So perhaps you haven't heard of hard core conservative Rick Santorum, the Republican representative from Pennsylvania. Well if you haven't, let me just give you a run down of what Santorum feels are the really important issues of today;
He has compared religion and sexuality to virtue; aka, if you're a Christian heterosexual, you're golden. Anything else and you're on a downward spiral to hell, with no hope of raising good kids.
He has compared homosexuality to incest, pedophilia, and bestiality. Beyond that, he believes every child needs a mommy and a daddy, and that gay people are not capable of raising a virtuous good charactered kid. He believes marriage was created solely for men and women, and while trying to hide his religious undertone, claims all cultures and society hold marriage up as the "glue" of a family unit. So apparently gay people aren't allowed to "glue themselves" to a family unit.
He believes that birth control is bad, and that women shouldn't be privy to it. He believes that a law that says the government can't regulate the birth control of married couples was wrong, and that pharmasists and physicians have every right to deny a woman her medication. He believes birth control hurts the woman and the nation.
He believes women should not go to college nor get jobs. In his perfect world, everyone has enough money to sit in their lavish homes and bake cookies and play tag with their kids. He feels the mother has a responsibility to stay at home and raise a family, spend all her time with her kids and that people don't respect the stay at home mom.
He also believes the social security age should be raised to 70.
So, this is fabulous Republican Senator Rick Santorum. Let me breakdown some arguments for you:
On a resent episode of Jon Stewart, he sat down with the Senator. Jon, in his oh so fabulous way, made Santorum look like a jack ass. Firstyly, Jon stated
"You are connecting virtue to sexuality, and I don't. I don't connect virtue to religion either." To this, Santorum tried to laugh it off as if it wasn't true that he only viewed hetersexual Christians as virtuous.
The conversation went on about gay couples and in terms of marriage and children. Jon asked "why shouldn't gay couples be allowed to prove their love and raise a child in a loving environment?" Santorum's response, ever so conservative, was "there is a reason we've been doing marriage this way for so long". He went on to say that kids need both a mommy and a daddy (to where Stewart chimes in that he was raised by his mother). So Jon then asked "well if it comes down to a child being raised by a gay married couple who want this child more than anything, are capable of providing a great life for it, will love it and cherish it as it deserves to be, or go to a hetersexual family that has problems with adultery or alcoholism" and Santorum responded "but those are the best and worst case scenerios". No, Rick, that is reality. Santorum seems to think every heterosexual married couple loves each other and their kids whole heartedly and lives in a Leave it to Beaver type of world. The fact is, that IS the situation for many people, and quite frankly, I would much rather a child grow up in a loving family regardless of whether or not it had two dads or two moms, than live in an abusive family just so it grows up "normal". I think this was Santorum's fall on the show, Stewart ontinued to press him on the simple fact that he could not get a definitive answer on the gay situation, and that all of Santorum's ideas are based on the best case situation of families. And perhaps my favorite part of the segment was where Santorum was avidly trying to convince Jon that "marriage has been upheld through so many years for one reason". Jon then managed to get the argument in that "originally it was a property deal. at some point it shifted to a religious belief. sometime later, it was all about the husbad and his wants.". Santorum basically neglects to mention the evolution of the institution of marriage. As was mentioned, marriage wasn't always a "get married, show your love, have a great party, go on a honeymoon, have lots of sex, make babies, love each other for life" deal. Marriage was a bond between families, an inheritance of land and property, a connection between countries. Hello, has he ever read "Pride and Prejudice"? Youre telling me that marriages in the 18th century were purely out of love, had n othing to do with money or social class? Marriage has changed over the last, oh, 1000 years or so. And with the gay movement, it is changing again, as it should. There was a time black people couldn't be legally married. Shit changes for the better.
