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Feb 23, 2012

Republicans: Santorum ain't your candidate!

I was talking with some stalwart Republicans recently who are absolutely enamored by the possibility that Rick Santorum would be the next POTUS.

This is a patently absurd idea for them. Traditionally, the GOP has been about small government and equality in taxes. That ain't ol'Ricky here!

From an NPR interview he gave, for instance, he says this:
They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do. Government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulation low and that we shouldn't get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn't get involved in cultural issues, you know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world, and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can't go it alone, that there is no such society that I'm aware of where we've had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture.
This is kind of a patently absurd statement. He's saying that traditional conservatives should embrace big government, putting laws on everything and sticking their nose everywhere. However this is exactly opposite to traditional conservative values of small government, so in my opinion he's simply stating something that the majority of Republicans will simply lap up: that they think all "new things" are somehow fandangled constructions of the atheist liberal god-hating left, and that somehow branding his ideas as "traditional" gives an implicit credence to them, even if it's false! The ol' Gipper is rolling over in his grave about this kind of statement!
Man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. – Ronald Reagan, farewell address, 1/11/89

Rick Santorum traditional? Hardly! He'd never have made it in the Reagan era!


Think that's bad? Santorum also opposes the landmark decision Griswold V Connecticut, which established the right to privacy. He really, honestly and truly, thinks that... well... why don't I let him tell you:
It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold — Griswold was the contraceptive case — and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you — this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family. You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong healthy families. Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.
Not only does he want a "nanny state," he wants one that he gets to dictate to begin with! I can't think of a less Republican thing than this. Rick Santorum wants to tell you whom you can marry, and in which orifices you can have sex (sodomy laws don't just apply to man-on-man, you know). He wants to put you in prison if you have an extra-marital affair. He wants to stop you from using condoms in your own home (regardless of your sexual orientation). I can't imagine where this stops!

To those that are even remotely still in favor of Santorum: Just think about what happens when the government goes on his lead, and really does start limiting every freedom you are interested in. Where does it end? I shudder to think.

3 comments:

Staid Winnow said...

Conservatives want a small government. Small enough to fit inside a woman's womb, and a man's anus. Then they want access to them so that they can verify that Jesus is still around there somewhere.

Staid Winnow said...

..which incidentally does make Santorum the perfect candidate

rappoccio said...

For the Democrats, yes, I think. I have more trust in the US that the swing voters will realize that Santorum is just nucking futs and not vote for him.