COMMENTARY | With former Senator Rick Santorum the current front-runner to be the great right hope against Mitt Romney, it might be a useful exercise to find out what he proposes to do as president. Fortunately he has laid that out in detail.
According to the section on his campaign website on spending and entitlement reform, Santorum proposes to cut $5 trillion from the federal budget over the first five years of his administration. He would repeal Obamacare, reform entitlements, freeze both social spending and defense spending, and implement a variety of reforms suggested by conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and CATO, among others.
Santorum would enact a variety of tax cuts, with just two personal income tax rates, 10 percent and 28 percent. Capital gains and the corporate income tax would be decreased as well. There would be tax breaks for families and to spur economic growth.
Santorum would behave more aggressively against America's enemies than the current occupant of the Oval Office. His 10-step plan to promote American interests around the world has, included in it, an initiative to "restore the teaching of America's history" in public schools, the theory being that a well informed citizenry is a patriotic citizenry.
Santorum is pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-Second Amendment. He supports a rollback of regulations, a Balanced Budget Amendment, and market-oriented health care reform.
To sum up, Santorum, at least according to the issues section of his campaign website, is a pretty conventional conservative. There are some things in his agenda to quibble about -- this writer does not like the idea of freezing defense -- but by and large there is much to like a little if anything to be appalled about.
In making the support/oppose decision in regards to Santorum, one has to look at his record in the Senate, including the fact that he was defeated for re-election by a wide margin, and his public statements. One should note that he has committed no obvious gaffes and has done well in debates. One also has to compare him to the field as it is and not to one's image of the perfect Republican candidate who never did and never could walk the Earth.
The preliminary conclusion is that, on balance, Republicans could do much worse than nominating Santorum.
Sources:Spending Cuts and Entitlements Reform, Rick Santorum Campaign Site
Defender of the Taxpayer, Rick Santorum Campaign Site
10 Steps to Promote Our Interests Around the World, Rick Santorum Campaign Site
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