The same week that President Obamas health regulations go into effect, forcing people of faith to violate their conscience or shut their doors, Mitt Romney was preaching the gospel of economic and religious freedom in Poland and Israel.

By that juxtaposition, the contrast in presidential candidates could not be starker.

Kathleen Parker

Parker writes a twice-weekly column on politics and culture.

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Ann Telnaes animation: Mitt Romney continues his overseas trip after his London debut.

Romneys recent tour, the reporting of which has tended to focus on his gaffes noting, for instance, that economic culture matters when it comes to a nations prosperity and his questioning of security at the London Olympics has provided a far more important glimpse of how, as president, he would view and reward Europe.

His speeches and comments in both Poland and Israel were testaments to the strength of U.S. alliances based on shared economic principles, as well as a rebuke to Obamas perceived lack of conviction regarding same. Romney pounded his free-market message by noting Polands heroic struggle for freedom against an oppressive government. He made clear the point that individual freedom, rather than government largesse, had created one of the strongest economies in Europe.

Your nation has moved from a state monopoly over the economy, price controls and severe trade restrictions to a culture of entrepreneurship, greater fiscal responsibility and international trade, said Romney.

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Romney’s speeches in Poland address economic and religious freedom