The wife of a close friend of mine returned from lunch with an older, female, Tea Party supporter and immediately had to tell me all about it.
“She was 100% a Santorum supporter,” my friend’s wife said.
I of course am fascinated by this, so I couldn’t wait to find out two things. “Why?” and, “Did she stay that way?”
You see, my friend’s wife is a no nonsense, salt of the earth, Catholic Tea Party heroine. She’s one of those women without whom the Early West would have ended up as a an American version of Afghanistan. You know, like inner city Detroit, Michigan or the boarded up parts of Kansas City. Those women were as strong as the men, diligent to a fault and made sure that basic values of goodness, hard work and integrity defined their progeny.
“Her entire support for him was about religion. When I asked her what Santorum had actually accomplished to make her think he should/could be President, her example was that he helped stop gay marriage from being stopped and adopted in some state.”
I’ve noticed an inordinate number of religious-ists who continue to present two arguments for Santorum. Namely:
- He’s a good Christian man of strong moral character, and,
- Newt Gingrich cheated on his wives
My friend has another view:
“They are mostly gullible, fairly unintelligent religious women.”
I would add that they have an unreasonable fear of trusting men. Or perhaps an unreasonable fear of trusting God’s grace. My friend went farther. Having studied psychology, she had a profile including:
- Religious/Very Moral
- Married to Wimpier Type Husbands
- Submissive
She continued, “When I asked what that had to do with stopping Obama or turning the economy around she replied, only that, ‘it was a very important issue.’”
For the record, PolitiJim is a social Christian conservative. You will find downloads and videos on my site of sermons I’ve given from church pulpits. I’m no fiscal-only conservative or RINO. But, I personally think Santorum supporters whose basis of support is his spirituality are absolutely insane. (I also share their concern for our culture – but know as a former heathen rebel, more “law” and condemnation of sin doesn’t change minds.)
My friend’s wife pointed out to this extremely nice conservative lady that A) A President couldn’t pass a Federal anti-gay marriage Amendment, only the states could, and B) that had nothing to do with the top 20 most important functions of a President. She AGAIN asked this lady what had Santorum had done to turn any economy around, get rid of government programs or unravel the messes of BOTH Bush and Obama?
“I don’t know how Santorum has done it, but he has completely hoodwinked these people into thinking religion is the #1 issue facing our country. She finally agreed that the economy and government control over EVERYTHING was the biggest threat our country faced. When I asked her who would do the most damage to kicking liberals out of Washington she looked like she was shocked at her own answer. Newt Gingrich.”
As I’ve been writing in my series called, Santorum Lovers Unwilling To Soberly Syllogize, I think it is great that Sanorum isn’t afraid to talk about his faith and that he has seven children including a special needs little beauty named Bella. NONE of that qualifies him to be President. Nor does talking about his platform to ban porn, or keep talking about issues like contraception and the spirituality of others like JFK. I tend to look for spiritual leaders like Billy Graham or former child TV stars like Kirk Cameron to do those things.
I contend you are not a REAL Christian if you can’t forgive Newt Gingrich for affairs he had that were not products of serial womanizing. Newt was an insecure child of the Woodstock generation, a broken family himself, who did not use good judgment in committing to two women who both have been documented by third parties to NOT be women conducive to the role of a traditional “help meet.” Jesus put it differently, (PolitiJim Bible Translation) “If you don’t forgive Newt, Jesus’s Daddy won’t forgive you.” (The lesser known, traditional version here.)
Now forgiveness doesn’t mean making yourself vulnerable to people who have not TRULY repented, or demonstrated new habits. I can forgive my teenager who has beer at a party and drives home, but I’d be a terrible parent if I didn’t wait for signs of responsibility to manifest before letting them drive again. In Gingrich’s case he has not only publicly repented, but by the accounts of EVERYONE from Moral Majority founder Paul Weyrich and far right Baptists Don Wildmon and Tim LaHaye who know him – as well as his immediate family – he is a “changed” man.
What about Santorum? Is adultery worse than lying, greedy and unscrupulous politics that was called “unprincipled” by the backbone of the Tea Party in Pennsylvania in 2006? Does talking about “religion” make him any better of a person than Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, or Jimmy Swaggert if his personal example of declaring he is a principled, pro-life candidate while not just endorsing – BUT CAMPAIGNING FOR an openly pro-partial birth abortion candidate?
Why does that make Rick a more “righteous” candidate? Or have ANYTHING to do with skills it takes to be President? Or getting elected?
Do these religious supporters suppose that simply being against gay marriage and being President will somehow change the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS who now support it?
The numbers show clearly that votes don’t follow religious issues. I suspect this is why DailyKos, MoveOn.org and liberal media are gleefully pushing “Operation Hillarity” knowing how quickly they can get the national media to make Rick Santorum an even bigger joke than Dan Quayle.
Unfortunately, just as those sensitive to race were dead wrong in thinking that Obama would HELP race relations, the truth is that Santorum’s approach as a fire brand preacher will end up dividing Americans even more, not winning them to his cause.
And it certainly isn’t helpful to getting those who ARE willing to embrace a conservative approach to the economy. Most people don’t divide allegiance by ISSUE. Conservatives won’t quickly trust a bill
co-sponsored by Frank, Pelosi or Reid even if it was to put prayer back in school.
The most gratifying thing about this discussion between this conservative saint and my friend’s wife was that by the end, impressions had changed. Even if she still wanted to still believe Rick is the most righteous of Presidential race runners, it will mean nothing if he doesn’t have the skill or persuasive skills to get everyone focused on Regan Revolution 3.0.