Next, let's deal with the birth control thing. Birth control is a neccessity, hands down. Approximately 10 million women are on it in America, including myself. And all types of women, teenagers who want to have safer sex, married women who want to enjoy their husband but not have kids right away, married women who are done having kids and waiting for a permanent proceedure, teenagers who have acne problems and irregular period cycles, women in their early 20s who are in a relationship who want to be safe while still enjoying their body, women who are out having as much sex as they can becaue they are young and want to. And somehow, Santorum sees birth control as the breakdown of our community, which, in his own words, leads to divorce, adultery, fatherless homes, etc. He does not see it as a responsible choice that helps limit the need for abortion, he does not see it as a responsible choice that helps limit the occurance of unwanted pregnancy among young women and teens. He does not see it as a means of helping prevent a pregnancy in a marriage at a time where the couple is not capable of supporting a child on their income. He sees it as something that "ruins women's sex drives". That's his argument! Well who cares, he doesn't want women having sex unless it's for babies anyway, that in itself ruins my sex drive. "You have sex, you definitely have to have a baby". mmm, I don't wanna have sex anymore. Instant mood killer. Sex is NOT just for procreation anymore. Hello, the world is overpopulating itself at a massive rate, there is no need to start screwing in order t pop out seve kids anymore. Sex has transitioned from reproductive neccessity to personal expression of intimacy over the years. But in his opinion, even married couples shouldn't have the right to have sex "just to have sex". He wanted a law to be passed saying the government could actually regulate the birth control of married couples. So if the government felt a year was too long to be having sex without getting knocked up, they could pull your BC plug and you'd either have to deal with getting pregnant or not have sex with your hubby. Great choice America. He says that birth control contributes directly to adultery, divorce, fatherless homes and sex out of wedlock. Yet, he is an avid supporter of Viagra. And what exactly does Viagra contribute to, tennis tournaments? I do believe Viagra makes men want to have sex, I don't think it makes men alway want to have sex with their wives, or used for the purpose of having sex with the person they married. Again, Santorum lives in his perfect bubble world. Last time I checked, I didn't live in a rerun of Father Knows Best.
As for the whohle women shouldn't be educated nor get jobs deal, I have to wonder if this ideed happens, will Santorum pick money out of his own campaign fund to help support the families who choose to let the mother stay home with the kids? Will Santorum directly make sure they don't end up on welfare because the father's income of 47,000 a year does not support the needs of him and his 4 children? The reality is, sure, it'd be great if all moms could stay home and NOT have to worry about financial issues, and spend more time with the kids. I'm not knocking the genuine goodness behind the idea that family is important. I'm knocking the fact that Santorum is diluded enough to think that majority of American families can afford that type of life. I don't think denying women proper education and allowing them to be self sufficiant is hindering our society. I think women should be able to go out and do what they want with their lives, and by all means, if you have the ability to be a stay at home mom, do it. I think it is a worthy job. But it is a job that does not help pay the mortgage, or car payments, or for the kids clothes. Perhaps because I grew up in a home where both my parents worked, but where my mother was still the biggest influence in my life, I don't feel it is neccessary for women to stay at home in order to raise good kids. I feel it is moe important for parents who work to find the time to still spend with their kids; like weekends, or making sure to go to school functions like concerts or plays, taking family vacations (even if it's just to the beach on the weekends), or even things as small as reading a few pages in a book everynight before bedtime. I think those are logical substitutes to staying home and baking cookies all day.
Finally, what I found most entertaining about Santorums motives, was his idea that culture is harming todays children. That shows and movies that allow cursing (like Jon Stewart) and violence and war are devistating, and the parents end up having to protect their kids from culture when they shouldn't. He feels that todays decline in religious support and support of "good values and virtues" is what makes society so bad today. Funny enough, Stewart asked him a great question. "Well, do you think the time of segregation as more of a cultural problem than our time of curse word movies and sexy tv shows?". Santorum didn't answer at first. Stewart went on to continue "because if you look at the 40s, 50s and 60s, so many people were like ra ra Christian, everybody should have good manners and morals and not curse and sex is bad only for marriage, and yet they'd lynch people and had such a hate for other people, that they were denied their own personal civil liberties in life. Don't you think it's funny that at that time people were so about propriety and politeness and the culture you wish we had, but still had this evil side that would deny human rights to people, but now in a culture where we more easily curse or show a nipple, we are more tolerant and expect equality?". Santorum basically said no. So in conclusion, Santorum would rather live in a time where segregation was allowed, but sex out of wedlock, cursing, and divorce were seen as taboo, than live in a time where there is no segregation and a lot more tolerence, but cursing, nipples, and sex are allowed to be in the media.
Seriously, if there are any people in PA on this site, PLEASE don't vote for this guy. He will do nothing for your communities but set you back 50 years and take away your rights to help realize his vision of living in a TVland rerun.
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The reason why people elect people like him is simple, they believe the alternative is better, most people dont vote for people because they belive they will do what is right, they vote because they are the lesser of two evils they have to choose.