“Let me ask you something: Do you want the president’s personal religion to determine what you and I can do?”
I asked you a question. Answer the question.
Do you believe that a culture which elevates personal autonomy above all other good is a culture which has any respect for religion?
Santorum is spot on here. American culture was never about personal autonomy or ‘self rule’. It was about personal responsibility - the obligation of the individual to look after - not just himself, but his family.
That is why we are in trouble today. People have forgotten their obligation to care for their own families, and to serve their community not just themselves.
So, yes, Santorum is right. Americans have always valued individualism, insofar as indivdualism promotes personal responsibility. This is what Ron Paul doesn’t get. You cannot have a society which values personal autonomy, because it falls apart.
There has to be a balance between the two.
Now, answer my question, please.
Why is it his role to pontificate on social ills if he’s a presidential candidate — unless he thinks that government is the solution? His cure is worse than the disease.
What does that have to do with the role of the federal government in peoples lives?
Your tone indicates that you think you’re my superior and can demand answers from me. I don’t know where in the Hell you got that idea.
You can't be responsible for what you don't control.
I strongly disagree with you. Personal autonomy is REQUIRED for truly righteous behavior.
Otherwise, it's just following the rules on pain of punishment.
God gave us our will. Who is the government, or you, to try to restrain God's gift?
/johnny
In that culture each person gets to decide whether he or she wants to respect religion for him-/herself.
Religion is a personal matter, not one the government should have any say in. Religion IS an individual matter, no matter how you or anyone else decides to spin that simple reality.
I have no idea why this isn't blazingly obvious to anyone who understands and respects what this country is and always has been.
Personal responsibility enforced by the government is no such thing.
Of course American culture has ALWAYS been about personal autonomy or 'self rule'. Ever hear of "the right to life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness"?
A definition of liberty from online: "the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force."
When government is making someone live up to his/her obligations it is as a means of protecting the rights of the one on the receiving end of those obligations--it is not in the position to force anyone to do something because Rick Santorum thinks they're too self-absorbed.
I briefly supported Santorum, but now he's as off-the-wall and unqualified as Obama or Paul.
“Santorum is spot on here. American culture was never about personal autonomy or ‘self rule’. It was about personal responsibility - the obligation of the individual to look after - not just himself, but his family.”
I agree with this.
I’d would say that individualism is an ideal of American society but all of us, with the exception of Libertarians, realize that the ideal is not possible. That is at least after we have a job. We all depend on some group of people, customers, employers, family, friends, etc.