A review I posted on Free Republic:
As is well-known to anyone who peruses Free Republic with any regularity, Senator Rick Santorum is headed for the political fight of his life in 2006. The lame-stream media has giddily reported polls showing him down 15-25% to challenger Bob Casey, Jr. and the homosexual lobby is already dancing on Senator Santorum's political grave--almost literally--a full year out from the election.
Sadly, even some here on FR have risen to the media bait, calling him a RINO who needs to be "taught a lesson" because he backed Arlen Specter in 2004 over primary challenger Pat Toomey. I personally think Rick was wrong to do this as well--I would have preferred that he at least remain neutral.
But it's pure idiocy for a conservative to stop supporting Senator Santorum for one questionable political decision. This is a man with an 87 lifetime rating from the ACU and one of the most outspoken and articulate members of Congress on the issues of Life and traditional marriage. Compared to the waffling losers who make up the majority of the Republican delegation in the U.S. Senate, Santorum is a font of creative ideas, fresh thinking, and clarity.
To get a better idea of the man and his positions, I encourage all Freepers to read Santorum's book, It Takes a Family.
A century ago, Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is in the life of the family, upon which in the last analysis the whole welfare of the nation rests....The nation is nothing but the aggregate of the families within its borders.” Santorum, has expanded upon TR’s sage wisdom in his book, It Takes a Family. Obviously, the title of this book has positioned it as a direct response to It Takes a Village the Big Government playbook by Senator Hillary Clinton.
It Takes a Family is a wide-ranging, thoughtful examination of the American social, moral, and intellectual landscape. Santorum’s basic thesis is that the liberal/libertarian vision for America of “No-Fault freedom” is resulting in the squandering of our heritage of social, moral, cultural, and intellectual capital. Yet, Santorum’s book is not simply a laundry list of liberal ideological and policy failures. Indeed, in an effort to be fair-minded, Santorum goes out of his way to call out some of the more liberal members of the Senate who have helped craft truly effective legislation. The book is one of those rare works that goes beyond naked partisan criticism to propose constructive and creative solutions to present and looming dilemmas.
Santorum’s work also serves as an effective apologia for the cultural conservative political agenda. Too often, Republicans are seen as little more than “cheap Democrats.” No one can accuse Senator Santorum of being part of that caucus. While he very clearly does not believe in Big Government as the solution to every problem, he recognizes that the federal and state governments can help by encouraging objectively good behavior and citizenship and discouraging destructive behavior. He is a firm proponent of the Catholic principle of subsidiarity—the philosophy of social policy that says that the fulfillment of human needs should be accomplished at the lowest possible level, and that state and federal level should assume such responsibility only as a last resort. This completely turns on its head the neo-Marxist philosophy of Big Government as the solution to every problem, no matter how small, and yet is not the anarcho-libertarian ideal of the best government is no government at all. Thus, Santorum believes that the majority of social issues plaguing the United States begin and may be solved at the most basic community level: the family.
As expected, the most effective section of Santorum’s book is that which deals with the grave moral evil of abortion. Santorum’s passion and unambiguous pro-life position comes through in his compelling description of his role as floor leader during the partial-birth abortion debates in the US Senate over the past 10 years. His recounting of his wife’s own miscarriage and the effect the debates had on one young couple in particular—who decided not to abort their baby after watching on C-SPAN—were enough to bring tears to the eyes.
I found the chapter entitled the Rule of Judges to be similarly effective, providing a concise history of how federal and state judges have gradually usurped the role of the elected legislative branches to eliminate laws that have been in place for hundreds of years and create and impose new “rights” out of thin air. This chapter should be required reading for every American who is concerned about the extra-constitutional role the federal courts have assumed over the past 40 years which have allowed pornography, abortion, and sodomy to become civil rights while all but banishing God from the public square—all without a single vote on these issues ever being cast by the people or their elected representatives.
Rick Santorum is perhaps unique among the Senate for his passion, creativity, and devotion to the traditional ideals which have helped Western civilization, and America in particular, develop and flourish. Few of the bloviators and self-important gas bags currently inhabiting that august body could have produced a book of this depth and clarity. That said, it is his very passion, clarity of vision, and his interest in lifting up traditional Democratic constituencies (union workers, underserved minority groups, low income families, African-Americans, etc.) that have made Santorum Public Enemy #1 to the hard left. Both Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer have been made to look foolish and extremist in debates against Santorum on the floor of the Senate and national left-wing groups will be pouring unprecedented amounts of money into the 2006 campaign to defeat him.
It would truly be a shame if the people of Pennsylvania allowed themselves to be swayed by this influx of partisan capital and a liberal media that is bound and determined to see Senator Santorum out of a job come 2006. Having read It Takes a Family, I firmly believe that if every family in Pennsylvania read this book, Santorum would be re-elected in a land-slide.
