Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Senator Santorum vs Human Rights

If you have been following my commentary on the Republican Primary you are probably right in concluding that Rick Santorum is my favorite. Then the other day I came upon a TV clip of Rick Santorum being interviewed by someone. I couldn’t believe what I heard him say. Before I could determine the full context of the video it was gone. What I found so unsettling was that he appeared to say  that human rights are created by government and that no one has a right to health care.

I spent significant time over the last few days trying to confirm the context of the video or determine what Mr. Santorum’s position was regarding the source of human rights. I read through all likely position papers on his web site and could not determine the answer. I have heard him and other ‘conservatives’ quote from the declaration of Independence the clause that is the core credo of the liberal view of democracy (see footnote).”He even titles one of his issue sections “We hold these truths…”  where he does support some of positions that I do he seems convinced that human rights can be terminated or created by government,. This is not quite what the founders had in mind! 
I Did not find the video but I did come across a written discussion between Rick and Hugh Hewitt (talk show host and Law professor) that did lay it out pretty clearly. Sadly my first impression was right! Here is Rick Santorum scolding the Catholic Bishops and in the process confirming his rejection of the founding idea that “’…to secure these rights government is instituted..”:

“I hate to say it, but you know, you (the bishops) had it coming. And it’s time to wake up and realize that government isn’t the answer to the social ills. It’s people of faith, and it’s families, and it’s communities, and it’s charities that need to do this as it has in America so successfully for so long.”   (Click here for the whole interview.)  

Whew! The need of humans for health care is a social ill? I think the bishops are closer to the truth, everyone should be able to get health care. I think it’s a violation of human dignity to deny anyone health care. That is the language of human rights, unalienable rights if you like .An economic and governmental environment that denies health care to any one is a violation of human rights. The resulting suffering is a social ill. Our government was instituted to ‘secure’ such rights and yes then persons, families, churches, charities, communities and businesses can better provide health care to all. 

Footnotes-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberal Credo: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,  that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ... (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/)

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