Rick Santorum, the Media’s “Extremist”

Listen to Dr. Paul Kengor’s commentary here: Rick Santorum, the Media’s Extremist

A reporter recently called me about Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. “I understand he’s against contraception?” she asked me.

“Well, sure,” I responded. “He’s Roman Catholic, after all.”

The reporter seemed confused. I explained that Santorum is a serious Roman Catholic, committed to the Church’s teachings. Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised that he’s against contraception.

Or maybe we should be. The reporter’s confusion was no doubt warranted. Most Catholics don’t obey their Church’s teaching on contraception, and ditto for most Catholic politicians.

Nonetheless, I told the reporter, she need not worry. I know of no call by Rick Santorum to ban contraception nationwide if he becomes president. I know of no call by Santorum to send the U.S. military into pharmacies to confiscate contraceptives at the tip of a bayonet. I know of no call by Santorum to send local police into homes raiding medicine cabinets and ransacking bedrooms.

And yet, you would think that Santorum is calling for precisely that—that is, given the media’s hysterical reaction to his personal opposition to contraception. The subject dominated one of the presidential debates in New Hampshire. The media was apoplectic.

Nothing seems to work up our secular culture like matters of sex and birth. If you want to see hysteria among our cultural elite, just consider anything that gets in the way of their ability to have sex without consequences. The mere thought of anything stopping them from preventing birth, via contraception or abortion, makes them crazy.

And yet, ask yourself this crucial question: What’s more extreme? Someone like Rick Santorum, who is personally, privately opposed to contraception, or someone like Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi, who forcibly demands your taxpayer dollars to publicly fund contraception? Which position more infringes upon others? Why is the media not asking about the appropriateness of the federal government forcing Catholic hospitals and healthcare workers to provide contraception and abortion?

Why is only Rick Santorum’s position deemed extreme?

This is cultural/political lunacy. We live in an upside down world rife with contradictions. This country is a real mess.

For Catholic Exchange dot com and Ave Maria Radio, I’m Paul Kengor.

[audio:https://catholicexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Kengor_Catholic_Santorum-Contraception_011612.mp3|titles=Rick Santorum]

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Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values. His books include “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” and “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”

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