Rick Santorums medkännande konservatism

Bushs fd talskrivare Michael Gerson skriver här på Washington Post om varför Rick Santorums inte är någon "big-governmnet-conservative", som kritikerna nu gärna vill utmåla honom som - utan en compassionate conservative (i likhet med den president som i praktiskt avseende sjösatte begreppet).

Gerson skriver:

...perhaps the most surprising result of the Iowa caucuses was the return of compassionate conservatism from the margins of the Republican stage to its center. Rick Santorum is not just an outspoken social conservative; he is the Republican candidate who addresses the struggles of blue-collar workers and the need for greater economic mobility. He talks not only of the rights of the individual but also of the health of social institutions, particularly the family. He draws out the public consequences of a belief in human dignity — a pro-life view applied to the unborn and to victims of AIDS in Africa.

Han förklarar vidare att Santorum anklagas för att vara en "big-government-conservative" men att Santorum står för en alternativ, men konservativ: tradition

But Santorum is not engaged in heresy; he represents an alternative tradition of conservative political philosophy. Libertarians may wish to claim exclusive marketing rights, but there are two healthy, intellectual movements in American conservatism: libertarianism and religious (particularly Catholic) social thought.

Libertarianism is an extreme form of individualism, in which personal rights trump every other social goal and institution. It is actually a species of classical liberalism, not conservatism — more directly traceable to John Stuart Mill than Edmund Burke or Alexis de Tocqueville. The Catholic (and increasingly Protestant) approach to social ethics asserts that liberty is made possible by strong social institutions — families, communities, congregations — that prepare human beings for the exercise of liberty by teaching self-restraint, compassion and concern for the public good.

Gerson - vars artikel är mycket läsvärd - avslutar sedan med att konstatera att även om Santorum inte vinner den republikanska partinomineringen så skulle vinnaren göra gott i att lyssna på honom. Själv anser jag att även Newt Gingrich representerar ungefär samma saker som Santorum. Det bör dock sägas att Santorum framstår mer rak och tydligt konsekvent än Gingrich övergripande gör.

Källa: Washington Post

Se även tidigare inlägg:

Santorum om gay-äktenskap 20120106