I have never understood the preoccupation by some with the health of Hillary Clinton. Time would be better spent pointing out her obvious character flaws, her unsuitability for public office and her willingness to exploit political power for personal gain. That said, recent developments have caused us to take a closer look at the man she selected to be her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine.

Like many, I considered him to be somewhat moderate. After all, when he campaigned for governor of Virginia, he ran as a committed Catholic, gun-owning, tax-averse Democrat. However, his record in government is quite the opposite. By far, the most troubling aspect of his resume is the time he spent in Honduras in the early '80s between college and law school. It was there that he was taught by a group of Jesuits who broke with the Vatican over the issue of liberation theology – the unholy marriage between Marxist revolutionaries and the church. According to a story on Kaine bythe New York Times, this experience was life-changing.

I have no doubt that Kaine, who first went to Honduras to deliver donations to the Jesuits in El Progreso as a high school sophomore, had his heart broken over the conditions of the poor in the region. Most of our citizens have never seen the kind of poverty that exists in much of Central America. That is because capitalism, though far from perfect, has given us the highest standard of living in the world and enabled our country to be a beacon of hope to the tired, poor and the masses yearning to be free.

The desire to promote freedom among our neighboring countries is what led the U.S. to support the Contras in their struggle to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. In the 1980s, Honduras was a staging ground for that operation, and the U.S. was seen as the enemy by those Jesuits who supported the Sandinistas and saw Marxism as the savior of the poor.

A little history lesson is necessary. The Sandinistas were part of a revolutionary group that overthrew the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua. A five-member junta of new leaders ruled that country until Daniel Ortega drove the moderate democrats out to become a dictator and began a policy of ethic cleansing. Aided by the Soviet Union, Ortega then joined Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionaries in El Salvador.

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As with any war, there were atrocities on both sides.

One way Ortega controlled the population in Nicaragua was by forcing people into his "collectives," which controlled medical care and the food supply. Those who failed to support him didn't get either. Even the farmers who grew the food were not allow to keep any for themselves.

The other way Ortega controlled the people was by fear. I slipped into the country during that period to make a film with Beverly LaHaye, the fearless leader of Concerned Women for America. CWA had set up a refugee camp in Costa Rica to care for those who escaped through the jungle and swam a shark-infested river to freedom.

While undercover, we interviewed pastors and priests who refused to join the liberation theology movement and were hunted like dogs. If caught, the Sandinistas would cut their faces below the nose and peel the skin down over their mouths, tearing their lips off in the process. Many religious leaders were found dying in this condition. I still have a book, I picked up along the way that has Jesus hanging on the cross with a Sandinista soldier in his shadow holding an AK-47. Needless to say, my impression of the Marxist Sandinistas was quite different than Kaine's.

Thanks to Ronald Reagan, peace finally came to the region. There were democratic elections for a time. However, Ortega remained a political force and appeared to soften his stand. In 2006, as a reformed democrat-socialist (sound familiar), he won re-election and regained his grip on the country.

It is not surprising that Hillary Clinton chose Kaine to be her running mate. In 2013, she gave a rare political endorsement to another Marxist sympathizer, Bill de Blasio, for mayor of New York.

Clinton tries to position herself as the champion of the poor, but under Marxist/Socialist governments, the poor always comes out on the short end of the stick, the middle class loses power, and the ruling class lives like monarchs.

No doubt de Blasio and Kaine began with the right motives. Perhaps they still have them and have simply become what Lenin referred to as "useful idiots."

Related column:

Tim Kaine butchers the Bible by Michael Brown

Media wishing to interview Jane Chastain, please contact [email protected].

