Santorum Surging!
I had decided to vote for Rick Santorum in the Republican primaries. I didn’t care that he didn’t seem to have as much support as the others at first. The primaries are not a time to vote for the one you think everyone will vote for, but a time for Americans to show their honest opinion. He has been one to stand rock solid on what is right. The left has tried to smear his name with their own muck. But he’s a real American, a real conservative, a real family guy. A lot of people seem to be recognizing this now. I could hardly believe that he took 2nd place in Iowa! This unexpected, exciting turn of events puts Santorum in a very good spot. Let’s continue to pray that God would bless him with wisdom and favor and strength and peace. He was unable to get on the Virginia primary ballot (it’s unreasonably difficult) – but I don’t see why every Virginian wouldn’t write him in!
“Nothing about Rick Santorum’s rise to date has been expected or predictable”
“But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalm 75:7
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7
Great perspective – and great links too! I haven’t been keeping up with politics as much as I’d like to so I really appreciate these thoughts. The links were definitely worth the minutes it took to read over them. I feel a more on top of things again! Thank you!
A couple friends (who keep up with it better than I do) told me tonight that one thing they don’t like about Santorum is that he didn’t support the Right to Work issue, and they still think Ginrich is the best option.
Here’s a site that seems to give some actual facts and history, not just opinions about Santorum:
http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/Senate/Pennsylvania/Rick_Santorum/Views/Debt,_Deficit,_Spending,_and_the_Size_of_Government/
Those are wonderful verses that you shared at the end. The one from Jeremiah was one that I memorized for the Bible Bee, and came to love as I did so. Thank you for sharing!
I also like Ron Paul a lot. My feeling is that America is so far down the track of way-over-sized government that he would probably do the best job of getting things back into balance. That is, if Americans are willing to cooperate and embrace freedom and go to work. I was worried about his foreign policy regarding Israel and Iran, but I’m not as worried about it now. If he would allow Israel to deal with Iran as they see fit, and if he would help Israel (as an ally) if other nations were to gang up against her to prevent her from protecting herself, that might be good enough. It’s true that we cannot police the whole world. Ron is very pro military and if I remember right has stated that he would increase the strength of our military while reducing the obesity of the rest of the Fed. Furthermore, Ron Paul would be well checked and balanced by the House and Senate.
I like Santorum’s views of Iran better, but I’m also afraid Santorum might not do enough to put the federal government in its proper place like Ron Paul would.
Please state why you would support Rick Santorum who is Catholic over Rick Perry who is a Christian.
Also, include why you would support Ron Paul who would seek to legalize marijuana and other drugs and is a Libertarian, embracing many of that party’s liberal tenets.
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
John Jay
Hello Ingrid,
Good questions.
I do like Rick Perry a lot too. I was really tossing between Perry and Santorum at one point, but Perry’s ideas on free education for illegal aliens didn’t seem right. Then add to that his little mistakes in articulating his views to the public in the debate setting. He just didn’t seem to have what it takes. Maybe he’ll get this ironed out and run again.
To be president, you just have to have the right views on certain issues. I don’t know why some Christians oppose the right to keep and bear arms, or why some Christians believe abortion is OK, or why some Christians think the federal government has the right to force people to buy something they don’t want. Sadly, you cannot know what a person really believes based on their “Christianity”. I confess, I assumed that Santorum would confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came in the flesh to be the substitute sacrifice for our sins. I really did not search out his personal confession of faith. Maybe I should have – have you? From what I knew at the time I wrote the post, Santorum’s views lined up best with mine. But I can’t say that my knowledge is by any means complete.
Now about Ron Paul:
Is it the federal government’s job to make marijuana legal or illegal? Are the states untrustworthy to make that decision? I don’t necessarily agree with Ron Paul on everything, but I think I do on the most important things. It seems to me it’ll take someone like Paul to regain some kind of balance to our out-of-control federal government. Ron Paul may appear to hold liberal views at first glance, but he really just wants the federal government out of it. For instance, here are a couple of his quotes on the marriage issue:
Q: Will you support a federal marriage amendment, and what else will you do to protect the institution of marriage?
A: “I think the best thing the president can do is set a good example, and I would start with having been married 50 years, and proud of it. I believe, also, that I do not see any need for another constitutional amendment. I think we have fallen into a trap that we have to redefine marriage. We’re on the defensive, defining marriage. Why don’t you just tell them to look it up in the dictionary, to find out what a marriage says? For federal legal purposes, the Defense of Marriage Act is proper. It takes care of all the problems. If you have to have rules and regulations, put it at the state level, like the Constitution says. But you know, marriage only came about and getting licenses only came about in recent history for health reasons. Marriage is a church function. It’s not a state function. I don’t think you need a license to get married.”
