Rick Santorum likes to talk about states’ rights. In January of this year, he expressed his belief that it was fully within a state’s right to outlaw birth control. When asked by an ABC News reporter about it he said that “A State has a right to do that. I’ve never questioned whether a State has a right to do that. It’s not a constitutional right. The state has the law…the right, to pass what ever statutes they have.”
Considering his strict adherence to Catholicism, it’s not surprising that his personal view would be against the use of contraception, but as a “conservative,” one would expect him to be a strong supporter of “individual liberty” and keeping government out of your personal business. State’s rights trump that in Santorum’s world. If a state’s legislature feels there should be no legal contraceptives, so be it. After all, birth control is not even mentioned in the constitution. No pill for you.
So, does Santorum apply this same logic to every issue not covered in the Constitution? Of course not, he’s a hypocritical right wing nut job!
This past week, Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed the state’s newly passed same sex marriage bill into law. The legislature, including a handful of Republicans, voted to assure equal rights for all of the citizens of the state. It was the day before Valentines Day, and a wonderful victory for love, partnership and egalitarianism. Under the logic that Santorum applies to birth control you would suppose, this move, although contrary to his personal view, would be respected. Not a chance.
When asked about it this week while in Tacoma,Washington, he declared that “I’ve just said I think this is a national issue that we can’t have 50 different marriage laws, and we have to have a consistency in what marriage is, and family is something. And, we need to have a national discussion about it and develop a national policy.” Oh, no state’s rights when it comes equal protection under the law for the gay community.
The whole problem with both of these examples is that is goes against the basic mantra of conservative individualism. In the case of birth control and women’s health, it is clear that Rick Santorum is totally fine with religious ideology being legislated and imposed on you. For a clearer idea of how this ideology works, look no further than billionaire and Santorum Super PAC funder Foster Friess. Today when asked about the birth control issue, he offered this gem: “Back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” This fits in nicely with Santorum’s views that women should be home raising families rather than pursuing careers, but I digress.
The state’s rights argument is only a thinly veiled disguise for spreading his right wing religious ideology on the population at large. We know this in fact because when a state passes a law that actually extends civil rights to a minority, and it is in opposition to his right wing religious ideology, he has no qualms suggesting that the federal government should make a law denying states the ability to decide. However, Santorum has absolutely no problem with a state taking away access to birth control, because it fits his religious views.
The reality is Rick Santorum is a bigoted, sexist, right wing zealot. Imagine how up in arms Tea Partiers would be if a person, whose ideology was not right wing conservative Christianity was trying to pick and choose, based upon religion, what states can rule on and what they cannot. If you are a Tea Partier, please explain this to me, because I don’t know how you justify this massive hypocrisy. Please!
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