Santorum emphasizes the importance of protecting rights and liberties
On January 26th, Senator Rick Santorum made a quiet appearance at an event sponsored by the College Republicans at Florida State University. The event occurred with little to no publication on campus but managed to fill up the State Ballroom, even at 9:00am on a Thursday.
Throughout the course of this week the Republican candidate has been touring the state emphasizing the importance of faith, family and freedom (ranked in this order of importance) as the guiding principles of his campaign.
To the observer, it may seem that Santorum’s battle is an uphill climb. On Monday he was greeted with a glitter bomb by Occupy Tampa protesters, his name has become a trending Google search term and he is currently ranking at 18% in the national poll, putting him in third place under Gingrich and Romney respectively. Despite this, Santorum was eager to let it be known that he won’t be going anywhere.
The Senator opened his discussion on the importance of being active participants in protecting our own civil rights:
“What comes naturally is people who gain power and want to exercise that power and authority over the people who don’t have any… And unless you have generations of Americans who understand the threat of centralization and collection of power…the threat to you as folks who want to go out and exercise economic liberty, exercise political liberty, exercise moral liberties, religious beliefs—all of those things ultimately will be at stake.”
These concerns of an all-too powerful government became the overarching narrative of Santorum’s discussion as seen here:
And here.
There is a certain irony that is inherent in political agendas. In this case, Santorum’s claims can lead to some confusion about what his exact message is.
“I think that it’s good that he wants to concentrate more on what we need to concentrate on –to not concentrate on spending big money, but getting our money back,” said Brendan, a Junior Music Performance major. “The only thing I didn’t totally agree with was the fact that it seemed like he put a really big emphasis on religion, on Christianity. I wasn’t sure what he was saying about that. I want America to be a place where everyone has a choice to do whatever religious thing they want, as long as it doesn’t involve any religious sacrifices.”
The paradox is particularly apparent here, considering the Senator’s stance on same-sex marriage and abortion, among various other social issues.
Reactions to Santorum’s lecture were varied.
“I think he’s a principled man and I think he really does believe in what he says,” said Lawrence Dunn, a Senior Mathematics major. “It’s just that I think that what he believes is wrong. Basically, it’s ironic for him to talk about liberty and the Founding Fathers and then in the same sentence, talk about the fact that he doesn’t believe in gay marriage. He doesn’t believe that women have the right to an abortion. He doesn’t believe in legalizing drugs, despite all of the drug violence that’s going on that’s a direct result of the United States drug war. What he is trying to do is sell his principles and his rhetoric rather than actually fix things. I don’t think he wants to talk about real issues.”
To this criticism, the Senator is unapologetically straightforward.
“People say well, ‘What’s your position on the economy?’ ‘What’s your position on deficits?’ ‘What’s your position on all of these issues?’ I could go down and give you a laundry list of all of those things. But I think the most important thing for you to understand is how I look. It’s not what I believe, it’s why I believe. You want to understand how I’m going to approach every problem, now you understand…”
Not everyone was critical of Santorum’s application of principle to politics.
“[Santorum] always does a great job of relating his view points on social issues to his overall stances on everything and how that guides his beliefs in decision-making,” said John Clark, a sophomore Business Major. “Instead of ‘I believe in less spending’ or ‘I believe in a strong national defense,’ he really explains why he believes this. It’s something that you don’t see with a lot of candidates on the right or left.”
Still, Santorum may have a long way moving up in the polls and getting the support of Florida voters.
“He put a big emphasis on what he thinks we all should do,” said Brendan. “I admire that. It seems like he has a good moral compass. But, sometimes I think that leading by example, through things that are admirable to do, is more powerful than telling people what they should do.”
Florida’s primary is next Tuesday, January 31st.
