Rick Santorum is a social reformer, not a conservative. He wants to use Big Government to engage and enforce Big Morality, an immoral misuse of state power.
The American Colonies thrived not because of their strict adherence to social mores, but because of their reliance on a simple system of English common law, one which permitted judges to adjudicate cases based on the merits of the facts before him. Common law also permitted individuals to manage their affairs without intervention or interruption from the state. This country longs for the quiet but determined conservatism of the American Revolution, not the compassionate conservatism of the previous decade.
If we qualify conservatism to mean "limited government" and "deliberation before alteration", then Rick Santorum is a liberal pick in the slim pickings of the 2012 GOP nomination. He has expanded Medicare entitlements, he has exploded the role of the federal government in education, and he has padded his expense account with lobbyist money. His views are so fiercely faithful to Catholic dogma, he makes Ron Paul look like a moderate adherent of Tea Party constitutionalism. His Passion is not that of Christ, but that of Caesar telling everyone to live holy lives -- an unholy mixture of church and state.
The next President must be conservative, not just compromising. He must be consistent, not just daring. He must be real, not just authentic. Rick Santorum is too consistent to an incongruous dogma of conservatism by the state. He is too daring for the wrong things, and just too authentic when it comes to compassionate conservatism, a misnomer-oxymoron which helped bring our country to record annual deficits and an unconscionable national debt threatening the well-being of our country.
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