Like Nietzsche's Zarathustra, he is truly beyond the worldly notions of good and evil, though with a propensity for far more sinister activity. Why? Because at least Zarathustra was a figure whose motives and actions could be questioned and held accountable squarely within the realm of natural existence. Santorum, meanwhile, derives his ideology from personal interpretations of the supernatural. This renders said ideology closed to reason; he can say and do as he pleases without recourse as it is impossible to disprove him in a scientific fashion.
Anyone calling him or herself an advocate of limited government must also keep in mind one of Atkins' key observations; through Santorum's lens, the family, not the individual, is paramount. An argument like this is so easy to refute on a reasonable basis that it is almost comical. For starters, barring the individual, families could not exist, let alone thrive. Furthermore, what if a certain family is dysfunctional to the point of becoming abusive? If only a minority of members are victims, then who is the government to place a smash in that fix; after all, family rights come before individual rights, correct?
That the hardline pseudo-Christian right has warmly embraced a man like Santorum is a sad statement about how many Americans posses a desire for dictatorship. Perhaps many have blurred the line between preacher and president, or maybe certain hot-button social issues have destroyed their capacity for common sense. Either way, Santorum's sudden surge in popularity should be a huge cause for concern amongst those of us who actually value our liberties. While Ron Paul might be the craziest player on the GOP field, Rick Santorum is by far the most dangerous.
It is a true lifesaver that fewer than half of the states have him listed on their respective primary ballots. The alternative is far too unsettling to even imagine.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Not buying that guy
Sounds a lot like the Huckabee campaign 4 years ago.
2 - Dr Dreadful
Joseph, I think your characterization of Ron Paul as crazy is unfair.
Both candidates are tilting at windmills, but at least Paul lets his actions be dictated by a document which was designed as a template for how the country is supposed to work.
Santorum just pretends the bits of the document that don't say what he wishes they said don't exist.
3 - SeeingRed
This article is somewhere between absurd and BS.
4 - Mystique
This content of this article is somewhere between accurate and astute.
5 - Baronius
Joseph, I don't think this analysis is fair. You question Santorum's commitment to the Constitution, and implicitly question his commitment to fiscal conservatism. On what basis? You only cite an article that analyzes the candidate's temperments.
6 - Baronius
candidates' temperments
Yeah, I know Clavos, I made a mistake.
7 - REMF (MCH)
^ Watch out for Danny Devito's red pen...
8 - Lee
I agree that Santorum is dangerous. Paul on the other hand is the same as our Founding Fathers: a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant libertarian. If you think Paul is "crazy" then you must also think Washington and Jefferson were "crazy" because he is simply following their views. I plan to vote for Paul in the upcoming caucus in Nevada. If he loses, I won't vote in the general election because I am against Santorum, Gingrich, and Romney as much as I am against Obama.
9 - Arch Conservative
Ron Paul is crazy?
The last time I checked he was the only GOP contender who wasn't chomping at the bit to start a war with Iran. You must be steeped in the neocon school of foreign policy Mr. Cotto.
I, like Lee, will vote for Ron Paul in my home state, New Hampshire, primary. However I will most likely vote for Mitt Romney in the general. It's not so much of a vote for Romney as a vote against Obama. I hate Obama on a personal level with the fiery passion of 1000 burning super novas. Can those of you that are parents imagine how you would feel toward a person that had sexually molested and/or murdered your child? Well that is how I feel about Barack Obama.
10 - Zingzing
I'm sure Obama must have sexually molested and murdered your child then. Congrats on parenthood! Sorry for your loss.
11 - roger nowosielski
forget the key term, zing
molested, murdered and mutilated has a far better ring.
12 - roger nowosielski
and under the circumstances, I should think congratulations are out place
13 - Irene Athena
Lee: Catholic delegates to the Constitutional Convention were Charles Carrol and Thomas Fitzsimmons.
Other Founding Fathers were Cornelius Harnett, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, who were Deists. The man who penned Common Sense (Thomas Paine) was an atheist.
You'll have to drop the Protestant requirement. It has no precedent. The original Protestant Fathers joined with Catholics and even those who didn't believe in Jesus, and pledged their lives, their properties and their sacred honor. That's pretty significant. Who are YOU to turn up your nose at anyone because of their spiritual beliefs, if the Founding Fathers didn't it.
It's also not in the Constitution that a President has to be Anglo-Saxon, or white for that matter.
Lee, you are doing Ron Paul ZERO favors by promoting Ron Paul solely on the basis of your bigotry. I remember when Hillary Clinton was campaigning against Obama, and there were bigoted whites who supported her because she wasn't black like Obama. Even though she herself was not a bigot, she took some flak for it.
If Ron Paul were a bi-racial former altar boy, I'd vote for him, as long as he was still for the Constitution.
You're NOT for the Constitution, Lee, because you're adding Faith amendments which are almost as bad as adding executive orders and sending in the military to fight without Congressional debate.)
I'm not even sure you're a Christian. If you are a Christian, you're grossly misrepresenting Christ, who was a Savior for all races, and tribes, and languages.
That's even more disgraceful, to my mind, than your disgracing Ron Paul with your bigoted views. And the latter is pretty disgraceful.
14 - Arch Conservative
You're right zing. I can't possibly know how it would feel to have a child molested and/ murdered so I shouldn't have said that. It was not appropriate and I imagine that if it ever did happen to me the rage I would feel toward that person would exponentially dwarf any animosity I could ever feel toward Obama or any other politician. Sometimes I just get caught up in the whole cyberspace not being reality thing..........
