Doug Mastriano for Governor of Pennsylvania!

Doug Mastriano, the republican Candidate for governor, has recently been unfairly attacked about his competence on his doctoral thesis which was published in the book entitled “Alvin York” A new biography of the hero of the Argonne.” I checked this book out of the library recently to see his research for myself. 

Sergeant York is a famous soldier from World War I. With the help of seven soldiers from his platoon he poked a whole in the Aragon line and captured 132 German soldiers. This saved countless American lives in the stalemate of WWI. In the book he is very open about Sergeant York’s faith in Jesus Christ. In this day of inclusionary cynical criticism many people may find his book to be exclusionary and perhaps offensive. He has been criticized for believing eye witness accounts which may not be accurate. Many professionals have done research in the past only to be proven in error when technology advances to a point to further illuminate conclusions. The position maps may have diverted the true location of Sergeant York’s battle and the memorial created from it. Despite this, Doug Mastriano deserves to be governor for the following reasons. He was a professional military intelligence officer that used American and German archives and ballistics from over 100 years ago to shed light on a story about a hero which has inspired many of us. The comparison with Mr Shapiro is stark, and the forces against Mr. Mastriano are biased because they find a Christian worldview exclusionary and offensive. 

Mr. Shapiro, our Attorney General, began running for office while he was still in office. Should Pennsylvanians be paying the attorney general to campaign for governor?  Under Mr. Shapiro’s tenure crime rates have soared and Pennsylvania’s opioid crisis continues to be one of the nation’s most deadly. Is this a vote of competence in his role as the top law enforcement officer? Philadelphia, our largest city, is in criminal turmoil. Shouldn’t the top cop in our state be able to discipline scandalous law enforcement in its largest city? Instead, Mr. Shapiro, ignored a difficult problem with no easy solutions. In contrast Mr. Mastriano researched the details of a cultural icon’s heroic quest to serve his country in the context of religious faith, suffering and loss, and sacrifice. No detail was too insignificant for Mr. Mastriano to engage and not avoid. Engaging hard and difficult problems is what leadership is all about. 

Alvin York was a romantic icon that brought a ground swell of love and affirmation because of his sacrificial and heroic actions. Alvin York made no apologies about his Christian faith. Many people from his small town in Tennessee, embraced the bible as the word of God. Some people in our country continue to believe this. However, if the bible is God’s word, then it is exclusionary. We cannot take the truths from the bible and discard others. We cannot change the bible’s truths. If the bible is a universal truth, then we cannot make up our own version to make us feel included when the bible calls behaviors error. I believe this to be the crux of the recent criticism about Mr. Mastriano. He has been criticized for shoddy research on his doctoral thesis. The bible is a rock of offense because it presents time tested truth from our creator that became offensive as our government strays away from the guardrails of Judeo-Christian decency that it was founded upon. Perhaps if Mr. Shapiro had the courage to include his heritage in his law enforcement, then he may be the better candidate.