Posted on 12/31/2015 11:28:34 AM PST by Isara
“If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism…The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.” – Ronald Reagan
We’re entering an unusual time in politics. It used to be conservatism versus liberalism; that was the standard by which everything was judged. There was little to no nuance within the two groups. I’m not saying that was incorrect. For the time, it was perfectly appropriate. Now, however, we’ve become a less homogenous voting public. We’ve become fractured–and that’s not a bad thing. This fracturing has revealed to us who people really are.
There was a time when I believed Rick Santorum was a conservative. The problem with this belief is that it’s too broad. There are aspects of Santorum’s policy that are conservative, but his overall political belief system is not conservative.
Rick Santorum is a theocrat.
This fact was made clear when the former Senator appeared on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show” Monday, and attacked Ted Cruz for being too constitutional. Yes. Your eyes do not deceive you.
Here’s the exact quote from Santorum:
“Most of the social conservative votes are going to Cruz and Trump, neither of which are particularly strong social conservatives. I mean, Donald Trump has never been a social conservative up until the last few months. And Ted Cruz takes the position of very much the Tenth Amendment and State's rights, you know, which is sort of a Rand Paul/Ron Paul position.”
Uh, what?
Specifically referencing gay marriage and marijuana legalization, Santorum said:
“[Cruz] doesn’t agree with it but he’s not going to fight it…That’s not what people are looking for. They’re looking for someone who has a very clear vision of what’s right and what’s wrong and be able to lay that vision out for the American people.”
Ted Cruz is a constitutional conservative, and as such, he believes strongly in the Tenth Amendment, which says that the powers not enumerated to the federal government are to be left to the states. It’s a powerful amendment that was designed to protect Americans from federal overreach. Given this belief, Ted Cruz has stated numerous times that while he is personally opposed to gay marriage and marijuana legalization, it’s a question that must be left up to the states, per the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Now, for Rick Santorum, this is a bad thing. He believes that the federal government should dictate these decisions. This is in defiance of the Tenth Amendment–but he doesn’t care. He wants to use his authority–were he to have it–to impose his will on the entirety of the American people. Even if the majority of Americans were in favor of gay marriage, he would have it banned on a federal level.
I’m as socially conservative as they come, but I understand that there are certain things that cannot and must not be decided federally. I also understand that there is good reason for this rule. Overabundant centralized power never works out; it metastasizes, and eventually strangles the people. The Tenth Amendment is a wall protecting us from the wolves of federal aggression. As a constitutional conservative, I can look at the issue of gay marriage and know that while I may personally oppose it, it is not the role of the federal government to make the call as to whether or not it is legally recognized.
This is one of the differences among conservatives that has been made exceedingly clear this election cycle. Some running are constitutional conservatives, while others are theocrats. Some are status quo Republicans, while some are hybrids.
A constitutional conservative is what we need. We’ve moved so far away from what the Founders designed that we need someone who will take us back to our original framework. Ted Cruz is that person. Rick Santorum is a theocrat, and he has a right to be a theocrat, but to castigate Ted Cruz for not being conservative enough is ludicrous.
I guess polling at 0.5% makes one mad.
Two words and a letter, Rick — K Street Project.
And this is where “gay marriage” is an issue that marijuana never was.
Marriage was expected to be a social contract.
Now granted it really is a contract before God first and foremost, but society is being called in to witness unto it with our current system.
Society, which includes me and you, is being called to witness that “gay marriage” is marriage. Tilt, barf. I can’t. No court on earth could make it so.
Society is not being called to witness that marijuana is a wholesome thing to smoke any more than Dunkin Donuts is a wholesome diet. But we allow people to do both of those things.
(Toomey turned out not to be as conservative as hoped but was light years ahead of Specter).
I say as long as folks are being connoisseurs of icons (in this case the icon is “the conservative”) they’re going to miss a lot of actual issues.
It’s better to be half right about something than not right at all. The half right solution could be transformed more easily into the entirely right solution, than a course of paralysis in doing nothing.
That is a good question...wonder who is funding him?
The Constitution has not delivered up nonsense. Same sex "marriage" is an oxymoron. It is as absurd as pretending that people are "equal" other than in Court before the Law.
But marriage is a State concern--as are local school issues, Legislative Apportionment, rights to public relgious observances, etc..
Now the Federal Government can arrest the misuse of the Federal Courts, under Article III, by forbidding the Federal District Courts to take up cases that are really local concerns--thus arresting a whole host of abuses over the past two generations;--and at the same time limiting the Supreme Court's Appellate jurisdiction in the same manner. (The Original Jurisdiction is controlled by the Constitution; the Appellate Jurisdiction by Congress.)
Notice how nobody at all talks about Rick Santorum. Even Jeb! and Mike Huck get more media attention. I’ll bet you the average voter has forgotten that Santorum and Paul are even in the race. Dr. Carson is also about to flatline. Two of his biggest campaign advisers have quit the Carson campaign.
Blaming the Constitution for the bad actors who ignore it is like blaming the Bible because of those who refuse to follow it also.
The last time I saw campaign filings, Santorum had less than $1 million. IIRC, it was from a singular PAC.
Follow the money, as usual, yep.
Surely not Jeb...he's on the verge of having to clip coupons.
And this is what you get out of one dimensional analysis.
If we really like our iconic conservatives it would be well to press them to embrace everything that DOES mean something to larger America and for a good fundamental reason.
Not doing so is tempting liberals to eat your lunch.
He comes off as having a huge ego.
I’m sorry, the constitution was quite well heeded when it came to the selfish motives of rule by court. A loophole was perceived and it was taken.
Screaming against this is howling at the moon.
The edifice has no will; it cannot govern what happens when courses of action offer themselves that tend to different ends. The onus has to lie on the people to use it in a godly manner... notice I didn’t say constitutional, it having no will. I said godly.
Let’s put it this way, if the rules in your game of Monopoly said you could put eight hotels on Boardwalk and bankrupt everybody, wouldn’t you want to change those rules?
Not doing that, and doing the equivalent of enshrining the rules to reverence, would be quite foolish.
Santorum is not a theocrat and Cruz is going to fight for normal marriage. It is just that his fight is for states right to decide. The problem with that is the full faith and credit clause. Non legal states still must accommodate those who move to their state. Eventually it weakens all. Polygamy was banned nationally when the demand was made of Utah to eliminate it as a condition of joining the Union. The first Republican Platform sought to “ban the twin relics of slavery and polygamy.” So I am with Santorum and Huckabee on marriage. I won’t smear Cruz by saying he won’t fight for it. He will. He has just bought that a core social structure such as marriage is a state issue when only the peripheral legal issues should be state decided. Marriage is only important because it is the foundational structure of society into the future. Homosexuality is not equal to that: Never has been, never will be. Mom, Dad and baby, staying together as a family saves the government lots of money and effort. It promotes freedom because it keeps Mom and Dad as the primary authority for the children, passing on religious and moral values. Mandating no discrimination of all sexual perversions, calling them equal to “marriage” places the government at the head.
Cruz’s plan is better than nothing. It at last leaves we the people with some say.
I get tired of one camp distorting the positions of another camp in an effort to promote self. It shows bad character.
Mail.
“I’d vastly sooner have the marijuana.”
A joint, or take it up the wazzoo. That’s a tough one. I think ill have a toke.
Is Santorum running for an office, or is he a sideline analyst for 16?
Beyond that, he is a smarmy, backstabbing weasel (just ask Mr. Newt).
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