AMES, Iowa (Catholic Online):
I have heard it before; it happens every four years. They say
"Do not insist on the "social" issues, just trust the
Republicans". Translated - trust the establishment Republicans.
Another refrain is, "just elect them to office and they will be
better than the Democrats".
These voices often promise
that the establishment candidate will be more "Pro- life" than
"those Democrats" and that they will defend marriage and protect
religious freedom. They do it with a smile; a wink and a nod. I
do not know about you..but I am not buying it.
Here is how I see it. We have several good
candidates in the Republican primary this year. My personal
preference is one who is genuinely, consistently and
unqualifiedly Pro-Life. He has shown extraordinary courage in
defending our youngest neighbors in the womb against the
slaughter unleashed by legal abortion. His name is Rick
Santorum. I have written extensively about him.
I know that he has lived in a faithful, happy
marriage and family for years and weathered many storms. He will
honestly and passionately defend true marriage and the family
and society founded upon it, without equivocation, in the face
of a what amounts to a cultural revolution aimed at
restructuring Western civilization.
This is a man who has been
"savaged" by some on the fringe of the radical homosexual
equivalency movement - in the most vile manner. He has had his
name intentionally defamed - but has not backed down. He has not
stopped insisting on the unchangeable truth about marriage and
the family and society founded upon it- because he knows it is
true and that the truth does not change.
He understands that the free
market is only free when it respects the freedom of human
persons. His answer to the economic challenges we face is to
enlarge the circle of participation - not to grow the federal
government and, to use the old expression, "rob Peter to pay
Paul."
He does not buy the lie that
the American economic dream has to be limited.
Rather, he seeks to expand the potential for free
people to participate and prosper in the greatest market and
opportunity based economy the world has ever seen. He has real
plans to rebuild the manufacturing base of our Nation because he
truly cares about workers. He was not born with a silver spoon
in his mouth.
He is a
proponent of small and limited government, and is not
anti-government. He knows that the family is the first
government and that all other government must defer to, support
and not usurp its exercise of governance.
He supports the choice of parents as to where to
send their children to school, no matter what their economic
circumstances. He and his wife have chosen to homeschool and
they understand that the family is the first school and parents
the first teachers.He is not only using the language of
"pro-family" voters. He, his wife, and their children are the
very embodiment of the message we proclaim.
He respects the proper role of mediating
institutions such as churches, synagogues, charities, social
concerned business, trade and philanthropic associations. He
understands that good government starts from the bottom up and
then - and then with caution - proceeds from there. He is an
advocate of limited government properly understood within the
principle of subsidiarity.
As President he would be a steward over a federal
government which genuinely serves the family, the mediating
institutions, the local and state governments and the common
good. He has an intelligent understanding of the proper role of
governance and does not propose dangerous ideas which will
threaten our national stability.
He has a real, genuine Christian faith.
Ironically, the main stream Press is reporting that he is the
"evangelical" choice. They forget, this man is a devout Catholic
Christian. You see, they do not understand that real
Christianity, be it Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, provides
a vision of the human person, the family and human society which
benefits the whole human culture.
Included among those who are trying explain his
growing support by attributing it to what they disparagingly
refer to as "evangelicals" are some Catholic commentators in
dire need of catechesis as to what their own Christian faith is
all about.
The problem
is that the establishment political class and the main stream
media have promoted the idea that "religion" is only a "private
affair" to be "tolerated" and that "religious people" are
somehow less intelligent; to be pandered to at election time.
This assessment of mine - that the establishment
and main stream media belittle classical Christians of every ilk
- includes those "country club" Republicans who actually feel
that "religious people" are to be tolerated at election time if
they make it possible for their party to be in power - then
disregard them thereafter.
These folks do not understand
that Western Civilization is grounded and founded upon the
Jewish and Christian vision of the inherent dignity of every
human person which derives from their having been created in the
Image of God. They do not really believe that there are
objective truths or that these truths are, in the words of the
American founders, self evident and form the basis of
inalienable rights endowed by a Creator - even if they can quote
the words.
