Yes, that was hard to write. To be clear, I loathe Santorum and everything he stands for. But I have found myself rooting for him against Mitt Romney. And I’ve been thinking about it for some time, trying to put to words why I could possibly favor him, and failing. But today Andrew Sullivan wrote an excellent post (you should read the whole thing) that articulated wonderfully what I have so far failed to:
For Santorum, as for Ratzinger, if your conscience says one thing, and the Pope says another, you obey the Pope, not your conscience. And for the Christianists, if your conscience or intelligence says one thing, and the Bible says another, you obey the Bible, not your conscience, and certainly not your intelligence. Because beneath Christianism is a deep fear of the human mind – as if they actually believe that reason is stronger than religion and therefore must be restrained. As if the human mind can will God out of existence.
This is Santorum’s fear-laden vision. Which is why he is not a man of questioning, sincere faith and should not be flattered as such. He is a man of the kind of fear that leads to fundamentalist faith, a faith without doubt and in complete subservience to external authority. There is a reason he doesn’t want many kids to go to college. I mean: when we already know the truth, why bother to keep seeking it? And if we already know the truth, why are we not enforcing it as a matter of law in a country founded on Christian principles? It is not religious oppression if it is “the way things are supposed to be”, by natural law. In fact, a neutral public square, in his mind, is itself religious oppression…
For now we can see in plain view the religious fanaticism that has destroyed one of the major parties in this country, a destruction that is perilous for any workable politics. It must be defeated – and not by electing a plastic liar and panderer like Romney. But by nominating Santorum and defeating him by such a margin that this theo-political Frankenstein, which threatens both genuine faith and civil politics, is dispatched once and for all.
Yes. The modern GOP is not a political party, it is a church. Thus far, though it has worn its religion on its sleeve, it has largely been able to hide its agenda behind its more extreme members, and say in public that such things are out of the mainstream. But if Santorum is elected the shield disappears, the veil is lifted, and we can confront the GOP for what it has truly become.
520 Chestnut 
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