  A Birthday after all has nothing to do with being homosexual.  The key here is what is the service in question doing? Is it helping one violate the laws of nature?  Or is it a benign practice that in no way relates to God's eternal law? 

Bill Clinton signed an act similar to this, as President, and 19 other states have the same law or one very similar to Indiana.  See the map below for the list (the Dark Green has RFRA).

If you would like to read Indiana's Law; click here.

Also Arkansas just passed a similar law: to read theirs click here.

For more information please click here.

On March 26, 2015 Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SEA 101) into law. Click here for the full text of RFRA.

Since its passage, lawmakers, and policy experts have been under fire for their support of this bill. After becoming a law, this opposition has intensified and Governor Mike Pence has taken an immense amount of heat for signing RFRA. Why is there so much dispute and outrage over RFRA’s adoption?

RFRA provides freedom to all Hoosiers equally.  The Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies the legal standard of strict scrutiny to cases in which state action has burdened religious exercise.  Strict scrutiny is a well-established legal standard that simply means if sincerely held religious beliefs are burdened substantially by state action, such action must involve a compelling state interest that is achieved or met in the least restrictive means.

Discrimination is a horrible term.  However, this law has nothing to do with discrimination. It does not permit, endorse, or support discrimination against gays, homosexuals, etc.  RFRA is about religious liberty, not gay marriage or discrimination.  In fact there are even supporters of gay rights, and same-sex marriage who also support the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

RFRA is a positive safeguard measure that is good for the citizenry. Put simply, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act enhances and promotes freedom. Here are 10 cases where bills like the one recently adopted by Indiana have helped individuals from diverse backgrounds: thefederalist.com/2015/03/30/meet-10-americans-helped-by-religious-freedom-bills-like-indianas

For more facts on RFRA, click here.

RFRA was designed to empower individuals and protect the rights of all.  It expands, strengthens and undergirds religious liberty across the Hoosier State. 

The maligning of Indiana, Indiana’s lawmakers, and its great Governor by a hyper-active super minority of individuals, over adoption of this common legal standard contained in RFRA is a shameless step that suppresses vital liberties which should be available to all citizens. 

Governor Mike Pence has stated that he stands by this law.  Please encourage Governor Pence by letting him know that you will stand with him through the intense opposition he faces. 

By Phone: 
317-232-4567

By Mail: 
Office of the Governor
Statehouse
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2797

Thank you for doing your part to preserve and protect religious freedom in Indiana and across the nation!

Sign the Petition thanking Indiana for Supporting Religious Freedom​​

Round two of the Freedom's Defenders 2016 Straw Poll has closed (and Round 3 opens at noon today!).  This round was an intriguing but -- when you compare it to Round 1 -- slightly more predictable battle between supporters of some of 2016's top potential candidates.  Here's what we saw from behind the scenes.

Rick Santorum's supporters are well organized and good at rapid-response.  I've known this for a while now, but this poll really showed it.  Within an hour of the poll being posted, Santorum was leading by a more than two-to-one margin compared to the next guy down the list.  It took the other contenders a while to catch up -- which they never fully did.  Rick Santorum won by one vote over Senator Ted Cruz.

The Senator-to-Governor vote ratio stayed pretty much even, compared to Round 1.  Last round, governors took about 35% of votes cast, and Senators did as well.   This round, they each scored 37% and 38% respectively, with other contenders splitting the remaining 25%.

Once again, it's obvious we're all pretty conservative around here.  Jeb Bush and Chris Christie may have managed to make it into this round, but they failed to make the cut for Round 3... Christie finished second-to-last, while Jeb Bush is only two places higher.

Because a poll would be boring without them... write-ins.  Once again, Joel Grewe scores two write-in votes (we're assuming this is the same Joel Grewe that heads up Generation Joshua).  Scoring one write-in vote each: Senator Tom Cotton, Trey Gowdy, Alan Keyes, Pat Paulson, and Robert McLeod.  And to whoever asked "So if a write-in guy gets more votes than Ehlrich, do you list him?" in the write-in slot, thanks for asking.  If a write-in got enough votes to make the cut for the next round, yes, we would indeed include them.  (For those wondering, Bob Ehrlich was the only candidate to receive zero votes in Round 1).  And by the way, if anybody has any questions that you like to have answered more directly, you can always contact us here.

A prediction...  As you probably heard, a certain United States Senator and conservative warrior launches his Presidential campaign today (more on that later).  It will be interesting to see how this affects Round 3, but I'll go ahead and guess that Senator Ted Cruz wins round 3.

Notes:

This is not a scientific poll.  402 votes were cast, probably by about 100-150 individuals -- while each user could select 5 candidates, not all of them did.  We could have paid the creators of the poll to be able to access more information, such as the exact number of voters and which users voted for which candidate, but we're fiscal conservatives through and through, and the $200 price tag was just a bit more than a bit too high.

Additionally, we received several write-in votes for candidates on the list.  We choose not to count these votes to ensure that nobody could vote for Bob Smith and then write-in Bob Smith as well, scoring two votes by one voter.

