Is Santorum a Big Government Conservative?

Hey don't get mad at me for asking. Apparently his own book says that, based on the prescriptions therein, one could accuse him of being a 'Big Government conservative.'"

I'm going to be giving him a first look. I have a reasonably open mind, but not completely open. I don't like his rightwing paternalism bias.

Is this what the Tea Party has meant with its Don't Tread On Me flags? I didn't get that.

Santorum’s book is crammed with an array of ideas for technocratic meddling; even the author acknowledges that some people “will reject” what he has to say “as a kind of ‘Big Government’ conservatism.”

Santorum grumbles about too many conservatives believing in unbridled “personal autonomy” and subscribing to the “idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do … that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom (and) we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues.”

Perhaps Santorum confuses libertinism with libertarianism, but for him “cultural issues” go way beyond defending the life of the unborn or opposing gay marriage. Santorum believes that conservatives should recognize “that individuals can’t go it alone,” which sounds a lot like the straw-man justification for nearly every state expansion in memory. Why does Santorum, a conservative, believe that getting government out of our lives means a person must “go it alone,” anyway? Maybe it means that person can go to his local church or his family or his community or his local bar to seek help — or maybe he can figure things out himself.

Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren have been hitting this same note an awful lot.

posted by Ace at 01:44 PM

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