A new ad from Mitt Romney is airing in Iowa:The key phrases are these:

“I’d like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers.”I’d like to keep drugs off the streets.”I’d like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies.

Well sure. That is fine. That is great and noble. And when it comes to fighting drugs the president obviously has an important role. But the bottom line is that the President of the United States can do virtually nothing about the other “cultural” issues. And where he can it has already been done. The president can’t keep porn from coming up on computers. The president can’t censor Hollywood or YouTube for that matter. We are seeing the continued dumbing down of the presidency, the continued minimization of faith, and the continued hubris of politics. Politics cannot solve these issues. It is ridiculous to even be discussing them. There isn’t any bill that is going to get parents to turn off computers and there shouldn’t be any such bill even if it would work. This is not the work of government. It is the work of families, it is the work of houses of worship – it is the stuff of faith. But more than any of these matters what an ad like this suggests is that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for an America where heaven and earth are a bit closer together. An ad like this seduces Christian voters in particular into thinking that to vote for Romney is usher in the kind of America that is kinder and calmer and cleaner than the one that currently exists. But that is a cheap out. That isn’t ever going to happen through politics. It will only happen through faith – through the tough, hard, every day work of faith…loving neighbors, being self sacrificial, living as Jesus taught his followers to live.I don’t fault Gov. Romney for airing this kind of ad. It is cold politics for him. He needs votes and will do whatever it takes to get them. He is following on the heels of the man who perfected the illusion of running for “pastor-in-chief” – George W. Bush. But if Christians fall for this again…well…I’ll need a barf bag.