COMMENTARY | With social conservatism as the backbone of Rick Santorum’s candidacy, the devout Roman Catholic glaringly lacked a blessing in hours before the South Carolina primary got underway. While Santorum musters a fair share of fundamentalist backers, prominent Catholic politicos are turning up the heat on the former altar boy.
Senior fellow at Austrian Economics-focused Ludwig Von Mises Institute, Tom Woods is leveraging his sizable online presence — tens of thousands who subscribe to his Facebook wall and who surf his site. Putting aside the academic perspective, Woods makes a parochial case against Santorum. In his latest video post, Woods, also Catholic, refutes Santorum’s claim on values and morality.
After the CNN debate broadcast just a couple days before South Carolina primary polls opened, Woods released the video The Catholic Vote: Ron Paul or Rick Santorum? In it, Woods lays out the case for Santorum’s violations of basic church doctrine via his public policy views. As a long-time Paul supporter, Woods likewise builds the case for his favored candidate’s alignment with church doctrine.
First, Woods says in the video, the notion of subsidiary where the church recognizes the strength of small, local community is contrary to Santorum’s track record. Through the tenant, church doctrine says every task should be performed at the “lowest common order of society.” Education, for instance, is a local community need. Santorum’s past votes for such things as the controversial No Child Left Behind bill is contradictory, Woods says.
In his video, Woods also comments on Santorum’s debate accusation that Paul’s view on abortion amounts to complicity. Echoing Paul’s proposal vocalized during the debate, Woods says the most effective way to rid the country of Roe v. Wade is to take the issue out of the courts and return jurisdiction to the states, “which is constitutional.”
For Catholics whose thorny social issue is with gay marriage, Woods argues the problem is more precisely viewed as government overreach into civil matters. And because the left-leaning requirement of government involvement in marriage now holds such a long history, Woods says the contorted normalcy bias now means many conservatives absurdly defend the status quo.
The federal budget, which is often relegated to a position of a “side issue serious Catholics don’t care about,” is one where, Woods says simply, “Santorum has zero credibility.”
Woods’ final point in promoting a Paul presidency to Catholics centers on foreign policy. “I used to be like a lot of conservative Catholics,” Woods says. While peace and good will are espoused as the right way to live, “all that went out the window” when national leaders pointed to threats located around the world. Patriotism, says Woods, has become the valid excuse for empire building.
Woods is most harsh with Santorum on this front. Even with the benefit of decades of hindsight, Woods’ says Santorum’s approval of the U.S.-led coup in Iran where the Shah came to power is deeply misguided. It’s Santorum’s “for freedom” justification of American intervention that’s most disturbing. Citing the Shah’s notoriously vicious secret police, Woods says the propped-up dictatorship resulted in opposition cells propagating through mosques. “And we all know how that turned out.”
Woods rounds out the video by reminding those in the faith that their identity as Catholic trumps their identity as Americans citizens. “For Catholics and all Americans, Ron Paul for president,” he says.