Rick Santorum and The Women

Candidate Rick Santorum met with five woman, all mothers but not all Santorum supporters, last week during his visit to a nearby city in North Dakota. A fellow blogger, Roxane Solonen, a reporter for the Fargo Forum, was sent by her paper to cover the session. One of the questions raised was:

'(Susan) Noah said her biggest concern is the challenge of trying to raise children with integrity, a strong work ethic and other virtues. “What can you do to change the culture as president?” she asked. Santorum began by saying that because politics often reflects the culture, it can’t always shape the culture in profound ways, but that a president can make some impact, including personal example. Being a good husband and father is the first place to start, he said. “At the same time, it’s also what you say and what your policies are; what you choose to talk about.'

Read her entire Forum news report here .  Roxanes' stories appear regularily in the She Says" section of the Fargo Forum. Her blogs can be found here and here.

His answer to Susan's question reveals a more realistic assessment of how a President can impact much of American life than the typical candidate is likely to reveal.

Senator Santorum Wins Big - Then another Stumper

By the time most of you read this you will know that Senator Santorum, my favorite Republican presidential candidate, won two and maybe three of today's caucus states. I just listened to his victory speech and he again restated his belief that the government created our right  to health care and even claims that President Obama agrees with him! If he is right then President Obama is in fact well to the right of the Senator on this issue (which I suspect is the case).

See my research and reading on Senator's position on human rights in the previous posting. I have probably bored you with the story of the courting I received from Republicans following my departure from the Democratic party in the early 1990s. The first issue relates to abortion and the fact that most republicans that approached me were pro abortion. The second most impressive position came from Republicans that claimed to be 'conservative' and their marketing talking point was that government created rights. Sometimes it was couched in terms a strange 'American Exceptionalism' that says that only Americans have human rights because only the America's government has created them.

I think I was always classified as a liberal because I believed that human rights accrue to all human person because they are human and I adhere to a matching religious world view that human are 'endowed by their creator' with such rights. Thus as in the first issue I found it incompatible with my liberal ideals to join with a party that argues against the idea of inherent  or as our founders said, unalienable Rights that preceded any action by government.

Now Senator Santorum did allude to the Declaration and did state that he believes that human rights are from God, a view I share, but then makes a case by attacking the health care reform that we humans in fact have no right to health care. POW! Take that you poor people, here, one more for all the former middle class who who have been denied or lost their health insurance. I suspect that he is only the most articulate of the field which probably holds the same view.

The strangest aspect of the argument he made is that President Obama agrees  with him about creating a right which has the effect of placing the President in a more 'conservative' position than Rick himself since he believes that rights are God given, a clearly more liberal view in my experience. In addition I  suspect his 'conservatism' bars believing in the the phase,  "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."  from the founding document.

If you are getting the idea that I'm really not impressed by the fuzz generated by our politicians this week (read  my last several political postings critical of both Republican and Democratic candidates) you got it right.

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/)

Santorum - Better Campaign Practices Displayed

The Republican presidential contest is down to a scrappy few. It's not been pretty and the ugliness is mounting rapidly as the unaccounted millions of dollars pour into the primary states, thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling. Not having been in a primary state we have been spared the trudge through the manure yard of modern media campaigning.

While the leading candidates make every more incredible claims about each other and President Obama there is one candidate that leaves a different impression, Rick Santorum. Even some commentators on MSNBC have expressed admiration of his genuinely candid and personal campaigning style. Last week he was interviewed by  Piers Morgan on CNN. I think we got a little of what the political commentator saw out on the stump. Very respectful and calm responses to all questions.

Later his family joined in the interview and I was again impressed. His kids were asked how they dealt with the the tough aspects of political campaigning. One of his daughters said that when someone unfairly attacks her father she always prays for the attacker. Now, there is a Catholic answer from the real world.

His answers to questions about abortion were uncharacteristic of a Republican politician in that they were clearly about the value of life for all humans. His retelling of bringing his son's body home for a family funeral was a moving example of honoring life even at the time of death.

Disappointing were his unsure answers about the death penalty, his support of torture and his eagerness to use war as an easy tool of international policy. All three of these are also life issues but his answers were not Catholic answers.