Why Rick Santorum Connects With The Heartland

BY CHRISTOPHER ADAMO – Even before the final results had been determined in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, the liberal media cabal was in high gear incessantly reminding America that the decisive wins by Rick Santorum were not legally binding. Thus, his incredibly strong showing did not officially guarantee a windfall of delegates for him at the Republican National Convention. Of course only a few weeks back these same people were falling all over themselves, trumpeting the significance Mitt Romney’s “win” in the Iowa caucuses, which likewise did not accrue delegates to any candidate. Even more significantly, they all went completely silent regarding Iowa once the actual count revealed that Romney in fact did not win, but was edged back to second place, behind Santorum.

Admittedly, media hypocrisy is nothing new, though it may have sunk to new depths during the course of the 2012 Republican primary contest. The same network mouthpieces who could never be bothered to notice the incessant lewdness of the Clinton White House were relentless in their efforts to defame Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich over every alleged impropriety. In essence, any Republican who dared to challenge Romney could expect a backlash on several fronts, including from Romney himself, along with his “Super PAC” surrogates, and predictably abetted by those objective and impartial experts on the nightly news.

In a Republican primary season frequently marked by these fierce collective efforts to destroy any presumed obstacle to Romney’s inevitability, the ongoing struggle of grassroots conservatives to promote an alternative has been both an enigma to the network anchors and a thorn in the side of the Republican establishment. Yet ultimately it is a shining hope for those on “Main Street.” They soundly reject the notion that their nation’s future is forever subject to the whims of morally bankrupt power brokers from inside the Beltway. The patriotic fervor that gave rise to the “Tea Party” movement in 2009 and 2010 is alive and well, despite being demeaned on the nightly news and disparaged by career politicians from both parties.

It is completely understandable that, among the current slate of candidates, such momentum would coalesce around Santorum. Despite the transparent efforts of his rivals to remind America that he is indeed less than perfect (only Democrats can claim such a mantle) Rick Santorum not only possesses an extremely admirable track record as a conservative powerhouse during his sixteen years in the Congress and Senate, he has made the best and most consistent case for conservatism during this campaign season. Considering the dire straits in which the nation currently finds itself, and the widely recognized need for decisive and unshakable action to fix the mess, Santorum’s hard-headed resolve looks increasingly appealing to middle-America.

The perils facing this nation loom on several fronts. After three years under Barack Obama, America’s finances are in tatters. The specter of encroaching socialism, spearheaded by that monstrosity known as Obamacare, threatens to eradicate every worthwhile vestige of the American ideal. Internationally, its reputation has been shattered on account of its perceived current weakness. Major changes must be implemented in very short order to ease these dismal circumstances. But ultimately, any such effort will prove to be an exercise in futility, barring a renewed emphasis on the moral foundations which undergirded the nation at its inception.

In spite of this stark reality, the combined power of prominent establishment Republicans and their sizable pocketbooks proved decisive for Romney in such places as New Hampshire andFlorida. Yet among those residing in Middle America who have not been duped into accepting the ways of the “ruling class,” the Washington status quo is far less palatable. And in their quest to reclaim the nation, they are resolved to stay the course of true conservatism.

Furthermore, in a stark contrast to the general direction of the Romney campaign which too often emphasizes conciliation and “bipartisanship,” the latest outrages of Barack Obama against the core values of the nation serve to remind us that any attempted solutions to the problems facing the American people will be wholly insufficient if they neglect that essential moral component. Obama’s declaration of war against Catholic medical institutions, when considered in conjunction with his “National Prayer Breakfast” stump speech in which he invoked Jesus Christ as an advocate of statist collectivism, inarguably prove that the morass in which America currently finds itself is, at its roots, cultural and spiritual.

Consequently, a “fiscal only” response to such affronts will once again leave a gaping hole in the enterprise, which the liberals will continue to effectively exploit to their advantage. The Americathat the common folk, as epitomized by the “Tea Party,” hope to see returned to its former glory is not one that merely rebounds economically while remaining devoid of its soul. For they know that minus a cultural restoration, that approach will ultimately fail. And while Mitt Romney, has at times given lip service to this reality, he very consistently avoided fully embracing it as a defining precept of his agenda.

America’s next leader must not only commit to limiting the bloat of government, he must publicly and unabashedly condemn the inherent immorality of the excessive spending that spawned it in the first place. He must likewise seek to reverse the dependency it fosters, and the burden it places on future generations. He must unabashedly trumpet the traditional values, and the Judeo-Christian ethic from which they were derived, as the surest guarantor of freedom and justice for all of the American people, as well as the most noble element of its worldwide sphere of influence.

Apart from such ideals, the societal and fiscal decline can be fully expected to continue. Clearly, the results of this week’s primary contests prove that Heartland America is not ready to consign itself to that fate.

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