We know that this poll was posted in Facebook groups supporting Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Condoleeza Rice, and potentially others as well.

Watching the results come in for our 2016 GOP Presidential straw poll has been very interesting (Round 2 -- the lightning round -- is open, by the way!).  Here are some of the key takeaways:

Scott Walker is the favorite.  Besides the fact that he won outright (by three votes), he also does not have organized support on social media as much as the other candidates.  For example, we know that the poll was linked to in Facebook groups supporting Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Condoleeza Rice, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz (and it's very possible that it was posted in other groups as well).  To the best of our knowledge, there are no large "Scott Walker for President" or any kind of related group on Facebook (at least none that have more than a couple dozen members).  Even after we would learn that the poll had been posted in a particular group, Scott Walker's numbers would usually spike along with the candidate that the group members were supporting, a sign that he is well-liked across the GOP spectrum.

Our audience is pretty conservative -- just like we are.  Out of 800+ votes cast, Jeb Bush managed to grab 13 votes, or about 1.75%.  Chris Christie received just over 1%.   Lindsey Graham garnered a grand total of 3 votes.  On the other hand, the top five were Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Ben Carson -- conservative favorites.  Together, they received about 45% of votes cast.

Aside from Walker, governors aren't necessarily the favorite... or are they?  We hear a lot of talk about how we need a governor with executive experience in the White House, but after Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee is the next governor in line, taking 7th place.  The rest of the governors received under 4% of the vote.  So, either the "we need a governor" crowd in all on board for Walker, or maybe that really isn't such a priority after all.  When you take the results as a whole, however, governors and former governors received around 35% of the votes cast.  Senators and former Senators also received around 35%, and everyone else -- from doctors to filmmakers to former ambassadors -- took the remaining votes cast, roughly 30%.

Surprises abound in politics -- especially in straw polls.  Kerry Bowers, an essentially unknown Presidential candidate from Nevada, took 6th place with approximately 6% of votes cast.  It's a straw poll, but that's still a pretty decent showing for someone who is nearly completely unknown. 

And while we are on the topic of surprises...

Write-ins were interesting.  Two users voted for Mitt Romney, two for Ron Paul, two for Michael Hunt, and two for Joel Grewe.  One vote for Trey Gowdy, one for Jeff Sessions, one for Jan Brewer, one for Judge Napolitano.  "None of the Neo-Cons!" received a single vote (not sure who that is, interesting name for sure?).  Benjamin Netanyahu also garnered one write-in.  For all Elizabeth Warren's insistence that she is not running for President, someone apparently felt compelled to write her in (she never said she wouldn't run as a Republican... did she?).  And then there was the person who decided to enter six names in the write-in slot: "Karl Marx, Murray Rothbard, Edmund Burke, Hannah Arendt, F.A. Hayek, Aristotle."

Notes:

This is not a scientific poll.  807 votes were cast, probably by about 300 individuals -- while each user could select 5 candidates, not all of them did.  We could have paid the creators of the poll to be able to access more information, such as the exact number of voters and which users voted for which candidate, but we're fiscal conservatives through and through, and the $200 price tag was just a bit more than a bit too high.

Additionally, we received several write-in votes for candidates on the list.  We choose not to count these votes to ensure that nobody could vote for Bob Smith and then write-in Bob Smith as well, scoring two votes by one voter.

Over the past few week the news has been full of stories of Benjamin Netanyahu's and the Likud party's "likely defeat." Polls showed the Left-leaning, U.S. Democrat supported Zionist Party pulling ahead, but somehow last night the election results did not pan out as expected.

Israel's Prime Minister is elected in the same fashion as the Speaker of the House in the United States, thus what matters is the number of seats a party controls in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament). As of this morning the results were:

1. Likud — 30 seats
2. Zionist Union — 24 seats
3. Joint Arab List — 14
4. Yesh Atid — 11
5. Kulanu — 10
6. Bayit Yehudi — 8
7. Shas — 7
8. United Torah Judaism — 6
9. Yisrael Beytenu — 6
10. Meretz — 4
11. Yachad — 0 (did not get enough votes to pass the minimum threshold)

Last year's Knesset was:
1. Likud 31
2. Yesh Atid 19
3. Labor Party 15
4. The Jewish Home 12
5. Shas 11
6. United Torah Judaism 7
7. Hatnuah 6
8. Meretz 6
9. United Arab List 4
10. Hadash 4
11. Balad 3
12. Kadima 2

Although Likud lost 1 seat, this is still an amazing victory for the Likud Party and Netanyahu. Early this week the Prime Minister made this election about whether Israel would give up the West Bank. This election shows that the majority of Israelis do not wish to see another hostile state to their east.
 

Back in December, Mississippi's Lt. Governor Tate Reeves (a Republican) spoke at a luncheon sponsored by Mississippi State University’s Stennis Institute of Government and the Capitol press corps.  During his speech, Reeves announced that he believes that Mississippi should, at the least, review Common Core standards for the state.  

