Rick Santorum’s Nightmarish America

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



Rick Santorum’s Nightmarish America
February 12, 2012

Rick Santorum, the latest Republican “flavor of the month” for president, exudes a boyish enthusiasm that many Americans find personally appealing. But his vision for America would combine a moralistic theocracy with free-market capitalism and perpetual war, a nightmarish scenario, says Lawrence Davidson.

By Lawrence Davidson


Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is a Republican presidential candidate who is fast coming to the fore. He won the Republican caucuses in Iowa (albeit by only 34 votes) in early January and in February won contests in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. So, as the question goes, who is this guy?

Santorum is a self-styled “true conservative,” right-wing, Christian fundamentalist of Catholic background. In 2005, Time Magazine called him “one of America’s 25 most influential evangelicals.” That is still certainly true today.

Santorum believes that religious values (at least his religious values) should play a large role in shaping government policies. For those not sure what this means, Santorum has a list of examples:

1. Santorum wants “a blanket ban on abortions.” The fact that the U.S. had this very same prohibition up until 1973, and the result was black-market abortions that killed not only fetuses by also lots of pregnant women, seems to have escaped the former senator’s attention. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/02/12/rick-santorums-nightmarish-america/

[Hawaii Hiker]

1. Rick Santorum would have been the perfect president in the year 1521

that guy would bring about another Spanish Inquisition

[MarianJack]

2. He represented my state in the senate until I moved to Maine in 2002.

He was never "my" senator.

From the first moment I saw him in 1993 I considered him to be a little shit. Nothing has changed that opinion and everything has elevated it.

PEACE!

[davidthegnome]

3. Santorum is scary

As long as the Nation keeps gaining jobs rather than losing them and we don't enter into another financial disaster in the next few months... he has no hope of defeating Obama. Still, it's worthy of concern that the Republican congress is already doing what they can to tie Obama's hands and prevent anything from going forward. Somehow we have gained in spite of that. When the nominee is finally chosen though, we'll be looking at a more unified republican base, particularly if Santorum is the nominee.

Also, we need to keep our eyes on the situation with Israel and Iran. Obama is cautious enough that I do not believe he will plunge into a conflict that we don't need. Santorum... I suspect that, if we had a President like Santorum we would already be planning how to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities - perhaps more than planning.

Religion should have no part in government, in politics, at all. Most religious organizations should have lost their tax exempt status years ago. We can trust though, that if Santorum should somehow manage to win the oval office, we'll see a level of evangelical influence not seen even during the Bush administration. The idea of "President Santorum" is only slightly less scary than the idea of "President Huckabee." Either one would be a disaster of epic proportions.

I have nothing against Christians, I actually rather like the new testament and a lot of what Jesus had to say. It's Santorum's type of Christian that is creepy. Evangelicals, out to save our souls or send us to hell, always on the lookout for the next crusade, the next holy war.

Good to be optimistic, Obama is doing well right now. When it comes down to it though, it's still likely to be one heck of a fight. I'd better start getting my campaign material together... lots of work to do in the coming months.

[citizen blues]

4. Santorum is

the Christian equivalent of the Taliban!

If he is elected we will quickly move towards theocracy. Look at the war on women going on right now! Not just with abortion rights, but also with access to birth control. The Defense of Women Act that passed unanimously in Senate in 2005, now doesn't have a single Republican vote. With the NDAA in place, President Santorum would soon have military detention camps set up for anyone who doesn't agree with his brand of Catholicism.

Make no mistake here, this man is a dangerous extremist. It is horrifying that he is being taken seriously - by anyone!!!!

[davidthegnome]

6. It is horrifying

I don't think we can afford to make the mistake of underestimating him though. If (a fairly big if right now, but not as impossible as some think) he can defeat Romney in the primaries and unite the conservative base, I suspect a lot of more moderate Republicans will also fall in line. What unites them is something similar to what united many of us in 2004, they despise Obama perhaps even more than we despised Bush. I'm not sure why this is the case as I find Obama pretty moderate as far as progressives go. Nonetheless, nearly every Republican I've asked hates Obama, far more than they hate the average democrat.

It's likely that this upcoming election will be a crucial battle for the future of this Country. There are two sets of ideals, principles, almost entirely opposed to each other. Sooner or later, it has to go one way or another. If the last decade or two have shown us anything, I think it's that the two parties have become almost completely incapable of working together for the greater good. My faith in my own party certainly isn't absolute, but either Santorum or Romney would be a disaster, with Santorum, I think, being by far the more dangerous of the two.

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. I've already read the book.

[ejbr]

7. My favorite part of the article, if only to be read on FOX News.

"If Mr. Santorum simply changed hats – from Christian to Islamic – he could be a Saudi cleric. Compared to people like him, most Muslims are much more tolerant and contemporary."

[AmateurPolymath]

8. Santorum presidency = End of the world as we know it

If this asslicking buffoon were elected president, you can kiss whatever credibility Americans have with foreigners goodbye forever. The only good thing is, if this asshat hasn't instigated global thermonuclear war with Iran, widespread Democratic victories are ensured for the next century. Things must get worse before they get better.