Rick Santorum: Fraud, Bigot, Awful Human Being.

Rick Santorum

I would like to start by saying that the views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily that of the rest of the ZazenLife.com team.

It was my hope that it would not be necessary to write this article, but since the mainstream media is willing to focus their attention on anyone who isn’t Ron Paul, and several otherwise intelligent people I know have spoken highly of Mr. (I refuse to call him Senator) Santorum, the article became necessary.

Mr. Santorum has described himself as “the most conservative candidate in the race” as well as “espousing the platform of the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.” Indeed?! Let’s proceed to blow that theory out of the water with a seemingly unending supply of ammunition, as outlined below.

I mean, this guy calling himself a conservative takes balls the size of cantaloupes. Rick Santorum is to conservative as Lil’ Wayne is to good music, or the Twilight series is to quality literature, or Ben Affleck is to acting, or as the Mets are to a skilled baseball team. But, I digress.

Fraud

1. Voted to raise the debt ceiling 5 times. (He did vote against it once.)
2. Voted to create a brand new, unfunded entitlement, Medicare Part D, the largest expansion of entitlement spending since President Lyndon Johnson – creating $16 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities.
3. Voted to create the Department of Homeland Security–another inefficient government bureaucracy, destined to be remembered as the beginning of the end of Americans’ civil liberties.
4. Voted to create, and extend, the Patriot Act, surely the most ironically named piece of legislation ever passed. This ramped up the stripping of rights from American citizens and ultimately ended up setting the stage for Fuhrer Obama to sign the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, which voids the Bill of Rights and allows for the indefinite detainment without charges or trial of American citizens.
5. Voted for $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea
6. Despite considering himself both a conservative and pro life, campaigned heavily for RINO Arlen Specter in 2004, who was admittedly neither of those, against a true conservative (and later Tea Party favorite) Pat Toomey. Toomey was defeated, and Specter soon changed his party affiliation to Democrat. Specter became the filibuster-proof vote on Obamacare, ramming that unconstitutional bill through Congress over the objections of a clear majority of the American people.
7. Voted to allow illegal aliens to receive Social Security benefits, while at the same time voting against hiring 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents.
8. Is the ultimate Washington insider: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named him among the 3 most corrupt Senators in 2005 and 2006 for using his office to financially benefit those who had contributed to his campaign.
9. Within weeks of leaving Congress, became a “stealth lobbyist” representing interests such as hydrofracking and a medical conglomerate that stands accused of defrauding the federal government.
10. Frequently stated that he does not believe a “right to privacy” exists under the Constitution, even within marriage; he has been especially critical of the Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which held that the Constitution guaranteed the aforementioned right, and on that basis, overturned a law prohibiting the sale and use of contraceptives. He has described contraception as “a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” In other words, he believes it in government’s place to tell you what you can and cannot do in your bedroom.
11. Is a free-spending warmonger, who voted for the Iraq War and supports the pre-emptive bombing of Iran. 
12. Campaigned heartily for anti-gun zealots Christie Todd Whitman and Arlen Specter.

BIGOT

Santorum is arguably the most rabidly anti-gay politician I have ever seen. Among his many idiotic statements:

““In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.” Yeah, you read that right. He just put gay relationships on the same level as bestiality.

“Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up for marriage, defending the right of children to have moms and dads, to be raised in a loving environment? That is what this debate is all about.” Here he is comparing the war on gay marriage to the war on terror.

“This is an issue just like 9-11, we didn’t decide we wanted to fight the war on terrorism because we wanted to. It was brought to us. And if not now, when? When the supreme courts in all the other states have succumbed to the Massachusetts version of the law?” Holy Crap! Yes, you read that correctly! Gay marriage is exactly like 9/11!

“[Gay marriage] threatens my marriage. It threatens all marriages. It threatens the traditional values of this country.” You hear that everybody? When there are problems in your marriage, just blame the gays!

My personal favorite is accompanied by this awesome video, where Santorum gets PWNED by Fox News on the issue of gays in the military:

I love that he uses the EXACT same comments that racist generals in 1941 used against including blacks in the military. Dude, you never served in the military, and are ALL too willing to send other peoples’ kids, gay and straight, to go die in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, so STFU!

Along with all of the above, another huge problem I have with this complete and utter empty suit is his position on medical marijuana and the drug war in particular. On January 5th, 2012, he was asked a question by a member of SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy) . Whoever this kid is, he is my hero.

I can’t watch it without getting so mad my ears turn red. The gall of this small-minded, corrupt con-man to look this kid in the eye like he is batshit insane and blatantly LIE to his face that the “federal government doesn’t do that?” Oh, really? Tell that to some of the people in this article. Also, if the federal government doesn’t do that, then why were you able to vote FOR increased penalties for crack and meth offenses in 1999?

I mean, c’mon. Who can still possibly be in favor of the war on drugs? How can anyone not look around and tell me we wouldn’t immediately be better off  to stop pouring this money down the drain and into something that might benefit this country? As of this writing, that drug war spending clock was closing in on 900 million dollars, and we are only a week into January!

Scarcely anyone nowadays can say that medical marijuana supporters are few and far between. As recently as November 2011, this poll shows roughly 75 percent of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana. Not my man Rick, though: At the Ames, Iowa straw poll, he was quoted as saying “medical marijuana would not be consistent with American values.” That’s funny, since by Mr. Santorum’s own admission, he indulged in pot in college, but asserts past pot-smoking doesn’t mean he’s now being hypocritical on the subject because “it’s not hypocrisy, as long as you don’t say, ‘I thought it was right, and think it was wrong.” Actually, that’s EXACTLY what hypocrisy is.

Say No To Santorum

In synopsis, Rick Santorum represents everything that is wrong with American politics: he is way too free with other people’s money, he believes that government has the right to run every facet of your life, and has no problem getting us in wars halfway across the world in which we have no business. He is a political insider, trading pay for play, caring not a whit for the good of the American Taxpayer. He is an anti-gay bigot, and a hypocrite of the highest order. Americans deserve better.