In the dust-up over contraceptive coverage, Rick Santorum–along with a number of other GOP (male) elected officials–has condemned the Obama administration’s “assault” on “religious liberty.” This charge has produced some truly ludicrous moments; yesterday, for example, the news was filled with photos depicting the witnesses at a trumped-up congressional hearing into the pernicious effects on religious liberty of the requirement that health insurers cover contraception. The witnesses were all male.
But Santorum easily wins my vote for the most audaciously irony-challenged of these protectors of religious liberty.
Santorum is one of those Christian Nation folks who believes that his religious beliefs should dictate public policy; in his 15th-Century view, violations of religious liberty occur when the law fails to follow his version of God’s plan. Santorum’s God doesn’t like gay people, so Santorum believes the law should deny GLBT folks basic civil liberties, let alone the right to marry. Santorum’s God doesn’t believe in abortion, so no one else should be able to have one, no matter how dire the circumstances or how different that woman’s own belief system.
And with respect to contraception, as a fellow Catholic recently wrote:
“This confluence of politics and religion brings me right to Santorum’s public policy opposition to contraception. In his public (and apparently private) life, Santorum has, in effect, hewed to the Vatican line that so-called “artificial” contraception constitutes an “unnatural” frustration of the natural end of the sex act. But, like most good politicos Santorum hides his Catholic animus to contraceptive rights. Notably, he takes cover in legalisms. He opposed Griswold v. Connecticut—the judgment guaranteeing contraceptive right to married couples—because he disagreed with the Court that right of privacy exists in the Constitution. Beyond its cramped legalism, I find this maneuver devious. Santorum dare not say what truly moves him in this debate—namely his unswerving loyalty to the Vatican’s proscription of “artificial” methods of birth control and family planning as against nature.”
During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Santorum consistently voted to impose his own religious views on others, and he is admirably forthright about his intentions to “Christianize” America should he be elected President. He is breathtakingly oblivious to the true meaning of religious liberty. (Hint, Rick: religious liberty means that you are entitled to live in accordance with your beliefs, but others are equally entitled to live by theirs.)
I am rooting for a Santorum Presidential candidacy. He is the perfect embodiment of today’s GOP base. If Romney is the nominee, and gets crushed, the Republican base will simply conclude he wasn’t conservative enough. A Santorum-Obama contest would allow the general public to send a decisive and needed wake-up message to the culture warriors who have captured one of America’s major political parties.
My bigger question is how the hell did the culture warriors take over the GOP anyway? Whatever happened to the days when Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neil could sit down over whiskey and cigars? I never thought I’d say it, but I miss Bob Dole. I may have disagreed with him, but he understood that there’s a country to run.
My guess is that the GOP went with “God, guns, and gays” starting with GW Bush. His supporters rallied their base (the culture warriors) and it’s worked for them for a while now. It has become even more twisted and distorted over time into what we have today. As my friend Ann says, “Their motto is ‘I have the truth in MY pocket and God is on MY side’.”
In the early 1970s, while Richard Nixon was still President, Phillip Roth published a book or long article featuring Richard Nixon as the great protector of the rights of the unborn. It seemed to be satire, but apparently the artist knew a lot more than I did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang_(novel).
On the subject of contraception and religious freedom, it seems to me that it is the conservatives who are violating their own principles by wanting to enforce the Catholic Church’s dogma by use of government power. All the government is currently doing is making it available, via employer-sponsored health insurance, and the INDIVIDUALS make their own choice. If the Catholic Church cannot get its own members to follow its dogma on this subject, that is the Church’s problem, not that of the rest of us.