That being said, let me try to convey my feelings toward Obama in the context of politics. I despise Barack Obama as much as it is possible for any citizen to despise a political figure. For the good of the nation and the world at large I hope he is removed from power as soon as possible. If he does lose the election I shall take great satisfaction in watching every second of watching the man as his disgustingly egocentric psyche struggles with reality.
That's me toning it down. hope it's appreciated.
15 - zingzing
it is. but you don't give much reason for your despising, just that you despise.
so why?
i just learned today that the new budget going into effect (which i don't think has been signed yet, but i'm looking into that,) contains significant less funding for pell grants, something that affects my wallet. it also affects minorities and the poor disproportionately. obama said he'd fight to keep pell grants, and the cuts are somewhat less than expected, but they hit me right where it counts. most of the students i'm involved with do not have geds or high school diplomas, and they can now no longer receive pell grants.
he also let himself get blackmailed into keeping guantanamo open and the whole 1021/1022 bits of the ndaa (if i have those bits numbered right). why? i dunno. maybe to save his political skin.
i have some reasons to despise him. but what are yours?
16 - Irene Athena
And YOU, Joseph Cotto, how DRIPPING with bigotry your first sentence is!
"Rick Santorum is not the sort of person I would want to be my neighbor, let alone my country's chief executive. An outspoken adherent of the Roman Catholic Church's fundamentalist wing..." So OK, then you go on to list the reasons you dislike his politics, but nothing about what would make Santorum a bad neighbor. As far as I know, there is nothing about being a Catholic that requires one to have loud parties in the middle of the night, or cars in the process of being cannibalized in one's front yard, or a stingy attitude when the people next door come over to borrow a cup of sugar or an egg, or a fit of forgetfulness when it's time to return the power tool he borrowed.
I loathe Santorum's politics too (mainly for the same reasons I loathe YOUR politics incidentally) but you, any domestic partners you may have, and the Santorums are welcome to be my neighbors.
What sort of person IS fit to be your neighbor, Joseph Cotto? Are your requirements as stringent as our friend Lee's presidential requirements? If they were Libertarian Catholics, would that be OK? You may not be a bigot, but your writing sounds as bigoted as Lee's does.
17 - roger nowosielski
Hi, Irene,
Not to defend Joseph on the strength of the opening statement you cited, doesn't he, somewhat, provides some of his reasons in the statement to follow?
Inattentiveness to the average person's concerns. That is a clue, sort of, as to what the kind of neighbor that Mr. Cotto would imagine Rick Santorum to be.
(I agree the sentence construction wasn't the most felicitous one.)
Just asking.
18 - roger nowosielski
To put this in perspective, Baronius (#5), oddly enough, voices what would appear to be a contrary (to Mr. Cotto's) complaint, namely of prejudging Santorum qualifications for office on the basis of personal characteristics.
19 - Irene Athena
"...his total lack of interest in what the majority of voters care about..."
The things an average person as a voter cares about are not the same things an average person, as a neighbor cares about.
A candidate with a Marxist platform, for example, would not appeal to the average person in the voting booth, but if he maintained his property to neighborhood standards, etc, the average person would not object to being his neighbor.
20 - Irene Athena
Unless the average person noticed that he had "a Commie flag, tacked up on the wall, inside of his garage." (1)
(1)Uneasy Rider, Charlie Daniels Band
21 - Glenn Contrarian
Joseph -
That the hardline pseudo-Christian right has warmly embraced a man like Santorum is a sad statement about how many Americans posses a desire for dictatorship. Perhaps many have blurred the line between preacher and president, or maybe certain hot-button social issues have destroyed their capacity for common sense. Either way, Santorum's sudden surge in popularity should be a huge cause for concern amongst those of us who actually value our liberties. While Ron Paul might be the craziest player on the GOP field, Rick Santorum is by far the most dangerous.
Quoted for truth - almost all of it!
The only part that's not accurate is that Ron Paul is crazy. He's not. He is a racist ideologue who has publicly stated his opposition to the Civil Rights Act and that businesses have a right to discriminate on grounds of race, creed, color, ethnicity, whatever...but he's not crazy.
Who would be a lot closer to crazy are all those who - after being shown the racist statements made over a period of YEARS in Ron Paul's OWN magazine - actually believe him when he says he never wrote those and that he wasn't sure who did. How anyone with an ounce of cynicism could believe that the owner of a magazine would not know what's being printed in his own magazine over a period of years - especially when it contains obviously racist and inflammatory statements - well, how any thinking adult could believe Paul's excuse is beyond me.
Well, maybe some who believe him aren't crazy - maybe they're as racist as he is. But the rest are either crazy or naive in the extreme.
And for all - it looks like Santorum is either in first place or a very close second place in Iowa. Please, PLEASE let him be the GOP nominee!
22 - roger nowosielski
Joseph is uneasy about bringing religion into politics, so his implications are not airtight.
An average vote probably does care about economy, especially if he or she is out of a job. Rick Santorum position -- we're not going to help African-Americans through welfare but by creating equal employment opportunities (easier said than done).
A possible though strained conclusion:
Rick Santorum wouldn't help a neighbor in need.
23 - Bubba Habermas
I like how a guy claims Obama "disgustingly egocentric psyche struggles with reality" after admitting his own struggles with reality in the same comment. Conservatives are such a joke
24 - Bubba Habermas
and where's the bigotry? He said he doesn't want one guy living next door not a group of people
25 - Glenn Contrarian
Bubba -
Roger's not a conservative. He may agree with them on some matters, but on others he strongly disagrees with them.