Gov. Phil Bryant approved this statement by Reeves in a press release following Reeves’ announcement: "I thank Lt. Gov. Reeves for joining me in opposing Common Core in Mississippi, and I look forward to working with him and the Legislature to codify the points of my December 2013 Executive Order. That order, which still stands in effect, plainly states that Mississippi has the right to determine its own public school curricula and is under no obligation to comply with any future federal mandates for uniform academic standards. As I said this June, Common Core is a failed program.  State-led policies like the Third Grade Gate will have a greater effect in our classrooms than one-size-fits-all bureaucratic standards controlled by Washington.”

“Mississippi children deserve standards developed by teachers and parents,” stated Reeves at the luncheon.

In the 2014 legislative session the Reeves-led Senate rejected efforts by some senators to abandon the math and English arts standards, though at the time Reeves said he was monitoring the progress of the curriculum, and how it was implemented across the state.

This press release started a fire in Mississippi. Leaders of the State as well as County Conservative Coalitions, the Tea Party, and other conservative grassroots groups in Mississippi began to plan for the upcoming Legislative session.  Legislators, specifically senators that are members of the coalition started by Chris McDaniel began writing bills that would abolish common core in MS. No one really knew what to believe, with Lt. Gov. Reeve’s track record, it was all a test.

Two key women were in the fight and got to work planning events to inform parents and educators about the dangers of the standards.  Brandie Correro and Marsha Babb planned workshops, meetings, and ultimately opening up the 2015 Legislative session by letting our MS legislators know that we will hold them accountable.

On January 6th, over 200 constituents from all over the state joined together for the MS FREE event and rallied against common core.  This event was covered by local and national media, and included speeches from Gov. Phil Bryant, Sen. Michael Watson, Sen. Angela Hill, and Rev. C.L. Bryant.  Lt. Gov. Reeves did not attend this event. The day was ended by Students releasing 82 red balloons in honor of the students in all 82 counties.

There have been over 18,000 cases of human trafficking reported in the USA since the year 2007.  

So why are Senate Democrats blocking debate on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (S.178, also referred to as JVTA), introduced by Senator John Cornyn of Texas?

Senator James Lankford, a freshman Republican from Oklahoma, explains what is happening: "All week the Senate has tried to debate an anti-Human Trafficking bill and the Democrats have filibustered it. It passed out of committee unanimously a month ago, now they invented a reason to block it on the floor saying that if it doesn't allow federal funding of abortion, they won't allow it to be debated on the floor. I am astounded that DC Democrats are so committed to abortion that they will not vote on a human trafficking bill. This is truly sad."

Senate Democrats must stop playing politics.  The JVTA provides real solutions to help stop human trafficking and protect victims.  It's time to work together to help victims of human trafficking -- they are real people, who are hurting, and need our help.  

TAKE ACTION: Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask your two United States Senators to support S. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.

You can read the summary of Senate Bill 178 by clicking here.

For more information on how you can help stop human trafficking, check out End The Silence.

For nearly two and a half years, Saeed Abedini, an American pastor and citizen, has remained in an Iranian prison.  His crime?  Being a Christian.

There are numerous theories about political "solutions" to this problem, and we strongly believe that America should firmly demand his release.  However, the one thing that we can do that is guaranteed to have an impact is pray. 

Pray for Pastor Saeed.  Pray that he will be protected.  Pray that he will be comforted.  Pray that he will be strengthened.  Pray that he will be released. Pray that God would use his time of immense hardship to bring others to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  As Pastor Saeed wrote in a letter to his son:

You can read the full letter below.

Again, please, pray for Pastor Saeed. 

The national debt is over eighteen trillion dollars.  Christian bakers and florists are being told they must violate their conscience or face thousands of dollars in government fines.  Despite the fact that they hold the majority, Republican leadership in Congress still seems to bow to the Democrats during most of the crucial battles.  An ever-growing army of unelected and unaccountable government departments and agencies continue to erode our freedom and our Constitution.  China celebrates our skyrocketing debt (OK, maybe The Onion isn't the most reliable source... but really, this article seems like it might just be legit?).  And speaking of debt, if you're not in despair already, just watch the national debt clock for a few minutes.

Needless to say, it's easy to become depressed about the state of our nation and fearful of what the future might hold.  Even for optimists like myself, questions linger... with the long downward spiral we've been caught in for years, can we ever fully recover?  Is there any hope?

For me, the answer is a resounding yes!  There is hope.

I have hope because I know that my God -- the one true God -- is in control and I know that what He does is just and right.  The Founding Fathers recognized this truth, as evidenced by Benjamin Franklin's call to open the meetings of the Constitutional Convention with prayer:

If God is on our side -- or more accurately, if we are on God's side -- nothing can prevent us from accomplishing his purposes.  Indeed, God will make even the hardest times and most trying situations work together for good for them that love him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

God has a plan.  While I may not know what exactly his plan holds for America, I do know that His plan is perfect, right, and just.  And that, my friends, gives me hope.