Q: Many libertarians oppose laws against same-sex marriages, prostitution and illegal drugs. What is your view?
A: “If you believe in liberty, you are a libertarian. The best libertarians we’ve ever had in this country were our Founding Fathers. They believed in civil liberties, economic liberties, and they believed in a non-intervention foreign policy.
“But, the inference here about marriage, and prostitution, and drugs–they never addressed it. There’s no constitutional authority, to deal with those problems. But there’s no prohibitions for the states to do it.
“If you’re willing to use the strong arm of government to regulate things that are negative that you don’t like and you find abhorrent, you set the stage for regulating your religion, your schools, and everything else.
“The First Amendment wasn’t written to protect non-controversial speech. It was written to protect controversial speech, so we don’t lose our right to go to church and run our schools. This is key!”
Q: I was arrested, jailed, and was charged under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law. I faced up to 47 years in prison plus a $90,000 fine for attempting to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ at a homosexual pride event with those who are trapped in bondage to that lifestyle. If elected, can we count on you to veto any so-called “hate crimes” legislation?
Ron Paul: “Yes.”
Hope this helps,
Michael
Another thing I like about Paul: I had been thinking, “Why not make the sallary of the elected officials roughly the same as those they represent?” Then Ron Paul says he wants to cut the President’s own sallary from $400,000 to $39,336. Love it.
Thank you for writing this out this way Michael.
Michael,
Thanks for your reply. Here’s some more information on what my initial points were.
With regards to Rick Santorum being Catholic, here is a clip where he talks about that subject, mentioning a desire to “bring the truth of the Catholic teachings to the public square”.
Here is a link for his comments if you would like to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vke4bU2TVKU
As for Rick Perry, he may not be the best debater but he seems to be a principled man and one that fears God. Moses is a good example of one who didn’t speak well but led well.
Regarding illegal immigration, the bill that Rick Perry signed allowed children of illegals to pay the same tuition costs as in-state residents. It was not for free tuition. I don’t agree with him, but I can understand it. His position was that they are here because of their parents fault, not their own, thus it would be best to enable them to be skilled and productive.
Here is a quote from Perry about that issue:
ORANGE CITY, IOWA — Making his second stop in western Iowa, Rep. Texas Governor Rick Perry was confronted by a voter with questions about his immigration policy after a speech at the Blue Mountain Culinary Emporium in Orange City.
Fae Groff-Moritz from Remsen, Iowa asked the governor to explain what exactly in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants in Texas means.
“It’s not a free ride. Because the border has been porous, we have to deal with this issue as a governor of a state and the state has to deal with it,” Perry said.
“At that particular point in time, we have to make a decision. Are we going to have tax wasters or tax payers?” Perry said about the legislation.
Perry noted that the Texas legislature nearly unanimously passed the in-state tuition for illegal immigrants legislation in 2001.
“They had to pursue citizenship. At that particular point in time they would become taxpayers and be part of the skilled work force. If they didn’t,the state was probably going to pick up the cost of a substantial number of them because they’re unskilled. If anyone moves to the state of Texas and spends three years there, they’re eligible for in-state tuition so no free ride,” Perry said.
“It sounded like it when you were talking on TV,” Groff-Moritz said.
“Yes ma’am, sometimes in a one minute soundbite it’s hard to get all of that in,” Perry responded.
I generally can’t agree with the Libertarians. The differences become grave pretty quickly. In this case, it’s not about constitutional authority or states rights, it’s about what Ron Paul personally believes is right as a candidate for President. In other words this is not about whether the federal government or the states determine that drugs are legal or not, it’s that Ron Paul is personally okay with them being legal. He says that drug laws are the “second prohibition” and that it’s cruel to keep marijuana away from cancer and AIDS patients.
Concerning other rights, he would allow for gay marriage and adoptions by lesbians and gays and voted No on the “Don’t ask don’t tell” legislation. It seems he is for everyone’s rights and no one’s rights at the same time.
He has stated that America was to blame for the 9/11 attacks and also that there was “glee in the (Bush) administration when 9/11 happened because now we can invade Iraq”.
Most of his supporters are anti-war,pro-prostitution, pro-drug, pro-gay liberals. That to me is concerning.
Our founding fathers did not have in mind the personal freedom to do anything, it was the freedom to do right. We are endowed by our Creator with those freedoms and the role of the government is as ministers of good to punish the evil doer, not to protect them.
I’m not trying to be harsh but this guy just seems dangerous to me.
Here are the links for his 9/11 comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jwUCXDh_sI&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6x3RxPEeaE&feature=player_detailpage
Ingrid
I too think Ron Paul is great on domestic issues. But any one who even gives a thought to the “truther” stuff I question.