Rick Santorum on the Freedom to Impose Your Values

"The essential issue in this race is freedom," said Senator Rick Santorum in a triumphant speech on the eve of his strong second-place showing in the Iowa caucus.

But what kind of freedom is Santorum talking about? Reason.tv caught up with Santorum at a campaign stop at Des Moines Christian Assembly in Urbandale, Iowa, where he spoke to schoolchildren and their parents about the importance of electing a leader who will promote good social values to the citizens.

"Why wouldn't leaders in this country stand up and promote marriage?" asked Santorum. "Stop, in any way they could, the sexual promiscuity that goes on that leads to out-of-wedlock births."

Santorum picked up the endorsement of Jim Bob Duggar, patriarch of the Duggar family (of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting"), who sung the national anthem to kick off the festivities. Also in attendance was social conservative activist and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Ralph Reed. Reed has not endorsed a candidate in the race yet, but he stresses that social conservatism remains a core value to GOP voters.

"You're not going to do well, either in Iowa or beyond, if you're not pro-marriage, pro-family, and pro-life," said Reed. "Whether you're coming from a libertarian perspective or a more traditional conservative perspective."

If GOP voters want candidates who are ready to fight the culture war, Santorum seems ready to deliver.

"I love it when the Left, and the president, says, 'Don't try to impose your values on us, you folks who hold your Bibles in your hand and cling to your guns,'" Santorum said. "It's equally imposing values. It's just in their world, if it's Biblically based or religiously based, it's out. If it's anything else, bring it on."

About 2:30 minutes.
 Produced by Sharif Matar and Zach Weissmueller.

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• Urbandale

[islamiscrap8888]

Rick Santorum = bat shit crazy

[neptronix]

....and the liberals are scared of Ron Paul.....

[IvanAndreevich]

If I hear that singing at the beginning any longer, I'm gonna puke.

[Fireflygamer]

@DaddyRTO it really a depends on what you mean by pro family and pro marriage....

if pro family and pro marriage means you are against gay peoples rights, like the right to marry our life partners, then its not positive but actually negative because its been demonstrated that gays getting married hurts no one and not allowing it harms gay couples and their children. This is not a positive thing but a negative thing, just because you say its positive dose not make it so.

[DaddyRTO]

@hawkermustang Yeah. I guess predicting the condition that we're in for the past 30+ years makes him a retard and him believing in individual liberty where all people have the same rights and aren't lumped into groups makes him a bigot.

[DaddyRTO]

@pablocoon I couldn't agree more. I've always held the opinion that the people you need to be most wary of are those that wear their religion on their sleeves and try to couch their political speech in religious rhetoric. Last time I checked, Jesus also said "My kingdom is not of this world." That seems pretty clear to me.

[DaddyRTO]

@SaganSociety86 I disagree. I think it's funny that people who are atheists really try to convince people that they're also the most rational and the most tolerant, but then spout this nonsense anytime they get the chance. You treat atheism just as religiously as religious people treat their religions. You may not believe in anything at all, but that makes other people no less intelligent or rational. Your filth contributes literally nothing to society or the rest of mankind.

[DaddyRTO]

@Fireflygamer I'm pro-family, pro-marriage and pro-life. Those are all positive things. But I don't believe that the government has any right to tell anyone how to live at all. Be careful how you try to pigeon hole people.

[Brent4Liberty]

To my fellow Republicans; Stop this theocrat..

In his mind (his version of a) Christian Theocracy is fine but if another country has a theocracy, we must kill their leaders and if we so happen to kill innocent women and children, that's collateral damage. (The concept of) Blowback to Santorum is that movie with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall..

I'm a Christian and I Vote Liberty not theocracy!!

[zombiegrease]

i foresee a headline in the future that says something to the effect of "santorum caught soliciting prostitutes in a rest stop bathroom."