Rick Santorum: A Dangerous, Small-Thinking Village Idiot

Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania and current GOP presidential wannabe, has now risen to the top of the “major idiot in the village” heap.

We’re fighting two wars, the economy is completely in the tank, unemployment is over 9 percent, wounded soldiers aren’t getting the care they need and this bozo is standing on his “I’ll die on that hill” in his fight against gay marriage and any federal dollars being spent on any type of contraception.

Oh man, get a clue. The whole argument that gay marriage will shake "the very foundation of our country, the family, what the family structure is going to look like" (his words) is bogus. The family structure isn’t what it used to be now. Sunday dinners at grandma’s are a thing of the past, the black and white picture of the 50s has long since turned into a wider, broader Technicolor world.

Santorum seems to believe it’s this “family structure” that has held the country together and any changes to that dated 50’s black and white screen is what has led to our economy woes and the apparent decline of our nation and probably the world in general. Oy. We evolve . . . sometimes for the better and sometimes not so much. Of course one could argue that things never really were all that great then, but they certainly seem more simple than today as we look back. It’s kind of like he’s living in the colorless world of Pleasantville.

Santorum’s rage against gays is obviously comparable to the rage years ago some people had against blacks and their civil struggle for equal rights. And Santorum’s anti anything “in the sexual realm,” including Planned Parenthood and contraception apparently means that if we don’t talk about it and deal with the issues then they simply don’t exist.  

I guess the larger issue (and Santorum is a small issue guy) is the thought that state-sponsored discrimination is bad. Why shouldn’t committed partners (gay or not), be allowed to visit loved ones in the hospital, buy real estate, apply for health insurance together, and on and on? He’s one of those guys who tries to bully everyone and then complains someone’s bullying him, as he did when Saturday Night Live did a bit poking fun at his anti-gay views.

I’ll admit I just don’t get it. I don’t get the energy spent on these issues and the time spent actively and openly discriminating against people, largely because they are different than what some feel is “normal.” People are different . . . live with it and move on. I do find it interesting, though, that people who preach less government want to change the Constitution to add a gay-marriage ban or alter laws regarding immigrants and their offspring. Government doesn’t belong in the bedroom, or many other places into which it creeps. Our forefathers are rolling in their graves at the small mindedness.

Rick Santorum is dangerous. He may have risen to the top idiot status among this crop of GOP hopefuls, but that not saying all that much. If this is the best we can hope for, then God help us all.

At a time when we need and are looking for leaders, the horizon seems woefully empty.