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Does Rick Santorum Believe in the Nanny State?
Godfather Politics ^ | February 17, 2012 | Gary DeMar

Posted on 02/18/2012 12:12:48 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I don’t gamble, unless you count investing in stocks gambling. I visit Las Vegas at least once each year. I’ve never put a penny in a slot machine, played Black Jack, or spun a roulette wheel. I take advantage of inexpensive hotel rooms (Mon. thru Fri.), great food, shopping, and magic shows. The Hoover Dam is a great visit as well as a number of museums.

Don’t forget the pawn shops. The pawn shop is the best friend of gamblers who don’t know when to quit and need enough money for their flight back home. If you ever pass through Las Vegas, be sure to visit the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24-hour family business operated by the Harrison family, in downtown Las Vegas. You can see them on Pawn Stars on History.com. You can learn a lot of history. Really.

But let’s get back to the gambling. While I don’t gamble, I don’t want to pass laws prohibiting other people for gambling. It’s their money. Just don’t ask me to bail you out if you go broke. During a recent interview with Jon Ralston, Rick Santorum said the following:

I’m someone who takes the opinion that gaming is not something that is beneficial, particularly having that access on the Internet. Just as we’ve seen from a lot of other things that are vices on the Internet, they end to grow exponentially as a result of that. It’s one thing to come to Las Vegas and do gaming and participate in the shows and that kind of thing as entertainment; it’s another thing to sit in your home and have access to that it. I think it would be dangerous to our country to have that type of access to gaming on the Internet.

Freedom’s not absolute. What rights in the Constitution are absolute? There is no right to absolute freedom. There are limitations. You might want to say the same thing about a whole variety of other things that are on the Internet — “let everybody have it, let everybody do it.” No. There are certain things that actually do cost people a lot of money, cost them their lives, cost them their fortunes that we shouldn’t have and make available, to make it that easy to do.

This might explain why billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans to give another $10 million to Newt Gingrich’s campaign.

It’s Santorum comments in the second paragraph in his above remarks that are the most troubling. This is the way liberals think and get laws passed to take care of us. The following comments from my friend Mark Horne are worth considering:

I think “Nanny Statism” is the right word. Children are supposed to be taken care of by adults. The idea is that some day they will grow up and make their own decisions and bear their own consequences.

But there is a “never never land” view of politics, both on the Left and the Right, that says people are never supposed to grow up. They have to be constrained and watched to protect them from themselves and to protect “society” from negative spillover.

Go to the book of Proverbs and ask if Solomon thought it was in his job description as king to protect fools from their folly by coercing behavior and eliminating the consequences. He seems to think that, if a fool won’t listen to wisdom, then he will become an object lesson for others by the suffering and ruin he brings upon himself.

Instead of a nanny we need a wise teacher who warns us of what will happen to us if we give ourselves up to vice. Ridding society of vice is a program that will rid us of freedom and maturity, but probably leave vice intact.

When will so-called conservatives learn? “The good parent prepares his children for independence, trains them to make responsible decisions, knows that he harms them by not helping them to break loose. The paternal state thrives on dependency. When the dependents free themselves, it loses power. It is, therefore, parasitic on the very persons whom it turns into parasites. Thus, the state and its dependents march symbiotically to destruction.”[1]

  1. Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction, 184.


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KEYWORDS: gambling; internet; nannystate; ricksantorum
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1 posted on 02/18/2012 12:12:57 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Eric Blair 2084; SheLion; Gabz; Hank Kerchief; 383rr; libertarian27; traviskicks; bamahead; CSM; ...

Internet gambling Nanny State PING!


2 posted on 02/18/2012 12:14:52 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Occupy DC General Assembly: We are Marxist tools. WE ARE MARXIST TOOLS!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
No he didn't.

Latest Poll

Saturday, February 18

2012 Republican Presidential Nomination Gallup Tracking

Santorum 35, Romney 29, Gingrich 13, Paul 11 Santorum +6


3 posted on 02/18/2012 12:15:27 PM PST by CainConservative (Santorum/Huck 2012 w/ Newt, Cain, Palin, Bach, Parker, Watts, Duncan, & Petraeus in the Cabinet)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Don’t be silly, Rick Santorum hates puppy dogs.

