In her most recent
column,
Ann Coulter criticizes
Rick Santorum
for being a faithful Catholic and not conservative enough for her liking. Here is a direct quote from Ann Coulter.
“Santorum is not as conservative as
his social-issues credentials suggest. He is more of a Catholic than a
conservative, which means he's good on 60 percent of the issues, but bad on
others, such as big government social programs.”
My response to Ann Coulter’s criticism of Rick Santorum:
In the interest of full disclosure, let me start off by saying
that I have never been a fan of Ann Coulter.
I have never ascribed to her brand of conservatism. In addition, I have always found her to be an
argumentative, arrogant, divisive, rude, and in general unlikable person. However, I believe that I can make an
objective response to her criticism of the presidential candidate whom I
support.
“Santorum is not as conservative as his
social-issues credentials suggest.”
Ann Coulter seems to concede that Rick Santorum is a strong
social-issues conservative. His strong
defense of traditional marriage and the protection of the unborn are well known
and unparalleled among his peers running against him in the Republican
Presidential Primary. He is passionately
pro-family and pro-life, and he is the only candidate who frequently makes the
connection between these most important social issues with the issue many
voters determine to be most important issue; the economy. He not only openly and publicly advocates for
these social issues, but he shows consistency by living these values in his
private life. He is the father of 7
children, the youngest of which suffers from a very serious condition called Trisomy 18, and he has been married to
his one and only wife of 21 years. I
have not met any of his children, but I have heard his oldest daughter and
oldest son interviewed and they appear to be very impressive young people. Rick Santorum and his wife, whom he humbly gives
most of the credit, have raised a very impressive, inspiring, and spiritually
strong family.
“He is more of a Catholic than a conservative,”
This is a little like comparing
apples to oranges. Catholicism is a
religion whereas conservatism is a political philosophy. A person can be both a faithful Catholic and have
a conservative political philosophy. The
two are not mutually exclusive, and in fact I would argue most often the two align
themselves together. However, Catholicism
does not align itself completely with any political party or political
philosophy. Catholicism is the
foundation for WHAT Rick Santorum
believes, and conservatism is the HOW
Rick Santorum believes government best addresses and preserves the “what” it is
he and his religion believes. Faithful
Catholics point toward the Nicene Creed
and the Catechism of
the Catholic Church as guides to what we believe as Catholics. Conservatism does not have such clear,
distinct, and universal guidelines, and therefore it is open to more
interpretation. There are many different
forms of conservatism as well; fiscal, social, etc. Apparently, Rick Santorum doesn’t fit into
Ann Coulter’s definition of conservatism.
I will discuss more on this later, but her above comment is more about a
comparison between the beliefs of Catholicism and conservatism. What drives Rick Santorum? I believe that Rick Santorum does place more
importance on being faithful to his religious beliefs than he does in politics
or political philosophy. He has proven
this in his private life, public life, and political career. He is not afraid to take politically
unpopular positions on issues that are very important to him, his family, and
his faith. As opposed to this being a
point of criticism and contention, I think this is one of the greatest reasons
to support Rick Santorum. His faith, not
a political party or philosophy, forms his beliefs. I believe many politicians and political correspondents
such as Ann Coulter make their political philosophy their religion. Not Rick Santorum, and to that I say bravo!
“Which means he's good on 60 percent of the
issues, but bad on others, such as big government social programs.”
I am not sure how Ann Coulter comes
up with the 60% number, but apparently she has an awful lot of criticisms of
the Catholic Church. Interestingly, her
father was Catholic. Ann herself is not
very religious; she says she has general Christian beliefs but that she does
not declare membership to any particular denomination. I only point this out to get some greater perspective
on her comments. Ann’s conclusion is
that Catholicism supports “big government social programs,” and leaves open the
inference that there are other complaints she has with Catholicism. The problem with Ann’s comment is that her
insinuation that Catholicism supports big government is untrue. As I noted earlier, the Church does not take
political sides. The Church is concerned
about the poor and vulnerable among us, but the Church remains neutral in how
best to serve the poor. Some faithful
Catholics may conclude upon their own deductions that big government social
programs are the best way to support the poor.
I would disagree. The great thing
about Catholicism is that this is perfectly ok.
You see, faithful Catholics can disagree on HOW to fix societal ills and
problems so long as we acknowledge and agree upon the problems themselves and
that our intentions to solve the problems are pure and real. Rick Santorum believes, as I do, that we can
best help the poor by empowering them as opposed to making them slaves to the
government through big social programs.
Rick Santorum’s record favorably supports his statements on limited
government. One of his greatest
achievements as a member of the U.S. Senate was welfare reform, which
encouraged poor people to work and helped lead to some of the lowest numbers of
poverty in United States history. Rick
Santorum’s concern for the poor is especially refreshing considering that his
party is often criticized for not caring about the poor. “Santorum's
driving interests: more efficient government and a keen interest in helping the
poor — the latter motivated in part by his devout Roman Catholic faith” – USA Today.
There are ways to help the poor, such as welfare reform, that are not at
odds with the conservative philosophy of limited government intervention.
In
my opinion, Ann’s characterization of Rick Santorum as a supporter of big
government social programs is a much distorted characterization of the man. It is also very hypocritical and ironic.
What makes Ann Coulter’s criticism
of Rick Santorum for not being conservative so hypocritical and ironic? She is endorsing perhaps the most liberal
Republican running for President; Mitt Romney.
Enough said.
God bless,
Mike
