W. Todd Akin: “I came here to discuss, I thought there would not be much discussion on the rule, because that is what we are supposed…”

“I came here to discuss, I thought there would not be much discussion on the rule, because that is what we are supposed to be debating and discussing right now, the rule on the Pledge Protection Act. Instead, most of the discussion that seems to come from the other side is complaining about priorities. I did not know that this is where we were going to complain about priorities. I suppose there are some connections. It seems that judging by the comments in the Rules Committee yesterday, that the Democrats have a very hard time understanding the importance of the Pledge or the words ``under God'' or even the first amendment, which is about free speech. They seem to consider that to be a rather minor thing, and that perhaps may fit in with their view of government. But I would recall that if you were to summarize what America stands for, we have always stood for the idea, the simple principle, that there is a God, even though we disagree as to who He might be, who gives basic inalienable rights to all people, and that it is the job of government to protect those rights. That is, in a sense, a formula that Americans have gone to war about through the ages. That is why we went to war with King George, that is why we fought the War of Independence, because we believed in that basic formula. The Democrats are saying now that formula is not very important, we should not give it time to discuss it or think about it.…”