Posted on 01/19/2012 9:18:41 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I mean, really. How dare you peasants tell the government what to do? How dare you tell them to stay out of your lives? Santorum 2012!
(VIDEO AT LINK)
"One of the criticisms I make is to what I refer to as more of a Libertarianish right.
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 regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues.
That is not how traditional conservatives view the world. There is no such society that I’m aware of, where we’ve had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture.”
- Rick Santorum
First off, the phrase “radical individualism” is something I expect to hear from a Saudi imam. Hell, I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear it from leftists in this country. When I hear it from a Republican candidate for president, I sit blinking for a couple of minutes and then curl up in a ball under my desk, crying softly.
Secondly, I have to wonder: is Santorum insane, or even more out of touch with his base than any of the other candidates? This guy has the balls to whine about people wanting the government to leave them alone? Um, Ricky, I’m pretty sure the top issue for most conservatives is government overreach. There’s this thing called ObamaCare. Heard of it?
However, the true Emmy award winner of this piece is when he disputes the notion that “government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low”. You’re absolutely right, bud. I hope you get up on a podium tonight and deliver, in that notoriously whiny timbre of yours, admonishment to all those non-traditional conservatives who won’t shut up about lower taxes and less regulation. See how that flies in South Carolina. Rick Santorum is a statist theocrat. I’ve said it before, and been challenged on it. I consider this quote to be a follow up to this endlessly disturbing piece from nine years ago. Rick Santorum’s agenda involves using government power to enforce his morality on the American people, based not on political or constitutional ideals, but on his religious views. He is as far removed from the Tea Party, and the concept of small-government conservatism, as Barack Obama.
But lucky us! We can also choose from a socialist who provided the blueprint for ObamaCare, a serial cheater and liar with an ego the size of Neptune, or an isolationist crank who wouldn’t have stopped the Holocaust if it were occurring in present day. Johnnie Walker is my co-pilot.
True conservatives don’t need a nanny state to watch their every move. They are self reliant. Free men can defend themselves and their neighbors. They don’t need overlords.
Santorum blew it on this issue.
A great quote from the SCOTUS about this:
[The] right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.
-Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
-Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 479 (1928)
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?
We will get back to a restricted government.
It may take another 100 years, but people want freedom. And won't be denied.
And now that we're not stuck working from daylight to dark, and have a way to communicate, it's going to eventually happen.
This is not great-great-grandfather's plantation, and the natives are restless.
/johnny
I don’t grok you.
“Does Santorum really understand what Tea Partiers are getting at?”
Do you understand what Santorum is getting at? Santorum is saying that American culture has never been solely based on personal autonomy. Faith has been a huge part of why America has been strong.
The problem isn’t that Santorum doesn’t understand the tea party, but that you have misunderstood Santorum. Santorum is saying that there has to be a balance between the individual and between society. Tilting it to the individual is how we get things like, “If it feels good do it”.
“It’s not an ultra-Paulish vision”
That’s what Santorum is arguing against. He’s arguing against the Paulbot libertarian argument that the individual is the only thing that counts.
“somehow Christianity got along just fine side by side with alcohol and pot in the first 150 years of this country’s life.”
You might want to check your history. Plenty of dry counties, even today, upheld by the community not wanting the sale of alcohol in their area.
And pot? Are you a pothead? That explains why you are savaging Cain. I hope I’m not paying for your ‘rugged individualism’.
“I don’t think he groks it, any more than he groks that the 2nd amendment is more than hunters!”
So you can show me where your right to smoke pot is in the consitution.
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.
“Hot Air” is the perfect name for that site
Ouch!
Where has the hysterical drug “war” gotten except worse and worse gangs and drugs? Things which were hardly ever seen when it was a low key thing that churches and polite society addressed in extra-governmental fashion?
And you have not explained why it’s Santorum’s perceived role to pontificate about it, unless he’s trying to make government the answer. Nor why the Tea Party would be expected to swallow this any more than they swallow Mitt’s brew.
“This is where Santorum gets it wrong. He would take the very same statist approach at the federal level as the godless commies.”
This is a straw man. He is arguing that there needs to be a balance between the individual and between the needs of the community. And it’s not just Santorum. Go read CS Lewis. He says the exact same thing.
“He would insist all moral issues be decided at the federal level.”
Which moral issues are you talking about?
“This is ABSOLUTELY contrary to the Constitution and the original intent of the founders.”
How so? Depends entirely on the moral issue. There are plenty of moral issues which are given to the federal government. One of which is the duty of the federal government to guard the nation.
“Our Federal government is prohibited from establishing a religion or preventing the free exercise thereof.”
Ok, and where has Santorum argued to establish his religion as the official church of america?
“The question of religious faith should not be in it’s lexicon.”
And, that’s not what Santorum is arguing for here. Are you one of the wall of separation folks?
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
You are ass-u-me-ing a “moderation” in Santorum’s high horse speak that is simply not there. Go look at his own comments about being a “2nd amendment supporter” on his website — and it talks mostly about HUNTERS!!! The founding fathers did not put that amendment in there in order that a bounteous harvest of deer, elk, and the like might be had.
Small government does not equate to no government.
The USA is not now, nor has it ever been, an anarchistic or libertarian nation.
If you want to live your life that way, you have choices.
Apply for a visa to live in the nation that most closely matches your personal pursuit of happiness.
“Where has the hysterical drug “war” gotten except worse and worse gangs and drugs?”
Show me where the constitution says you have the right to smoke pot. You said that it’s exactly the same as the 2nd Amendment. Show me please.
“Things which were hardly ever seen when it was a low key thing that churches and polite society addressed in extra-governmental fashion?”
Again, the community has always had the right to regulate the buying and selling of alcohol, even today. So if you are arguing that there exists a right - no, there is no such right and has never existed the right to drink and smoke wherever you want when you want.
Now, if you are talking about the right to do so on your own property, that is one thing. But there have always been laws regulating the buying and selling, and consumption of alcohol.
“And you have not explained why it’s Santorum’s perceived role to pontificate”
Santorum is explaining why his position is superior to the Paulbot position.
And where did the founders give you the right to toke?
Please, show me.
Keep swallowing the kool aide.
I saw a You Tube video of Santorum saying these very words, but as a part of a larger presentation about society being a social contract, and about personal responsibility.
I pray to God that He will vindicate this man in the sight of all his foes.
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