Santorum’s “Politics is a Team Sport” Mentality is Why We Have Big Government
Said Rick Santorum last night about his vote for No Child Left Behind which doubled the size of the Department of Education:
“It was against the principles I believed in, but, you know, when you’re part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader…”
The crowd then began to boo Santorum. He responded:
“You know, politics is a team sport, folks… and sometimes you’ve got to rally together and do something.”
This idea that the “team” or party is more important than conservative principles is exactly why the supposedly limited government Republican Party has been just as complicit in the growth of government as the Democrats. As The Washington Examiner’s Timothy P. Carney has noted, Santorum was an “agent of the GOP establishment” during the Bush years, something he still seems fairly comfortable with, if listening to his comments last night.
But there’s another dimension to Santorum’s “team sport” comment. Santorum’s conservative supporters–on talk radio, the print media, the grassroots–don’t like to be bothered with the big government details of their candidate either. Santorum is simply part of their “team.” Whether he actually stands for conservative principles or not becomes secondary to whether or not he seems like he’s on conservatives’ “side.”
When Ron Paul calls Santorum a “fake” conservative, Paul is condemning the Senator for his lengthy big government record. When Santorum supporters get angry at Paul for calling Santorum a fake, it is because Paul is annoying them with the unfortunate truth about their candidate.
The reason the Republicans spent so much money the last time they were in power is because too many “conservatives”–the politicians, talk radio, the grassroots–were on Bush’s “team.” Santorum was not only part of the team but according to Carney, was Bush’s star player.
Those who simply want to play team sports should look forward to baseball season. This who truly want to limit government should look to Ron Paul.
