For a number of reasons, I have been reluctant to talk much about what particular candidate I may have been considering over the last several months. For one thing, I’m not convinced that anyone really cares what I think about who to caucus for. But my pal (and Caffeinated Communications Founder/Editor) Shane Vander Hart recently made the case that now is the time to make a decision about who you are going to support and get behind your candidate. So with that admonition, I decided that it might be best that I go public with my choice and also give a few reasons for doing so.
I first met Rick Santorum at the Straw Poll in Ames last Summer. Shane introduced me to Santorum and informed me that he (Santorum) had been extremely accessible to Shane. I was to find out that was a hallmark of the Santorum campaign. As he said in the spin room last Thursday night in Sioux City, you have to “let the people see who you are…You can’t buy Iowa”.
I have had respect for Santorum for many years. He always struck me as the kind of man that was true to his convictions whether it benefits him politically or not. He has been a true champion of conservative positions on social issues. I wrote last Summer that he was probably the “standard bearer” among the current Republican candidates with regard to traditional marriage and the sanctity of life. I still believe that to be true.
He’s a fiscal conservative as well. He’s calling for a balanced budget amendment, lowering of tax rates, the repeal of Obamacare, and reductions in Federal spending. And he doesn’t have to simply talk about what he plans to do, he’s demonstrated it through years of public service in both the House and the Senate. His efforts in putting an end to the House Banking fiasco and later his work in passing the Welfare Reform law come to mind in that connection.
Santorum also possesses a keen understanding of the very real threat of militant Islam. In response to Ron Paul’s comments on Iran during the Fox News debate, Santorum made this observation: “They don’t hate us for what we do, or our policies. They hate us for who we are.” Santorum is one of the few national figures who’ve had the guts to tell it like it is on this particular matter.
In the end, it was his conservative positions coupled with his experience that “sealed the deal” for me.
So for what it’s worth, I endorse Rick Santorum. I hope you will support him as well.
Picture by Dave Davidson, Prezography.com