I am so tired of writing about Rick Santorum. But as the days pass us by, Santorum has realized that the only way that he can stay in the spotlight is to say outrageous nonsense to his base of scared, old, white people. And, unfortunately, I'm a sucker for outrageous nonsense, no matter who the speaker is. It's pretty much what this blog is about. I do take issue with the fact that I only seem to be writing about Rick Santorum anymore, so much so that I've been considering changing the name to Rick Santorum Is A Mouth-Breathing Fuck, And Here Is Why. Ugh, but then I lose brand recognition. Oh, well.
At any rate, I'm not going to go over what he said in detail. It's all over the internet. Suffice it to say that the "liberal 'gotcha' media" pounced on Santorum over something he said about a famous speech by President John F. Kennedy back in 1960. Here's a brief video outlining that:
As you can see, Santorum goes on to say that the absolute separation of church and state was "not the Founder's vision" and that "the idea that people of faith should not be permitted in the public square to influence public policy is antithetical to the First Amendment." But that isn't what JFK said. He merely said that religion would not influence his presidential decisions, not would his decisions affect religion. As it should be.
Here's some more from Santorum on the issue. "I don’t believe in an America where the separation between church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and visions of our country."
By the way, as any educated person knows, the absolute separation of church and state was, in fact, the vision of the Founding Fathers. Here's your proof on that one...
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
-James Madison
"Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?"
-John Adams
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
"No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever."
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the Common Law."
-Thomas Jefferson
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
-The First Amendment
"The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."
-Treaty of Tripoli (1796) Under President John Adams
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So what am I getting at here? That any monkey with access to the internet could prove Santorum wrong? I found all of those quotes - and double-checked them for accuracy! - in seconds. How does Rick Santorum get away with blatantly lying to people? And what's more, why the fuck do people just believe him? Everyone took American History in school. Everyone. There is simply no excuse.
I'm going to skip the part where I tell you all how dangerous it would be to have this man as president. He would undo approximately two-hundred years of government before the end of his term, assuming the House and Senate were on his side (they would be too - if we're dumb enough to elect him as president, we're dumb enough to hand over Congress to the GOP as well).
Here's what I'm going to do. I want this copy and pasted and spread to the four corners of the internet. Much like the high school sophomore from New Jersey, Amy Meyers, challenged Michele Bachmann to a debate on United States history, I am hereby issuing a similar challenge to Rick Santorum. Here we go.
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Dear Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum,
My name is Shaun Robinson. I am a college student in central Maine, studying to be a high school English teacher. Due to your status as one of the last four candidates seeking the GOP nomination, your voice, opinions, and knowledge of American history are heard not just by fellow Americans, but by people around the world. And as your opinions become increasingly venemous, so too does the world's opinion of us. This is not okay. We are not all like you, nor do we all think like you.
Your lack of historical knowledge is fine - it's your problem. But your penchant for spreading it as if it's truth is not. It is ignorant. It is appalling. It is insulting. And because you have made no effort to learn the truth, you have shown that you are far too close-minded to be the President of the United States of America.
Mr. Santorum, your inability to present basic historical, scientific, and even religious facts - facts that middle school students learn - has led me to submit the following challenge, pitting my twenty-two years of life experience against your fifty-three years and your college education:
I, Shaun Robinson, do hereby challenge presidential candidate Rick Santorum to a public debate on Modern Science, American History, and World Religion.
I hope to see you soon here in Maine for our debate.
Sincerely,
Shaun Robinson
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As I said, please spread this all over the internet. Contact the media if you know how, and get in touch with me via email at asanebreak@gmail.com. I really do hope that, unlike Representative Bachmann, Mr. Santorum accepts this challenge.
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