A Letter to Rick Santorum
(Originally posted to Facebook on 26-Feb-2012)
Dear Mr. Santorum, NOTE to Staffers; Please have the courage to actually show this message to Rick Santorum. He clearly lives in a bubble and is out of touch with the voters. First, let me address your myopic views on college education. College teaches people to think critically. Perhaps that is the reason why people leave college less religious. This is not an indoctrination policy; this is people actually using that vital muscle known as the brain. Perhaps you can back your claims though by citing the source of your allegations about people leaving college less religious. I think it is something you made up, or worse, something you pulled from the Heritage Foundation (or another biased group of their ilk). You have your religious beliefs, and that is fine. That is your right. Yet, you want to limit the rights of people who are not part of your religious brand. I personally believe in God but denounce any notion about the divinity of Christ. I think the Bible is bullshit. Guess what, that is MY RIGHT. The separation of church and state exists, not to stop people like you from being part of the political process, but to ensure that people like me ARE ALLOWED to be part of that process too. By allowing agencies like public schools to preach ideologies, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, Prayer, and Intelligent Design, we are indoctrinating children who do not share those beliefs. Can you see how your rhetoric is very hypocritical? This leads me to my second point. Your wife had to have an abortion and that is a terrible choice to make. This choice is better left between a woman and her doctor. Roe v Wade is about privacy issues, which appears to be something that you have zero tolerance for. You clearly talk about religion leading your choices, but you want to dominate the choices of everyone else with your religious beliefs. Thus, if my wife and I choose to engage in sex for recreation that is our choice and our business. If we do not want to have additional children (and we have five total), that is also our choice. What is the next step for you as a leader, to outlaw masturbation? This is subject matter best left to private discussions between consenting adults and, if necessary, with a doctor. This is not something that Congress or the Senate can decide for everyone else. How would you police such a thing? Sure, you can outlaw abortion and contraceptives, but that does not stop people from obtaining them. It only pushes these people into the hands of criminal, non-professionals, and unsanitary situations. This clearly hurts more people than it helps. What does your religion tell you about that? As a potential leader of the free world, you have responsibilities towards every American, not just the ones who think like you do. Nevertheless, the point really is that your wife had a second-trimester abortion and you state that you are against abortions for all other women, including rape victims and abortions to save the life of the mother. This makes you a hypocrite. If this were a court of law, your testimony would be rendered implausible. You have exposed yourself to the public and we now know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you are an elitist. You do not care about what is best for the public; you only care about yourself and your constituents, who seem to be extreme zealots and corporate sugar daddies. My hope is that this message, though passionate and critical, reaches you and gives you cause for contemplation. If not now, then at least when you lose the race. You can reflect on all the reasons why you lost and perhaps you will remember this message. I hope that my words will bring understanding to your heart and mind. If not, then the world is truly a sad place after all.
Dear Mr. Santorum, NOTE to Staffers; Please have the courage to actually show this message to Rick Santorum. He clearly lives in a bubble and is out of touch with the voters. First, let me address your myopic views on college education. College teaches people to think critically. Perhaps that is the reason why people leave college less religious. This is not an indoctrination policy; this is people actually using that vital muscle known as the brain. Perhaps you can back your claims though by citing the source of your allegations about people leaving college less religious. I think it is something you made up, or worse, something you pulled from the Heritage Foundation (or another biased group of their ilk). You have your religious beliefs, and that is fine. That is your right. Yet, you want to limit the rights of people who are not part of your religious brand. I personally believe in God but denounce any notion about the divinity of Christ. I think the Bible is bullshit. Guess what, that is MY RIGHT. The separation of church and state exists, not to stop people like you from being part of the political process, but to ensure that people like me ARE ALLOWED to be part of that process too. By allowing agencies like public schools to preach ideologies, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, Prayer, and Intelligent Design, we are indoctrinating children who do not share those beliefs. Can you see how your rhetoric is very hypocritical? This leads me to my second point. Your wife had to have an abortion and that is a terrible choice to make. This choice is better left between a woman and her doctor. Roe v Wade is about privacy issues, which appears to be something that you have zero tolerance for. You clearly talk about religion leading your choices, but you want to dominate the choices of everyone else with your religious beliefs. Thus, if my wife and I choose to engage in sex for recreation that is our choice and our business. If we do not want to have additional children (and we have five total), that is also our choice. What is the next step for you as a leader, to outlaw masturbation? This is subject matter best left to private discussions between consenting adults and, if necessary, with a doctor. This is not something that Congress or the Senate can decide for everyone else. How would you police such a thing? Sure, you can outlaw abortion and contraceptives, but that does not stop people from obtaining them. It only pushes these people into the hands of criminal, non-professionals, and unsanitary situations. This clearly hurts more people than it helps. What does your religion tell you about that? As a potential leader of the free world, you have responsibilities towards every American, not just the ones who think like you do. Nevertheless, the point really is that your wife had a second-trimester abortion and you state that you are against abortions for all other women, including rape victims and abortions to save the life of the mother. This makes you a hypocrite. If this were a court of law, your testimony would be rendered implausible. You have exposed yourself to the public and we now know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you are an elitist. You do not care about what is best for the public; you only care about yourself and your constituents, who seem to be extreme zealots and corporate sugar daddies. My hope is that this message, though passionate and critical, reaches you and gives you cause for contemplation. If not now, then at least when you lose the race. You can reflect on all the reasons why you lost and perhaps you will remember this message. I hope that my words will bring understanding to your heart and mind. If not, then the world is truly a sad place after all.
Copyright © 2012 Sean P. Pratt, all rights reserved
Additional Information: This letter was written in 2012 when Rick Santorum was running for president. Specifically, I was responding to Santorum stating that college kills religion (Here is an article by Psychology Today and a link to clips of his actual speech). In the letter, I bring up his attacks on Roe v Wade because it speaks to his hypocrisy (including his wife’s abortion that saved her life).
On March 18, 2012, I watched an interview with Rick Santorum on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." This and his many media appearances where he said a lot of fucked up shit, prompted my letter to him.