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.
Santorum is a statist. Always has been.
Santorum is one of those weasels who likes to tell other people how to live. That’s pretty much it.
Lil’ Ricky has been eating his sweater lint again.
Rickie is jes upset that almost all of his former supporters have jumped ship to Ted.
I pray this is Santorum’s final presidential run.
He’s tedious and tiresome and now vicious.
Well, God is the only being that has a right to tell people how to live.
I can’t see treating “gay marriage” and marijuana on the same plane. I just can’t see it. Your marijuana doesn’t ask me to smoke. Your gay marriage asks me to call something marriage that isn’t, asks me to dumb down my own speech before God.
I’d vastly sooner have the marijuana.
Looks like the GOPe is writing some checks out in Iowa.
“...and attacked Ted Cruz for being too constitutional...”
Too Constitutional? Could someone define that for me in real terms?? Other than just Santorum, a big government statist, spewing his hate for the rule of law and America’s founding origins....
My question is, why is Rick even putting forth the effort? Does he seriously think he has a chance?
... And so, in a way, both Cruz and Santorum are missing what matters.
I don’t know that Trump has any policy at this point beyond accepting that a constitutional feature has delivered up to us the status quo. If his deal making is to be taken seriously, offering larger America a voice, then it is going to have to use its voice more wisely. I really get the idea that it, too, would rather have the marijuana than to make people call something marriage that isn’t.
We could do worse than spit on some icons.
If the constitution has delivered up nonsense, then it needs to be revamped somehow. It isn’t bigger than God and neither is the USSC it has wished on us.
Yes, it appears that he and Huckabee, who is not a small government guy, either, have decided to double-team Cruz. Good luck with that.
I like Rick a lot. I voted for his delegates four year ago. Rick Santorum is a good man.
But questioning Ted Cruz’s conservatism is just DUMB. Even Bush, even Trump, wouldn’t try that.
Try another line of attack, Rick.
I find that once you can accept that others can do things you don’t like, provided they are not infringing on your rights or property, than the question resolves itself.
Rick should attack Yheb!, it’d be more useful.
Santorum always struck me as a creepy guy.
This confirms it.
If he is needling Cruz to do more about “gay marriage” in his platform, even if only to be a bully pulpit against whatever constitutional miscues have enabled it to be forced on us without even the greater popular will, he is doing something half good. I don’t care if that is couched as challenging his “conservatism” or what as long as it ultimately focuses attention on the goal.
I am less concerned of the need to put a jihad on marijuana. Marijuana is at worst a symptom and like I said your marijuana will never require me to smoke it. And put that in your pipe and smoke it :-).
But getting 50% of a problem and including a very bad one isn’t “Nothing.”
That Santorum does not get this, should disqualify his candidacy. The distinction is absolutely vital to the working of our Federal system, as it was intended.
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