Rick Santorum is one of the most important voices in conservatism, in my humble opinion. Though the former senator from Pennsylvania is often maligned as someone solely obsessed with social issues, he is actually well-versed in a variety of issues. He sat on a variety of committees and introduced major legislation on a wide range of issues in his time in the Senate. In addition to appreciating his interest in promoting a healthy civil society full of social capital, I have a high regard for Santorum because he is able to speak to blue collar workers and those on the lower end of the income scale. Byron York sat down with the former senator last week. It is worth quoting what he reported in the Washington Examiner at length:
“We have a tendency as Republicans to really identify with achievers,” Santorum began. “We’re big fans of free enterprise. We know the greatness of our free market system that has created wealth beyond any other country in the world. So it’s natural for us to see successful entrepreneurs as heroes, because in many respects they are, because they’ve been part of building something that has greatly benefited everybody in society.”
“But we tend not to see the folks who are behind the counter or on the factory line or in the wash room as heroes, even though they built it too, right? They were part of building it. It’s not that we don’t think they’re good people, but we don’t celebrate them, because they’re not the ones leading the effort. And I think that’s a flaw — not that we shouldn’t celebrate the job creators, but we also have to celebrate the job holders. I believe in entrepreneurs, but that’s a very small segment of the population, and to be crass politically, we’ve already got most of those folks, because if they’re small business people, they know that big government is an albatross around their necks. So we need to talk more specifically about what we can do to create job opportunities for people instead of business opportunities for people.”
If the Republican party would like to stop appearing so out-of-touch, one of the ways they can start is to begin speaking like that.