I believe President Obama needs a civics lesson. Or maybe he needs some new advisers that can calculate political risk well. Take your pick.

The contraception mandate fiasco boggles my mind. It seems that our leaders have forgotten the principles upon which this country was founded. It is the bedrock of our democratic and free society: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment of the Constitution is being disregarded.

For those who aren’t aware, the Obama administration and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s Department of Health and Human Services revamped their contraception policy on Jan. 20 to require that religious institutions pay in full for birth-control for their employees.

As you might expect, there was outrage amongst Catholic leaders from Iowa all the way to the bishops representing the Vatican. They quickly backtracked their effort on Feb. 10 when it dawned on them that Catholics make up one in four voters in the United States and that a majority of Latinos — a big voter-block for the Democrat Party — are Catholic. Obama received a majority of the Catholic vote in 2008.

It is a well-known tenet of Catholicism. Sex is supposed to be a sacred act saved for your spouse, and having sex with contraception before marriage is a sin. Sex is reserved to express one’s love for their spouse and to procreate.

So they made a complete reversal, right? Who would alienate that many voters? Well, I guess they still would: They revised the policy to mandate that only insurers provide free birth-control, rather than the houses of worship.

Oh, wow! What a difference! So religious institutions — many of which self-insure> — are still forced to provide free birth-control to their employees, but it’s the insurers that are the ones doling it out. That’ll do the trick.

We have incorrectly conceded the fact that contraception is not health-care. Sex is a choice, not an unwanted sickness or ailment that requires treatment. One can just as easily get free contraception from Planned Parenthood or other groups (Whether we should fund them with tax dollars is another story.). "Women’s health" has become doublespeak for "Plan B," which is itself a euphemism for "abortion-inducing drugs."

I can’t help but think that the Obama administration is either politically incompetent or so pompous that they feel that the ignorant peons and backward-thinking zealots of the Catholic Church will buy into their deceit.

Whether you agree with the Catholic doctrine is not the question. The question is whether you believe in the Constitution and a person’s right to their faith. That is the beauty of religious freedom in America: Individuals are given the autonomy to align themselves with a belief system and practice their faith in whatever way they choose, as long as they do not violate the rights of others.

Even if you’re not Catholic, even if you’re not religious at all, this affects you just as much. It shows that this president will go to any lengths to implement his radical agenda no matter the cost.

Support the Catholic Church and their right to practice their faith, or your sacred cow will be next.