Gaining Steam: Rick Santorum's little Engine that Could Rolls into Iowa

His little Engine that could campaign has rolled into Iowa and is gaining steam

Reports indicate Santorum has all but moved to Iowa. The Perry bubble has burst and the Romney establishment effort is not capturing people like me. The Republican establishment seem to like his economic conservatism but not his moral coherence. All his talk about protecting human life from conception through natural death; his defense of marriage and the family and society founded upon it... doesn't make for comfortable conversation at the club.

P>AMES, Iowa (Catholic Online) - After the last Republican primary debate the evidence that the media had had a change of heart on the Santorum candidacy was promising. In Politico, the ever present "inside the beltway" political wonk publication, Maggie Haberman wrote: "Rick Santorum has eclipsed Michele Bachmann. Of the fighters on the undercard, Santorum was last night's winner. Armed with little by way of resources and a mere fourth-place Ames Straw Poll finish, Santorum has nonetheless been taking every opportunity to make himself more of a presence in the GOP race.

"On Thursday, he dominated during the parts of the debate when Romney didn't. He aggressively challenged Perry over the border fence issue and his assertion that Texas knows how to handle the problem. He talked about American values needing to be restored, and he made himself a major presence throughout the two-hour event.

"Most important, he outshone Bachmann, whose answer about why she repeated an unsubstantiated story about the HPV vaccine leading to "mental retardation" was weak, and who was something of a non-factor in the debate. Among other things, she muffed a chance to rap Perry directly on immigration. If Santorum can make himself the alternative to Rick Perry for social conservatives in Iowa, he has fuel to keep going."

They were not alone in this assessment.CBS News declared Santorum a "Winner" in the debate writing, "the former Pennsylvania senator shone through with forceful answers highlighting his positions which are popular with the conservative base. He notably went on the attack against Perry on immigration and against Huntsman's call to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan." Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post wrote, "The big winner of the night...was Rick Santorum..."

She pointed out that Rick Santorum is finally receiving some more questions and not being blocked out by the establishment media. Let's not forget, the establishment media includes those who consider themselves "liberal" and "conservative." The campaign effort which the Senator himself refers to as "the little engine that could" is climbing the hill and people are beginning to notice it is gaining steam. 

Many Americans are sick and tired of the Republican establishment attempting to pick the nominee of the Party. I am a "Reluctant Republican" having left the Democratic Party when the opponents of the fundamental human right to life took control and that one time party of the blue collar everyday American became the party of the cultural revolutionaries on the left.People like us were won over by the courage and plain spoken down to earth style of Ronald Reagan.

His was the kind of "conservatism" which made sense to people like us who never thought we were "conservatives". It was human, real, honest and quintessentially American. We were not then - and are not now - comfortable with the "Nelson Rockefeller" blue blood image of the old Republican Party. We have also been deeply disappointed in the Republican nominees in the past that did not stand up for the ones who Mother Teresa rightly called the "poorest of the poor", our youngest neighbors, children in the first home of the whole human race their mothers' wombs.

Many of us are from blue collar backgrounds whose ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower. We care about the poor and cringe when any candidate seems to lack a heart of concern for them. However, we also know that big government does a horrible job of providing care for them and that collectivism - be it of the right or the left - is anything but the solution. We want a candidate who speaks of opening up economic participation in the American dream to as many as possible. One who recognizes that the market was made for man - and not man for the market.

Though we are not fans of overly federalized and bloated centralized government, the old "States Rights" mantra scares us. Bull Connor's evil was not that long ago.  It deeply disturbs us when candidates assert that if some States decide that an entire class of human persons has no fundamental human right to life it is "O.K." It is NOT "O.K." That was what happened in the old slavery, when people of color were denied their personhood. It will happen in the new slavery effected by abortion on demand where another class of persons, our youngest neighbors, are written off as not worthy of those unalienable rights.

We know that there are such things as fundamental human rights - and the American founders got it right when they insisted they were endowed by God and not conferred by government. That is not a new idea but rooted in the classical understanding that there is a "Natural Law" which can be known by reason and should inform our life together. That is if we desire to be truly free and advance the real "common good", not some fraudulent re-definition of the term proffered by cultural revolutionaries.

The Declaration of Independence was the Birth Certificate of this Nation we love. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration, Charles Carroll of Carrolton, cousin of the Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, was the only Catholic signer. At the time of his signing it was illegal for Catholics to hold public office or to vote in Maryland. Yet, he still pledged with all of the signatories: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

He knew the importance of the vision of freedom, rights and liberty which that Declaration proclaimed in those three profoundly simple but supremely powerful words: "We Hold These Truths." There are competing visions of the human person, human dignity, human rights, and human freedom at work in many of the institutions which were formed in response to this Declaration.

The recognition of the preeminent Right to Life so clearly set forth in the words of this Declaration is currently being undermined by the positive/civil law of the very Nation which the American founders helped to birth. How can a Nation which has enshrined the killing of innocent children in the womb in its positive law claim that that it still recognizes the unalienable right to life?

The child in the womb is our first neighbor. Certainly all of the American founders would agree it is wrong to kill an innocent neighbor. She is the first legal immigrant with her citizenship assured if she can make it out of the birth canal alive under the current misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. How can we read Jefferson's words, "God who gave us life gave us liberty" and not see the evil of a jurisprudence which puts the police power behind the ... intentional taking of her life by pretending to find the "right" to commit such a heinous crime as intentional abortion within a so called "liberty interest" of the same U.S. Constitution?

The second part of Jefferson's statement cries out for an answer: "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" I anticipate some of the responses to this article. Some will ask "Does everything come back to abortion for you?" The answer is "YES" because the entire infrastructure of human rights and freedoms is at risk when we fail to recognize the preeminent Right to Life. Liberty itself is at risk when there exists in our positive law a so called "right" to kill the very human person required to receive the rights we cherish or to exercise them.

I decided long ago what was behind the effort to pretend that Rick Santorum was not running for the Presidency of the United States. The chattering class on the "left" know he is a formidable candidate from a working class family, right on the issues most Americans care about, a formidable communicator - and that he possesses the courage to take on their bullies in a brutal campaign. Lacking the intellectual ability or integrity to take the Senator's positions on and debate them in the public square, they mock and belittle him or simply fail to mention his name. 

However, the reaction of the Republican establishment is more disturbing. Some of them kept people like me away from the Republican Party for generations. They seem to like Rick Santorum's economic conservatism but not his moral coherence. All his talk about protecting human life from conception through natural death; his defense of marriage and the family and society founded upon it... doesn't make for comfortable conversation at the club.Enough! That old Republican Party is not the Party which will win the future of freedom we need.

Reports indicate Senator Santorum has all but moved to Iowa. The Perry bubble has burst and the Romney establishment effort is not capturing people like me who do not want another candidate who waffles on fundamental issues.Gary Bauer is a respected figure in the conservative movement. He recently told Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post "He (Santorum) has been impressive in the debates. Eventually one person will emerge as the alternative to Romney. I think Santorum could easily become that alternative, and many social conservatives would agree."

I have known Gary for many years and, on this, I agree with him. Rick Santorum is courageous and he has been impressive. His "little Engine that could" campaign has rolled into Iowa and is gaining steam. 

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