I find Santorum to be just as bad as Obama. (IE: just as bad as Romney, too).
He's 180 degrees opposite to foundational concept of America as espoused by Reagan.
Had the alternate to Newt been a states right's advocate with a solid record on individualism... vice statism, I'd be clamoring for candidate. But instead, we have Santorum.
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Just remember Reagan's essential message, which was:
I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority. Very simply, they want to be left alone in peace and safety to take care of the family by earning an honest dollar and putting away some savings. This may not sound too exciting, but there is something magnificent about it. On the farm, on the street corner, in the factory and in the kitchen, millions of us ask nothing more, but certainly nothing less than to live our own lives according to our values — at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and the world.
And contrast that with Santorum's essential message:
This whole idea of personal autonomy, well I don’t think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues. You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone.
If a 'Conservative' is someone who believes that it's the job of the Federal government to govern your own d#@n life... then I'm very proud to be a RINO.
And that view means Reagan was a RINO, too.
This again?
What the Founders wrote is that our rights belong not to us, but to God, and that God is the one who grants us our rights, not ourselves, and not the government.
Personal autonomy assumes that we reign over ourselves, the founders assumed that God reigns over us and is the source for our liberty and our rights.
This is why Santorum argues that personal autonomy is not the basis of life in america, and that faith is a very important part of what makes America great, faith in God.
The problem is that Santorum is right about this - personal autonomy as a concept is a concept that the founders never expressed. It comes from Freud - and Freud is antithetical to a healthy life.