(Rick Santorum)

by:  Daniel Peterson (Daniel is member of Queens Republican County Committee – Dir. of New Media and Former President and Member of the New York Young Republican Club Inc.)

Why would so many Tea Party groups across the United States support a big liberal candidate for president? Some of you may be thinking I mean Mitt Romney, but Romney has progressed into a reasonable conservative candidate and in the role as executive in a liberal state, he was actually a voice of sanity. No, I’m talking about the one candidate who has a history of supporting big government initiatives while in the House and the Senate. Rick Santorum.

Some folks are perplexed by making such a statement, but when you take the basic principles of the Tea Party: 1) No new taxes, 2) Cut Federal spending, 3) Keep government off my back, well, all three of these points are things Senator Rick Santorum was behind when he was in Washington.  He’s not a conservative, but a Republican liberal.

Tax rates can be raised or cut and depending on how high or low will determine the amount of revenue generated. The purpose of a tax rate is to raise revenue for the necessary functions of the Federal government. Necessary functions are to regulate commerce, pay down our debt, fund existing entitlements, our infrastructure, our military and defense.

If tax revenue for the Federal government increases and provides a surplus, then the government has collected too much and the money should be given back to the people. If the surplus is used to pay down our National Debt, I’m sure the majority of Americans wouldn’t mind, but if it’s used for growing the size of government, for new entitlements and new government spending, then those in congress supporting such use are not conservative. Rick Santorum has never found tax-payer money he wouldn’t want to spend on some liberal cause. In stead of fighting for reducing the national debt, he went along with spending more money.

Spending cuts are something the Federal government has to look into if it wishes to get our deficit under control. The more money we print, the more worthless the US dollar becomes. Unfortunately, under a Republican congress and Republican president, we saw new government policies, one in education (No Child Left Behind) and one in medicare (Prescription Drugs) which weren’t paid for, even with the increase in revenue.

Rick Santorum supported both these policies which expanded government and increased our spending. He was also a “yay” vote for unnecessary infrastructure projects like the famous Alaskan “Bridge to Nowhere” member item. We are at a breaking point with the US economy right now and a liberal president who would find ways to spend money is not what America needs right now.

Keeping government off our backs is not only a libertarian view, but a traditional conservative view. Our Founding Fathers created a government with checks and balances so government would operate slowly.  Santorum is quoted as saying, “I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement.” Does he even know what the definition of “conservative” is? Why does he not like libertarians?

The biggest blow to the Tea Party movement is what Santorum said about it. “I’ve got some real concerns about this movement within the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement to sort of refashion conservatism and I will vocally and publicly oppose it.” What does he mean by “refashion conservatism?” Is he talking about the Tea Party’s position in government? Because if he is, he’s positioning himself as a liberal. The Tea Party thinks government has gotten too big and it needs to shrink.  If he has issue with that, he should remove himself from the Republican presidential race.

Of course, a strong Tea Party movement for congressional seats this year could increase the smaller government representatives in the legislative branch, the branch that defines policy and funds a budget.  Five more Senators who are Tea Party supported and twenty more House members who win as Tea Party candidates can really help with shrinking the size and scope of the Federal government, regardless of who is president.  But, there is the thread of big government liberals who oppose such cuts.  Santorum has shown he is quite the spend-happy liberal as the Democrats.