Still in Kansas?

Gee, Dorothy, I think maybe we still ARE in Kansas. Did you notice that the pundits and the media last night, after the Super Tuesday results were coming in, actually began to talk seriously about a scenario that could produce a Rick Santorum candidacy for President of the United States? It’s a simple enough idea that has Santorum winning in the Southern states and Gingrich bowing out so that in a two man race (forget Paul) Santorum might actually beat Romney for the nomination. Understand that the various pundits apparently believe that Rick Santorum could be a SERIOUS candidate for the most powerful position in the world.

Need I remind you that Rick Santorum, a Catholic, does not believe in the separation of church and state and has criticized John F. Kennedy for promoting that well established constitutional standard? He also claims the Crusades did not represent aggression against Muslims. He wants to annul previous Gay marriages, is opposed to abortion, and even wants to outlaw contraception used by 99% of American women, including Catholic women. He also wants to reinstate Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the armed forces. If that is not enough, he wants to repeal health care and believes global warming is a “hoax.” In addition, he does not believe in evolution, thus indicating he does not believe in science. He also believes the public schools are “corrupting” our children, and says that President Obama is a snob because he encourages people to go to college. But wait, there’s more. He believes our society is falling apart because of single mothers who keep “breeding more criminals.” He also does not want to take money from wealthy (read White) people to help out others (read Black people). He has also claimed that President Obama has been helping Iran get a nuclear weapon and thinks we should bomb them forthwith. To top it all off, he believes the DEVIL is interfering with our lives. He is, in short, little more than a raving religious nut case who simply cannot and should not even be taken seriously, but here he is with a possible chance of becoming the Republican candidate for President, and (although completely inconceivable to me), even a distant chance of becoming President. As I have noted before, we here in the U.S. do not take our elections seriously. A Santorum candidacy seems to me so far-fetched as to exist only in diseased minds of some kind. That a person like Santorum could even presume to be President of the most powerful society on earth in the 21st century is absurd, that anyone could possibly take this seriously reveals just how insane some can be.

Ordinarily I would find this laughable. But it seems to be serious. There is only one way I can imagine the Republicans allowing Santorum to run, assuming that he could defeat Romney, that is if they have in fact already conceded the coming election to Obama and are willing to sacrifice some nitwit to the cause. It would give them four more years to denigrate Obama and damage the economy, thus setting the stage for an easier road to the White House in 2016, probably running the third Bush to continue their previous criminal dynasty. If this is the case it probably doesn’t matter whether their candidate is either Santorum or Romney, both merely sacrificial bodies for the gods and goals of free-market capitalism (better known as corporate crime).

Although I do believe President Obama tries to do the right thing by defending the middle class and the poor, and trying to keep us out of another stupid “war,” and is in general on the side of the 99%, at least for the moment, and is also considered by some to be threat to the Wall Street and corporate status quo, he has been in many ways a “fellow traveler.” He has protected Bush/Cheney from being investigated and prosecuted for their known war crimes, has protected the banks and Wall Street, and is, in fact, not truly much of a threat to the status quo. He has been able to promote Gay rights, get rid of DADT, pass “Obamacare” (that still involves private insurance companies and even gives them more subscribers), equal wages for equal work, and so on, because those are not issues of great importance to the powers that be. Perhaps given a second term he will be free to pursue far more democratic goals.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Voltaire