Oh wait, that’s Romney.


4 posted on 02/18/2012 12:16:28 PM PST by Cringing Negativism Network ("The door is open" PALIN 2012)
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To: FReepers
The funds raised in these FReepathons go to pay our current quarter expenses. But we're also going to try to replace some of our older servers and failing equipment this year so we're going to add a little extra to our FReepathon goals. John is estimating ten to fifteen thousand to do this and I'd like to get it all in place and working before the election cycle is fully heated up, so we'll try to bring in a little extra now, if we can, and the rest next quarter.

Jim Robinson



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5 posted on 02/18/2012 12:17:15 PM PST by onyx (SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC, DONATE MONTHLY. If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, let me know.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Nanny state? Not exactly. More like a puritanical theocracy.

Cotton Mather for president.

6 posted on 02/18/2012 12:40:36 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
http://www.uscatholic.org/culture/social-justice/2011/01/papal-prescription

In fact Pope Benedict joined WHO’s call for universal health coverage just before its report hit the press. He called health care a moral responsibility of government and an “inalienable right,” regardless of social and economic status or ability to pay. He cautioned that the privatization of health care should “not become a threat to the accessibility, availability, and quality of health care.”

I sure would love to hear if Santorum agrees. We already have a 'social justice' president, why change horses? Oh and for the tender footed Santorum supporters answer the question. I support Newt, not Romney's ticket mate.

7 posted on 02/18/2012 12:41:10 PM PST by Just mythoughts (Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Attempting to impose one’s own personal morality and religious rituals on a free people is Nanny Statism. Better to follow the Ten Commandments in harmony with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

We must elect a true conservative & proven problem solver for POTUS - not a wannabe Pope. People of faith already have vicars, priests and pastors to guide them in their daily lives....which is not a Government function.

.


8 posted on 02/18/2012 12:45:24 PM PST by sodpoodle ( Newt - God has tested him for a reason...... to bring America back from the brink.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Well Rick Santorum does want to throw American men in jail for porn, which is a feminist indicant.

http://ziprage.com/news/national/rick-santorum-pledges-to-ban-porn-same-sex-marriages/

Big-government conservatives often fall in line with liberal feminists in how they deal with society. The fall of the male in America has much to do with the feminist shaping of society and the killing of civilization by displacing men as the primary social-shapers and bread-winners. This came to a head in the 60’s with woman’s rights and contraceptives. I’m not against equal rights, btw, but am against the displacement of gender roles.

But many conservatives misunderstand Rick Santorum’s positions. He is a big government/big-spending “conservative.” Whatever that means. He has voted to subsidize Planned Parenthood in the past. He is PERSONALLY against contraceptives (well he says he is, but he considered it in the case of one of his wife’s complicated pregnancies), which is what this entire media parade has been about. His actions and votes have indicated IS NOT always against contraceptives being used for the public, but conservatives are blindly ascribing their values to whatever Santorum says even when those values do not add up. Santorum is not as conservative as far as policy goes as he lets on. He is just another slick-talking, double-talking politician.


9 posted on 02/18/2012 12:48:02 PM PST by Force of Truth (Intelligence and virtue are preferable in a candidate, but I'd much rather he or she be chinchy.)
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To: sodpoodle

>>>>>Attempting to impose one’s own personal morality and religious rituals on a free people is Nanny Statism. Better to follow the Ten Commandments in harmony with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

We must elect a true conservative & proven problem solver for POTUS - not a wannabe Pope. People of faith already have vicars, priests and pastors to guide them in their daily lives....which is not a Government function.<<<<<<<<<

Conservatism is about transformation of mind not psychological conformity and physical coercion. Conservatives value the 10th amendment, which means the states get to decide some moral positions. It’s not exactly libertarianism, but then again, it’s not a national theocracy or liberal secularism. There is a balance to be sought in government. A police state of any kind is an affront to morality as much as forced secularism is a violation of conscience. C.S. Lewis stated that the moral Statist can be worse than the secular liberal in that his wrath will never be assuaged based on his self-righteousness.

We have seen this in history where the church establishment of the state killed and tortured in God’s name. This is actually what the Founding Fathers fled from in Europe. The Founding Fathers were in most part very religious and moral, but they knew that moral legislation was not the best answer to social problems.

