Intercollegiate Studies Institute

It Takes a Family - Conservatism and the Common Good

1 stars (Lacking Respect for Others) - In forty brief chapters Santorum speaks about conservatism, marriage and the American family through the lense of his Catholic faith. He describes Americans as "stewards" whose "task is to secure and increase this patrimony [our inheritance] for our children". What is this patrimony? It is social, economic, moral, cultural, and intellectual "capital". Santorum believes that the family "is at the center of all the types of capital". But his is a rigid and exclusive definition of family - there can only be one mother and one father. Nor is it the family found in the Bible since those often included multiple wives and concubines. It is subtitled, "Conservatism and the common good". The difference between liberals and conservatives is their concept of freedom. Santorum says liberals, or, as he derogatively calls them, "village elders", want "the freedom to be and to do whatever [they] want - freedom to choose, irrespective of the choice, freedom without limits (with the obligatory caveat that you can't hurt anyone else directly)." Opposed to this is the conservative view of freedom. "Properly defined, liberty is freedom coupled with responsibility to something bigger or higher than the self. It is the pursuit of our dreams with an eye toward the common good." The question is who gets to define what is meant by the common good? My guess would be conservatives. Further, "the foundational social unit that instills a devotion to such liberty and that stands against [often sexual] No-Fault Freedom's toxic effects is the traditional family." "Village elders" view human nature differently than conservatives. Santorum believes "conservatives follow the traditional Judeo-Christian worldview, which includes the concept of original sin .... A view of human beings as fallen creatures given to sinfulness." And later, "the truth is that human beings are not born naturally inclined to do the right thing." Is he still livin...
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