Demagogue

With an eye on the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race, Jennifer Roback Morse wishes that libertarian conservatives and religious conservatives would "shore up their coalition by offering libertarian reasons for social-conservative positions." At National Review online, she writes:

Many of the issues that resonate most with religious voters can be framed as fiscal issues or as minimum government issues to appeal to the non-religious libertarian voter ...

... Some libertarians might say they can’t support Santorum because of his positions on gay rights. But the gay-rights movement as it currently exists in the United States is not a libertarian movement. ... it advocates using the power of the state to impose its vision of non-discrimination on private individuals and organizations.

But Santorum has no problem "using the power of the state" to create a legal marriage status for heterosexual couples, a status that accrues a host of benefits that are denied to same-sex couples.

If "minimum government" is Morse's desire, then she should argue for government to withdraw completely from the realm of human relationships and dismantle marriage laws and their related benefits. At least that would eliminate the inequality that now exists.

And what about sodomy laws that criminalize consensual sex between adults? They are about as unlibertarian as it gets. Santorum criticized the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision that struck down the state's sodomy law, saying that if "the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual gay sex within your home, then ... you have the right to anything."

Gay rights is only one area where Santorum's views cannot be reconciled with libertarian philosophies of government. Another example is the Patriot Act, which Santorum has enthusiastically supported.

As this blogger pointed out, Santorum sent a letter to a constituent last year declaring, "Notably, at no time has the FBI used its authority to request records from libraries or bookstores." Not true. The FBI had sought library records.

Morse is free to support Santorum or anyone else she wants to support. But she's full of it when she claims that Santorum's ideology reflects libertarian principles about government.