Many Nazis were good Catholics.


10 posted on 02/18/2012 1:03:42 PM PST by Force of Truth (Intelligence and virtue are preferable in a candidate, but I'd much rather he or she be chinchy.)
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To: Force of Truth
Did a quick search on the NLRB, Gingrich and Santorum. Newt has suggested defunding the organization in light of its excesses. All Rick has apparently said is they really shouldn't be doing what they are doing.

Gutless union lackey.

11 posted on 02/18/2012 1:04:44 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Yo Mitt - Money can't buy you love...)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
You have to recognize the context. Santorum was Senator during Bush's "compassionate conservatism" years. Now the worm has turned and all that is out of fashion.

Before we get to Santorum, was "compassionate conservatism" an example of the "nanny state"? Was there some relation between the two?

And then, is Santorum still under that influence or has he moved on to where the party is today?

12 posted on 02/18/2012 1:11:29 PM PST by x
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Oh yeah. Slick Rick Santorum is a HUGE pro-union stooge. There is a “Right-to-Work” bill in the works that will pass if the Republicans take control of both houses. Guess who have voted against “Right-to-Work” legislation in the past?

We now know, after he FINALLY released his tax returns, that he has profited big-time from his Washington connections. $3.6 million worth in the past 3 years. He has a mansion in Washington D.C. That is a tell.


13 posted on 02/18/2012 1:28:26 PM PST by Force of Truth (Intelligence and virtue are preferable in a candidate, but I'd much rather he or she be chinchy.)
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To: Force of Truth

***A police state of any kind is an affront to morality as much as forced secularism is a violation of conscience.***

We are witness to that conundrum.

I’m wondering if Rick Santorum is stuck in the mind-set of a young father raising his children. Bossy, bossy, bossy!!!! (p.s. Rick - we are not your kids)

Would much rather have Newt’s mind-set of a grandfather - wisdom, experience and faith in our potential.


14 posted on 02/18/2012 1:28:34 PM PST by sodpoodle ( Newt - God has tested him for a reason...... to bring America back from the brink.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; All
"Freedom’s not absolute. What rights in the Constitution are absolute? There is no right to absolute freedom. There are limitations. You might want to say the same thing about a whole variety of other things that are on the Internet — “let everybody have it, let everybody do it.” No. There are certain things that actually do cost people a lot of money, cost them their lives, cost them their fortunes that we shouldn’t have and make available, to make it that easy to do".

That quote tells me more about Rick Santorum than everything I have read or heard since the 90s.

This tells me he is FAR more concerned about what he considers to be right, or wrong, than he is about what what the Constitution says.

What part of: "...The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people...." did he not read or understand? He's clearly referencing Federal Law here...Internet Gaming.

Perhaps the retarded statist could use some help with the ninth Amendment too: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Yep, this confirms Santorum would use the power of the Federal State to impose his moral view. Same as Obama. Zero difference.

15 posted on 02/18/2012 1:36:13 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: sodpoodle

(Big-government maternalism = the end of constitutionalism)+(Feminism = the end of the American male)= The end of American civilization


16 posted on 02/18/2012 1:41:38 PM PST by Force of Truth (Intelligence and virtue are preferable in a candidate, but I'd much rather he or she be chinchy.)
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To: Force of Truth

Did you read what you linked to? There was nothing about banning porn. It was a pledge that included saying porn is bad for marriages. I disagree but it’s a quantum leap to say he wants to ban it.


17 posted on 02/18/2012 7:26:33 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084 (I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer to drink a bunch of them. Stay thirsty my FRiends)
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To: Force of Truth

“Many Nazis were good Catholics.”

That is not correct. No Nazis were good Catholics. Or good Lutherans, etc.


18 posted on 02/18/2012 8:07:38 PM PST by jocon307
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Thanks for the ping!


19 posted on 02/18/2012 8:25:45 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Eric Blair 2084
Well I reckoned it was pretty clear. Here is some more documentation for you. Here
20 posted on 02/18/2012 9:20:29 PM PST by Force of Truth (Intelligence and virtue are preferable in a candidate, but I'd much rather he or she be chinchy.)
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