They do not accept the notion
that there is a Natural Law which is written on the human heart
and can be known through the exercise of reason. They may
proclaim the great promise of the Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be Self Evident" but they actually
espouse moral relativism.
Many seem incapable of
comprehending the candidacy of a man who is able to bring
believers of all stripes, along with all people of good will,
into a coalition which recognizes that religious faith - and the
vision of the human person, the family and a truly just society
which it informs, actually serves the common good. A man who
really believes that religious freedom is a fundamental human
right.
At the Huckabee
Republican Presidential Candidate on December 3, 2011, Rick
Santorum reiterated his refusal to separate the moral issues
from all of the other issues. He said:
"Everyone says we need a truce on social issues
that we need to focus on jobs and the economy. But what is at
the heart of this country is that America is a moral enterprise
and we are sick at the heart of our country - when we see
millions of children being aborted and marriage not being
defended. A truce is not a truce, it is surrender. I will not
surrender; I will fight and defend America."
He addressed a connection between big federalized government and
the breakdown of the first government, the family:
"(I)f family and moral values break down,
government gets bigger and bigger. Social issues are central to
every issue we deal with in America. Unless we get the moral
issues right, we will never get the economic and foreign policy
issues right."
Reiterating his unwillingness to compromise on the "social
issues" and only address economic issues he sounded once again
the theme of his campaign - that they are inseparably connected.
He rejected the calls to enter into a "truce" on social issues
saying, "It is surrender, not a truce. Under a Santorum
presidency, there will be no surrender."
We are living under what Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, rightly called a "Dictatorship
of Relativism." When there is a wholesale effort to deny the
existence of anything objectively true, any objective moral
values, which can be known by all and form the basis of our
common life, then there is no real freedom. Instead, we teeter
on the brink of anarchy.
Senator Rick Santorum offers a corrective which is long overdue.
He does so with courage and clarity. And, talk about a
debater...though not given a lot of time in many of the debates,
he used the time he did receive well. I will never forget the
debate many years ago when he defended the child in the womb in
the halls of the U.S. Senate against the evil of partial birth
abortion. I was there. I know this man is one of the great
debaters in political and public life.
He refused to back down in the face of blistering attacks
against him for a free flowing and insightful interview he gave
in January of 2011 to CNS news. The perpetrators of those
attacks tried to take his accurate exposition of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s references to the Natural Law in his "Letter
from a Birmingham Jail" and use them against Santorum.
In that letter Dr. King cited the Catholic
Natural Law tradition to argue the Natural Law as the basis of
fundamental human rights. I wrote back then - and reassert now -
that Dr. King would have agreed with Senator Santorum.
The former Senator responded to the attacks
against him with these words, "For decades certain human beings
were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America
because they were not considered persons under the Constitution.
"Today other human beings, the unborn of all
races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right
to life for the same reason; because they are not considered
persons under the constitution. I am disappointed that President
Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to
recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country."
Santorum's moral message is expressed on a "No
Surrender Moneybomb Appeal" on his campaign web site: "The day
we stop fighting for the unborn child, or fighting to protect
the sanctity of marriage, expel God from the public square, or
decide we will no longer enforce the laws of our land, is the
day we surrender all our founding fathers created."
"I believe what makes America exceptional is not
just our economic potential or our remarkable innovation, but
the fact that we are a moral enterprise. As President, I will
protect America's moral foundation, empower American families
and build America's economic freedom. And I won't compromise on
my values to do it."
Rick Santorum's candidacy has been all but ignored by the main
stream media and the political establishment - until now. The
news out of Iowa over the last week seems to be shaking the
predictions of the establishment and main stream media to the
core.
Many are asking
the question, "Is a Santorum Surprise About to Upset the 2012
Republican Primary and Shake up the 2012 Election?" Stay tuned.
