Rick Santorum: A Senator Speaks Out on Life, Freedom, and Responsibility


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book is part of the "Modern American Statesmen Series," which re-publishes speeches from the Congressional Record. That means they select speeches which Santorum delivered on the Senate floor. There is no author and no editor; just an introductory note from the publisher (Monument Press) stating that they will cover numerous other candidates in the same non-partisan manner.

There's nothing exciting in this book; it's just the basics, on all the key issues, from speeches made in the period 1995 through 2005. We look forward to more in the series, and will excerpt them when they become available.

-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, OnTheIssues.org, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, Aug. 2011

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Abortion     Partial birth abortion should shock your conscience.     Protect any child born alive from botched abortion.     Responsible stem cell research doesn't destroy embryos.

Civil Rights     Same-sex marriage takes us away from purpose of marriage.     Leave marriage definition to state legislatures & the people.

Drugs     Bigger drug problem since welfare state started.

Education     More teachers & more funding just means more of the same.     Kids are trapped without choice in the public schools.     Teach about disagreements in biological evolution theories.

Government Reform     Campaign finance should be purely voluntary.

Homeland Security     Invest in our armed services' fundamental mission.

Principles & Values     We're plagued by tragedies when we turn our back on God.

Social Security     Let's grow the pie using private market system.     No privatization; but voluntary personal retirement accounts.

Tax Reform     Tax credits are for families who pay taxes.     Tax burden increases inequities & decreases savings.     Death should not be a taxable event.

War & Peace     Threat posed by Saddam is like drunk driver's threat to all.

Welfare & Poverty     You don't help people by making them dependent on you.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Rick Santorum

We re-excerpted this book now that Sen. Santorum is one of the frontrunners in the 2012 GOP Primary.

The former Senator is a Christian conservative, which means he focuses very heavily on social and moral issues such as abortion, anti-gay marriage, and church-state issues. Santorum is also an economic conservative, meaning he believes in lower taxes and trickle-down economics. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin also fit that class of conservative.

As of today, the four frontrunners for the GOP nomination exemplify several other classes of conservatives. Ron Paul is a libertarian, which means he supports economic conservatism but not social conservatism (he supports gay rights, for example). Newt Gingrich shares most of the same views as Santorum, but focuses on economic conservatism. Hence Gingrich SOUNDS less hard-core than Santorum on pro-life and anti-gay issues, but really the two agree on the issues, while disagreeing on what priority to assign them. Mitt Romney is a populist conservative, meaning he disagrees with Santorum both on priority and on some issues too.

Given that Gov. Romney is the GOP frontrunner and the other three top-tier candidates are vying for the non-Romney vote, Republican primary voters now face a clear choice: a libertarian conservative (Rep. Paul); an economic conservative (Speaker Gingrich); or a social conservative (Sen. Santorum). Our two-dimensional political analysis, differentiating social issues from economic issues, clarifies these distinctions.

-- Alan K. Jansen, OnTheIssues.org staff, Jan. 2012