The Courage to Lead: Rick Santorum Confirms Candidacy for President

'History has shown that if there is no record of social conservative leadership in office before becoming president, then expect the same afterwards'

'One of the factors in my decision is to make sure that there is a conservative in the race who has a track record of leading on moral cultural issues. While most of the potential candidates check the boxes on these issues, none have had the courage to lead. History has shown that if there is no record of social conservative leadership in office before becoming president, then expect the same afterwards'

P>WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Like many other people I first read the rumor on Tuesday morning, May 24, 2011,  in an article written by CNN's  Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser entitled "Santorum getting ready to throw hat into ring". Of course, once the rumor hit the blogosphere, it multiplied in various rewrites. Paul Steinhauser claimed that former Senator Rick Santorum would formally enter the 2012 US Presidential race the week of June 5, 2011.

I have written many articles about former Senator Rick Santorum. I respect his genuine faith, his family, his gifts, his ability and his dedication to public service and the issues and causes which matter the most. I have known him for years. I pull no punches; I believe he is a wonderful man and would be a great President. Once again I write without my clerical title to make clear that I am not speaking for the institutional church. Nor am I speaking officially on behalf of Catholic Online which I serve as editor-in-chief.

I remind any who are ready to attack me once they finish reading this article, Catholic Online is structured as a for profit entity to avoid the censorship directed against those who stand for the objective truth about life, marriage, family, freedom and solidarity. You cannot threaten to take away Catholic Online's "non-profit status", because it is not a non-profit corporation. Not only can I write about political candidates - I will do so throughout the upcoming Presidential campaign.

We will cover news about all the candidates. However, we will focus on - and encourage - only the ones who are honestly pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-freedom, and concerned about the issues which matter most. Hopefully, one of our writers will soon have an interview with Herman Cain. We welcome others. For example, if Governor Pawlenty's people are reading this article, I look forward to hearing from you. So too if a certain congresswoman from Minnesota throws her hat in the race.We would welcome an interview with the former speaker of the House of Representatives who has officially announced his candidacy.

As an aging former "hippie" I remember the words of my favorite song by the Who, "I get on my knees and pray, We Don't Get Fooled Again!"  Not this time. Not if I have anything to do with it. I am 56 years old and believe the 2012 Presidential election is the most important of my lifetime. I will do everything I can to ensure that the next President of the United States is truly Pro-Life and a defender of true marriage and the family and society founded upon it.

I have known former Senator Rick Santorum for years. I have watched him grow and I know where he stands, even if I do not agree with him on everything. Years ago I served as the Deacon at the parish which the Santorum family attended. I know his character. His wife Karen is one of the kindest, most generous women I have ever met. She is a wonderfully gifted author, mother and leader in her own right. Their whole family is an example of the fruit which is borne in a happy and loving Catholic Christian home which stays anchored in the truth and is unafraid to stand for it and live by it. 

I also know that Rick Santorum has courage, an attribute sorely needed in this desperate hour. Of course he has made mistakes. So have I - and so has anyone reading this article that is willing to be honest. The only real question is whether the past becomes a tutor or a millstone for each one of us. I know for Rick Santorum it has become a tutor and he is learning its lessons and growing through them.

I was there years ago in the Senate Chamber when he defended our first neighbors in the womb against being partially delivered and having their heads crushed through the infanticide called "partial birth abortion." He spoke with passion that day, confronting the empty words of an opponent defending the brutal procedure. Pointing to a picture of a baby being delivered he proclaimed "This is a baby, Senator!"

At that moment a baby cried, filling the chamber with the sounds of life and delivering the most poignant defense of the truth about life I have ever heard. I will never forget the moment. His stalwart defense of life has only improved with age. So too have his skills as a communicator. His defense of marriage and the family and society founded upon it has been coherent and consistent. His unapologetic defense of the moral basis of a truly free society has been refreshing.

I have hoped that, in consultation with Karen his wife, he would decide to enter the Presidential campaign of 2012. I know Rick Santorum well enough to know that any decision to do so would not be rooted in arrogance or ego. Rather, it would flow from a very serious reflection. It would come as a result of a genuine decision that his country calls. I know that his family would be fully behind it, showing a willingness to sacrifice greatly at a vital hour. 

In many respects, I would understand his decision to not enter the Presidential race. On one level, "who needs it?" He is already contributing to the causes we both believe in. He has a very bright future ahead of him. His wife and young children deserve his time. They deserve to experience the best years of their life together - outside of the increasingly brutal culture which accompanies a run for the White House these days. That is why I would not accept a rumor about him running and just pass it on with another news story. I had to know whether it was true, from the source. 

In the first debate in South Carolina on Thursday, May 5, 2011 in Greenville, South Carolina, I felt Rick Santorum had won the debate. I also felt he was serious about entering the campaign in earnest. His bearing was confident. His demeanor was, to reveal my own Bostonian political roots, "Kennedy-esque."  His answers were weighty and solid. In one of his responses he noted "It's not just checking the boxes. It's having the courage to lead." That phrase, the "Courage to Lead" resonated with me. 

When asked by Chris Wallace that night, "Are you willing to tone down your positions on abortion and homosexuality in an effort to reach more voters and help the GOP coalesce behind a more fiscally focused platform?," he replied with no hesitation, "Anybody that would suggest that we call a truce on the moral issues doesn't understand what America is all about..America is a country that is based on this concept, and the Declaration of Independence, that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. Rights come from God and the first of which is life.

"Those two concepts really transformed the world because it said that government was going to be limited. Allow people to be free, and to pursue their own dream and to serve their God, to serve their family and community. And if we have a respect for human life because of course we're all created equal. A lot of people out here can check the boxes and say they have conservative positions, but I've led on life. I've got the arrows in my back from the mainstream media to prove it."

In an interview following the debate he said, "If you look at the founding document of this country, the Declaration of Independence, it's the why of America, it's what we are all about. And we're a country that was formed about keeping people free. You can't have limited government and free people unless you have solid families and communities and faith - that structure that structures a society that allows people to continue to be free."

"If you don't have strong families, don't have strong faith, then you have people who are not going to live good lives if I don't have that, guess what happens, you get bigger and bigger government. The idea that we can focus on the economy and not worry about the culture, not worry about families being able to inculcate those virtues into their children and having stable families and strong churches to do that, you can't have limited government, you can't have low taxes, you can't have smaller government."

I wrote an article claiming that he won the debate. On the Saturday following the debate he won the presidential straw poll of Republican Party activists.  I was not surprised. I read the "sour grapes" analysis of those who decided not to show up. It mattered little. Sometimes winning is all about showing up!  I also read the mocking voices of those who hope he stays out of this campaign. They carry no weight with me. Sometimes you can tell a lot about a man by his enemies. 

So, back to the "rumor" - I asked the former Senator directly whether it was more than a rumor. I am happy to report it is. He will soon officially declare his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. He told me, "One of the factors in my decision is to make sure that there is a conservative in the race who has a track record of leading on moral cultural issues. While most of the potential candidates check the boxes on these issues, none have had the courage to lead. History has shown that if there is no record of social conservative leadership in office before becoming president, then expect the same afterwards."

So much for those who predicted this was going to be a boring race!  You've heard them pontificate on the networks. Those who tried through vile and disgusting internet efforts to drag his family name through the mud, hoping to dissuade him by their base and vile vulgarity, have also failed miserably. Those who thought they could simply pretend he was not even considering a run will soon have to report on his candidacy. Rick Santorum has done more than check the boxes. He has the courage to lead. 2012 will be an historic Presidential campaign.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online