Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too. - Christianity Today Magazine

How Not to Influence People - Christianity Today Magazine: "Home > Christianity Today Magazine > Culture & Technology > Books

Christianity Today, February 2006

Bookmarks
How Not to Influence People
Rick Santorum's It Takes a Family is an example of how not to fight the culture wars.
by John Wilson | posted 02/16/2006 09:15 a.m.




IT TAKES A FAMILY:
Conservatism and
the Common Good
by Rick Santorum
464 pp.; $25

Every Christian on the front lines of the culture wars should read this book—as an example of how not to go about it. Santorum, a two-term Republican senator from Pennsylvania currently engaged in a tough battle for reelection, is a devout Roman Catholic who was named by Time magazine as one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America." As one of the strongest conservative voices in the Senate, he has taken leadership on a number of key issues, including abortion.

We urgently need leaders who unapologetically defend traditional family values in the context of the common good. At times, It Takes a Family achieves this goal, with well-reasoned policy recommendations and telling anecdotes. But from the start, this book has a divided heart. Santorum's contemptuous references to "liberals," "village elders," and "the Bigs" (this from a candidate who boasts Wal-Mart as a major donor) are pitched to the right-wing choir. One moment sneering in full talk-radio mode, the next moment sanctimoniously quoting Tocqueville, Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

It didn't surprise me when (on page 296) Santorum came to the obligatory reference to Andres Serrano's Piss Christ—"a piece of 'artwork,' funded by the National Endowment of the Arts"—that he referred to Serrano as "José." Santorum and his researchers can't even be bothered to get the name of one of their favorite villains right. We expect more than this from one who styles himself a champion of the common good.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2, Page 99"