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Friday, March 29, 2024

Santorum’s political record indicates socialist tendencies

Despite Rick Santorum posing as a hardcore limited-government conservative, his views on the economy, his voting record and his blatant hostility toward homosexuality portray him as more of a socialist dictator than a small-government guru.

Even with support from tea party members, who also portray themselves as a cult of small-government enthusiasts, Santorum has time and time again voted in favor of huge spending bills that expand the role and size of the federal government.

In a piece that aired on NPR in 2006, Santorum said, “This idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues ... that is not how traditional conservatives view the world.”

By “we,” he means the government.

How that reasoning can fall in line with the ideas of individual liberty and small government should be beyond any person interested in protecting liberty.

Santorum plans on protecting heterosexual liberty in the bedroom by shuffling around money in the Department of Health and Human Services “for the purpose of strengthening marriages, families and fatherhood.”

The above quote comes straight from his campaign’s platform.

Why would anyone who believes in shrinking government think the government should manage family life and the choices of consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes?

In addition to his urges to regulate personal behavior, Santorum has referred to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as “social experimentation with our military right now, and that’s tragic.”

If Santorum were a real small-government guy, he wouldn’t be following in the homophobic footsteps of current and former communist states in which homosexuality is illegal.

Punishment and regulation of personal behavior is a characteristic of socialist dictatorships, Santorum. Not pro-capitalist democracies.

Nothing confirms his socialist beliefs more than his voting record. Santorum supported No Child Left Behind, which was the largest government expenditure on K-12 education in our nation’s history.

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He also voted in favor of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act, which is predicted to cost taxpayers $549.2 billion by 2015.

To add to his pro-government tax and spending record, Santorum also voted in favor of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, costing the taxpayers another whopping $286.4 billion.

Extreme wealth redistribution via government spending, homophobia and regulation of personal behavior should not be the traits of a man who is associated with and supported by the tea party.

The socialism of Rick Santorum is a blemish on the face of conservatism, proponents of small government and protectors of individual liberty.

Thomas Ryan is a political science sophomore at Santa Fe College.

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