Mike Huckabee knows how to put the “Hope” in GOP hopeful. The former Governor became the sixth official Republican presidential candidate [Tuesday], packing out the biggest venue in his small hometown of Hope, Arkansas. For a community of less than 20,000, the town has pumped out an impressive number of presidential hopefuls. And if Governor Huckabee is successful, it won’t be the only home he has in common with President Bill Clinton.

With his eyes set on the White House, this return contender is bringing a wealth of experience to the table — first as a pastor, then as the third-longest tenured governor of Arkansas, and most recently as a popular Fox News host. With a likability factor that’s off the charts and a strong conservative backbone, Governor Huckabee packs a powerful punch in what could shape up to be one of the most formidable fields yet. While Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are still in their first Senate terms, Mike already has one presidential campaign under his belt and a lifetime of speaking forcefully and sincerely about the important issues of our day.

Unlike many politicians these days, social conservatives have never had to wonder where Governor Huckabee stands on our issues — because he’s usually right there standing alongside us. And he may be a hometown boy, but the governor has a global perspective on the problems facing America. If elected, he said, his administration would “conquer” radical Islam — not “contain it.” “We will deal with jihadis just like we deal with deadly snakes,” he said. In a swipe to the current administration, the governor promised a true alliance with Israel and insisted, “Hell would freeze over before [Iran got a nuclear weapon].” And Huckabee vowed, “I commit this to you today,” he said. “I will never apologize for America. Ever.”

He called for more secure borders — but quipped that Americans should be grateful that they live in a country people are “trying to break into,” not “break out of.” Here at home, he bemoaned, “The war on poverty hasn’t ended poverty; it’s prolonged it. I don’t judge the success of government by how many people are on assistance, but by how many people have good jobs and don’t need government assistance.” To the cheers of Common Core opponents, he called for the Department of Education to be abolished so that power could be returned to parents and local governments.

As he has his entire career, he reiterated his commitment to the unborn, marriage, and religious liberty. Liberals are “criminalizing Christianity” by “abandoning biblical principles of natural marriage,” he told the audience, before reminding them that “the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature’s God.” If the media thought social issues would take a backseat with this crop of candidates — boy, were they mistaken. Most of these Republicans know exactly what matters to voters, and they’re doing their best to deliver.

Visas: They’re Everywhere Obama Wants Them to Be

What’s the difference between an ISIS sympathizer and a Catholic nun? The ISIS sympathizer probably has a better chance of getting into the United States! Sister Diana Momeka is proof of the backwards approach of the Obama administration, which is not only indifferent to the plight of Christians in the Middle East, they are also indifferent to the visa requests to come to America for the purpose of testifying before Congress.

Momeka, a Dominican nun forced to flee her convent when ISIS seized the city of Qaraqosh, had been invited by groups in America to visit the U.S. to talk with and about religious minorities in the region in hopes of putting a brighter spotlight on the horrors facing Christians, Yazidis, and others at the hands of Islamists.

There was just one problem: Sister Diane was told by the U.S. consulate that her visa application was denied. Why? According to the Washington Times, she was supposedly unable to “demonstrate that [her] activities in the United States would be consistent with the classification of the visa” according to the letter. The news came as a shock to sponsoring organizations in the U.S. — including Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo (Calif.), who co-chairs the Congressional Caucus of Religious Minorities in the Middle East. Rep. Eshoo had endorsed Sister Momeka’s visa, only to hear that because the nun was an “internally displaced person” (or IDP), she was ineligible to visit.

That’s interesting, several experts say, because other IDPs were recently allowed to travel to the U.S. on visas. Yet Sister Momeka, “the only Christian in the delegation,” was barred from entering the country — despite having been here several times before (and even earning a doctoral degree in Chicago!). Elyse Anderson, part of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative that invited her to America, says it is “beyond ironic "that Sister Diana, who we had hoped would come to Washington to speak about the worsening plight of Iraq’s displaced Christians and other beleaguered religious minorities, was apparently prevented from doing so precisely because she is herself a displaced person.”

But was it Sister Momeka’s status as an IDP or a Christian that raised red flags? Considering this administration’s track record, it isn’t difficult to guess. Still, the State Department insists it is “very concerned about the safety and rights of Iraq’s minority populations, including Christians” — despite doing everything possible to suggest otherwise. Regardless of the agency’s motives, it probably isn’t the wisest PR strategy to turn a spokesman on persecution into a victim of it.

The Ways and Means to Fight the IRS

The most shocking thing to come out of the Supreme Court arguments on marriage wasn’t really about marriage at all! The President’s top attorney, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, was probably the most quoted person of the day after confessing that the government could probably strip the tax exemptions of religious groups, churches, schools, nonprofits, or charities for their views on marriage if the justices ruled to redefine it. His admission rocked most Americans who wrongly assumed that this debate was just about “love” and “tolerance.” Far from it, Verrilli pulled the curtains back on what’s really at stake, which is nothing less than the freedom of speech and belief.

[Monday], on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) was the latest conservative to jump to the defense of the oldest tradition in America: religious liberty. As chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Ryan is uniquely positioned to help protect these institutions. “We are obviously going to do everything we can to preserve the tax exempt status for churches. Look, I’m a devout Catholic, practicing Roman Catholic. If you’re asking me will we sit content and see churches like my own lose their tax-exempt status because they choose to define marriage however they want to by exercising their free speech rights and their religious freedom, of course we’re going to preserve that tax-exempt status. And … I just shudder to think what would happen if all these churches actually lose this status by simply expressing their First Amendment religious freedom rights.”

Hewitt was quick to point out that these churches are the backbone of social services and charity work. “Yeah,” Rep. Ryan agreed, “they are the essence of civil society, which is that space that stands between ourselves and our government. The progressive Left would like to shrink that space between a person and her government. Those of us who are constitutional conservatives, who read de Tocqueville, who believe in these First Amendment freedoms in the Bill of Rights, you know, very much believe in breathing life and expanding that space between ourselves and our government, because that’s where we actually live our lives.”

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.