What's Your Deal, Santorum?

If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all, right? Well in the real world does not work like that. Debates would not exist if that were the case. However, there are guidelines and rules that we as citizens should follow in order to fulfill an ethical debate. Rick Santorum is renowned for breaking this contract.  When one enters a political debate, sensitive topics arise quite often, and must be treated with care. I like to think of Rick Santorum as a bull in a china shop when it comes to dealing with sensitive topics.

His recent take on birth control did not win him much support from the feminine side of the camp. He carelessly said to his opponent, “One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is, I think, the dangers of contraception in this country. . . . Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” All in all, he is opposed to birth control. After numerous waves of feminism and women finally earning the right to vote and gain control over their bodies, I am not quite sure how Santorum thinks that he will persuade people to take away their freedoms.

When people opposed his stance, or even questioned it, he would rudely talk over them, or completely ignore their questions and switch over to a different question. He ignores the rules of engagement of a political debate, by neither engaging with civility or respect towards his opponents. He expresses his values, but perhaps in the wrong manner. By stating his ideas as though they are factual, and not personal, he ends up taking away from his credibility. Politicians forget to convey ethos and pathos often, and rely solely on logos.  They think in terms of ballots, and not the civility of engagements and the moral obligations as citizens they are expected to fulfill.

Would Santorum, if elected president, try to outlaw birth control? The probabilities are low. However, his unethical approach concerns many that his efforts on the state level to outlaw birth control, and the kinds of federal judges that President Santorum  would appoint, to the Supreme Court and other federal courts make people very uneasy. If we were to vote for someone that believes that states have the right to pass laws which violate the federal constitution, on cases that relate to reproductive rights and gender equality,  then we would virtually be taking a step back in progression. Opinions are not facts. Values are not set forth by one’s personal opinion which many do not share, and credibility lacks when, like Santorum who later said that banning contraception was just a personal opinion, politicians and others contradict their points.