Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Could it be....Satan?

So I don't get whats going on with this latest Rick Santorum "controversy"

A man goes to a institution of Ultra Catholicism and the law of course he is going to mention Satan attacking our institutions. That's what you as good catholic lawyers are going to be doing (suing those institutions which serve Satan). I am sure the billionaire founder probably cut Rick a check for the speech.

So in review: Saying Satan is at war with America and its institutions is apparently bad, but going to a church that says Satan is America is a-ok. This is one of the absurdities of our modern political discourse. Republicans can be accused of wanting to poison the air and water by Democrats and this does not alienate swing voters. But if we say economic policies of the Democratic party lead people to economic dependency we might risk alienating swing voters. Going to a church with a minister who preaches an anti-Semitic message is a-ok if you didn't listen, but talking about abortion being negative will offend the swing voters. This political correctness is absurd. Its absurd because its not a universal political correctness that applies to all thought. However what makes it most absurd at all because despite the impolitic nature of things like Rev Wright Obama is a product of our political correctness culture. As is John McCain, John Kerry, and Mitt Romney. People who focus so much on saying nothing offensive that they say nothing offensive at all.

There is a reason no one says "Merry Christmas" in professional settings anymore. They are afraid of offending some one who not meeting the standard of professionalism of others. And we have made this choices as a society without a discussion of what it means. We have tried to remove everything offensive from our society.

Rick Santorum is not going out there and saying "As President I will see contraception banned" He is saying "I think contraception is bad, and I will say that if you ask me." Do we really want our Presidents (or potential presidents) to have no opinion of their own? As much as I hated the social issues "truce" of Mitch Daniels even implicit in that truce Mitch Daniels said "this is what I believe BUT I am going to call a time out on this IF you do this."

President Obama ran as President focusing on vague "hope and change" saying nothing concrete about his politics or his political agenda. Thats why people filled the then hypothetical Obama Presidency with their own hopes and dreams. And those very same swing voters who didn't seem to care about the offensive things in Obama's life story when they found out he wasn't some banal multicultural standin helped fuel things like The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. These political movements are fueled by the fact the political world is dominated by people who don't say what they mean and don't mean what they say.

So Rick Santorum believes evil is attacking our institutions in America. Is that really so terrible for a President to believe? We have a President right now who believes institutions in America (Banks, Large Corporations, Republicans) are evil. No one seems to be overly offended by that

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