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One of the funniest things to be said in the political world over the last few days was Rick Santorum’s complaint that he’s not interested in starting some sort of culture war:
Rick Santorum on Tuesday stood by comments he made in 2008 about Satan attacking the United States, telling reporters here that he is going to “stay on message” and continue to talk about jobs, security, and “taking on forces around this world who want to do harm to America.”
This is the same Rick Santorum, of course, who’s been running around the country claiming the president is the apostle of a “phony theology” who is determined to stamp out the practice of Christianity, not to mention basic American liberties.
Conservative U.S. News blogger Scott Galupo calls B.S. on the dishonest attempts to pretend a separation between cultural and economic issues on the Right:
Since the firestorm over contraception and religious freedom erupted, there seems to be some kind of consensus that the “culture war” has returned to the fore of American politics. The consensus is wrong. The culture war never stopped….
Out of political convenience or cultural distance, Beltway conservatives refuse to see this: Hardcore conservative opposition to Obama has always been cultural and theological. The pop-theological mainstream of American evangelicals has so thoroughly assimilated the ideal of American capitalism that any deviation, however modest, from it is tantamount to radical godless humanism. And, in an extension of an older intradenominational debate, conservative Catholics like Santorum deeply mistrust the ideal of “social justice” as championed by the Catholic left.
Bingo. Opposing “big government” and “socialism” has for most conservatives become a stance that combines cultural and economic concerns in a virtually seamless web. That’s most apparent with the Tea Folk, whose endless citations of the Declaration of Independence as the most important document in U.S. history are typically motivated by what they consider a fundamental, “American-exceptionalist” charter for Christian nationalism and fetal personhood and absolute property rights. In terms of the conservative diagnosis of what’s wrong with the country, it’s very difficult to separate the worthless deadbeat dad from the worthless “lucky ducky” welfare parasite and election-stealing ACORN client; just as it’s hard, at the other end of the spectrum of targets, to separate the baby-killing feminist from the job-killing environmentalist or the America-hating socialist.
I wish I could believe that when conservatives talked about the “economy” or “jobs,” they really were motivated strictly by their tutoring in Austrian economics or their experience talking to small entrepreneurs; perhaps some are. But all too often, scratch a “fiscal conservative” and you’ll find a culture-warrior of one sort or another right under the surface.
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j on February 23, 2012 4:24 PM:
Any info on the massive 15 trillion dollar fraud announced
in the British house of lords, involving Bush, the Fed and European banks?
Hannah on February 23, 2012 4:39 PM:
"worthless deadbeat dad": you're referring to Rep. Joe Walsh, right?
In a recent conversation with a conservative (religious) relative, we discovered that we both agreed that the US needs to spend more on infrastructure.
When I added: and get the funds by cutting the military (meaning unneeded programs and wars, not for care of and pay to personnel), he retorted, "No, social programs". I was too astounded to respond "Yep, that's what Jesus preached - abandon the widows and orphans and the 'least of these'". Or I could have responded 'speaking of social programs, welfare if you will, how about cutting handouts to war profiteers?'.
I'll betcha Santorum and my relative just think "illegals" and "lazy people" as to who is receiving help through social programs (though I should have also asked my relative about his parents who are on Medicare and Social Security). I want to ask if they realize that children, through no fault of their own, are most hurt. And the elderly and the disabled.
Al B Tross on February 23, 2012 4:47 PM:
"scratch a “fiscal conservative” and you’ll find a culture-warrior of one sort or another right under the surface."
Scratch any "Conservative" and underneath you always will find an Authoritarian.
Has "culture warrior" become the PC version of Authoritarian? C'mon Kilgore, call'em what they are!!
Trollop on February 23, 2012 4:49 PM:
I've never seen a culture war that didn't backfire. Ol' Sarah Santorum here is giddy with CW! I believe that his/her days are numbered and that this schtick hasn't worked since the 80's.
J on February 23, 2012 4:56 PM:
Ed. please go to the Veterans today website and interpret
the information given there for mere mortals!
Shane Taylor on February 24, 2012 8:15 AM:
Dead right. Remember what Alan Keyes said:
"I believe that it is absolutely clear, in everything the Founders did, that they intended the Declaration to be a bridge between the Bible and the Constitution--between the basis of our moral faith and the basis of our political life."
"The Declaration constitutes a definition of the source and limits of our freedom.
"The source is God. And the limits are quite clearly defined: we cannot use the freedom in such a way as to claim unto ourselves the authority which is the basis of our freedom. It makes it very clear, very simple."
http://www.keyesarchives.com/transcript.php?id=34
ThatTallGuy on February 24, 2012 9:04 AM:
I'm sorry, I believe Rick Santorum when he says he doesn't want to start a culture war.
He wants all of us to accept his theocratic rule without a second thought. Presto, no war.