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Rick Santorum on Principles & ValuesRepublican Jr Senator (PA) |
"It was just such an affirmation of this belief to see Barack Obama in Germany. He is the party of Europe. They love him over there. Why? Because it is a very secular world. It's a very secular culture. It's a socialistic culture. It is exactly what Barack Obama wants to see America. It's exactly what Howard Dean envisions for America. If you look at everything they do, they point to the journey of Western Europe as the journey they want to replicate here in America."
SANTORUM: Well, we need a leader, someone who has the experience to go out and be the commander-in-chief. I've experienced 8 years on the Armed Services Committee. We need someone who can go out and paint a vision of what America's strength is about, let our allies know that they can trust us, let our enemies know that they have to respect us, and if they cross us, they should fear us.
Q: Were you talking about Gov. Romney with the manager part?
SANTORUM: The manager part? Yeah, well, of course I was talking about Gov. Romney. Business experience doesn't necessarily match up with being the commander-in-chief of this country. The commander-in-chief of this country isn't a CEO. It's someone who has to lead. You can't direct members of Congress as to how you do things. You've got to lead and inspire. And I've been the one that's been able to do that.
RON PAUL: In a survey, he came out as one of the top corrupt individuals because he took so much money from the lobbyists. But what really counts is his record: he's a big government, big spending individual.
SANTORUM: The group that called me corrupt was a group called CREW. If you haven't been sued by CREW, you're not a conservative. It's a ridiculous charge. I'm a conservative. I'm not a libertarian. I believe in some government. I do believe that as a senator from Pennsylvania that I had a responsibility to go out there and represent the interests of my state. I am not a libertarian, Ron--you vote against everything. I don't vote against everything. I do vote for some spending. I do think government has a role to play.
SANTORUM: The governor used a term that I shrink from. And it's one that I don't think we should be using as Republicans, "middle class." There are no classes in America We are a country that doesn't put people in classes. There may be middle income people, but the idea that we're going to buy into the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama is something that should not be part of the Republican lexicon. That's their job: divide, separate, put one group against another. That's not the language that I'll use as president. I'll use the language of bringing people together. So if you want someone that's a clear contrast, that has a strong record, has a vision for this country that's going to get this country growing & appeal to blue collar workers & deliver that message, that we care about you, too, not just about Wall Street and bailing them out, then I'm the guy that you want to put in the nomination
I ran in 1994, the same year Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts. He ran as a liberal, to the left of Kennedy, and lost. I ran as a conservative and I won. In 2002, he ran as a moderate in Massachusetts. I ran for re-election as a moral conservative; I was a foreign policy conservative; I was a fiscal conservative, and I got elected in a state that hasn't elected a president since 1988 as a Republican.
A: The last words Ronald Reagan said as president, in his farewell address, he was concerned about the future of our country because we were forgetting who we were, didn't remember what America was really all about. I think that's what's the problem right now, is we have a president who doesn't understand what America is all about. America is a great country because we are a country that believes in God-given rights to every single man, woman and child in America, and that we built this country from the bottom up, believing in free people, to have that responsibility to live their lives in service to themselves, their family, their community, and their god, and in so doing, we transformed the world. We had a leader in Reagan who believed in you. Pres. Obama is the new King George III, who believes in things being dictated from on high. We need to replace him with someone who believes in the American people again.
A: Hopefully as great as they did on the last election. Defending the constitution and limited govt. Thank you!! The Tea Party is now the backbone of the conservative movement. It will help elect a principled conservative leader for 2012.
PAWLENTY: Well, the protections between the separation of church and state were designed to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith.
Q: How will that affect your decision-making?
SANTORUM: I'm someone who believes that you approach issues using faith and reason. And if your faith is pure and your reason is right, they'll end up in the same place. I think the key to the success of this country, how we all live together, is because we are a very diverse country. We allow everybody, people of faith and no faith, to come in and make their claims in the public square, to be heard, have those arguments, and not to say because you're no a person of faith, you need to stay out, because you have strong faith convictions, your opinion is invalid. Just the opposite--we get along because we know that we--all of our ideas are allowed in and tolerated. That's what makes America work.
SANTORUM: Absolutely. I agree with the president a vast majority of the time. When I agree with him, I say it. And when I don’t agree with him, I say it, too.
CASEY: I think what the people of Pennsylvania expect and deserve is someone who’s going to be truly independent. Being a rubber stamp for the president is not in the best interest of the people of America.
Q: But have the Democrats sometimes been obstructionist, & opposed everything that Bush proposed?
CASEY: I’m sure they have. But when you have two politicians that agree 98% of the time, one of them’s really not necessary. We need someone who’s going to be truly independent, who has the character and the integrity to stand up to his party and his president, especially at a time of war
There’s something strange about this house It belongs to our congressman, Doug Walgren. What’s so strange? Instead of living in his own congressional district, Congressman Walgren lives in this house, located in the wealthiest area of Virginia.Q: Isn’t that rather hypocritical of you?
SANTORUM: No, not at all. My opponent never owned a home in the district, ever, in 14 years. I own a home and always owned a home.
Q: How many nights have you personally spent there?
SANTORUM: I probably spend maybe a month a year.
The media echo chamber promotes that liberal social policies are rational, tolerant, progressive, and caring. Social conservatives, on the other hand, are portrayed as irrational, ignorant, rigid Bible-thumpers obsessed with prophesying woe. Liberals' fundamentally different vision for America is completely at odds with that of our nation's founders, and with the views of most Americans today. Liberalism is an ideology; conservatism is common sense.
In most cases since then, the question before the Court concerned either prayer in public schools, or public assistance for sectarian (usually Catholic) schools. Just last year, the Supreme Court dodged on a technicality a case that would have removed "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance: ruling "under God" unconstitutional would have been deeply unpopular, but by the Court's own logic, there is no way to escape the conclusion it must go. The overarching impulse of the Court's position has been to drive religion from the public square, in the name of the constitutional principle "neutrality"--both among religions and between religion and irreligion.
Of course, the term "neutrality" does not appear in the US Constitution. This doctrine is a pure invention of the Court.
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Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.