Presidential Candidates - #7 Rick Santorum

My family and I were about to leave for a bike ride/run when I received a Facebook message from a friend, former state representative Annette Sweeney.  Senator Rick Santorum would be speaking at the Hardin County GOP Central Committee meeting in Eldora, Iowa that evening!

So, after our ride/run at Pine Lake State Park, we drove over to the meeting.  The county leaders discussed the caucus process, and afterward, Rick Santorum arrived and spoke.

Miscellaneous Facts:  Rick Santorum is 57 years old.  His father immigrated from Italy to the United States as a child, and his mother is of Italian and Irish ancestry.  He's a Roman Catholic, has been married to Karen Garver Santorum since 1990, has 7 living children, and is 6 feet 3 inches tall.

Created with www.readwritethink.org's Timeline Generator.  Click to enlarge.

Santorum Q & A

Santorum said we could ask questions about the things we were interested in instead of listening to him give a "pitch."

Q: What will you do to help the environment?

A:  Many people want to place constraints on the economy to try to help preserve the environment.  My plan helps reduce more CO emissions than anything President Obama has done.  Move 2-3 million manufacturing jobs from China and India back to the United States.  Obama is sending the jobs away to where they'll produce more pollution.  My policy is pro-growth and pro-environmental responsibility.  

Question on illegal immigration.

A:  Go to www.NumbersUSA.com. They rate the candidates, and I am the only one who gets an A.  One other candidate gets an A-, Donald Trump.  Everyone else wants the illegal immigrants who are already here to stay.  Cruz does not give them amnesty, but he allows them to stay.  Huckabee supports the Dream Act.  

Half of the illegal immigrants are here on visa-overstays.  We need to contact them and tell them to go home.  Use E-verify to check if the others have accurate Social Security numbers.  If they don't, they shouldn't be able to find employment.  We need to secure the border, so no more can come in illegally.

Every other senator running for President voted for more legal immigration.  Over the last 20 years, 35 million legal and illegal immigrants have come to this country.  Most are wage earners, and their presence has slowed wage growth.  

We need to reduce the number of legal immigrants by eliminating the visa lottery, and not replacing it.  The visa lottery brings in many radical Muslims from third world countries, who can in turn bring their relatives, who in turn bring their relatives, and so on, leading to chain migrations. 

Many of the workers coming in on H1B visas are not really highly skilled.  Many are just programmers hired to replace American workers for less pay.  We need to eliminate the lowest skill bracket from the H1B visas.  Corporate America wants more immigration to hold down labor costs.  We need to win this election for blue-collar, working Americans, make this nation the #1 manufacturer in the world, and bring jobs back.

Q: Putin is getting involved in many countries.  It looks like he's creating a buffer.  Meanwhile, we're losing respectability and leaving Israel hanging.  Our interest in the Middle East is oil.  If we became an exporter, could we just tell the sheiks to go elsewhere and leave the Middle East for the rest of the world to fight over?

A:  We could produce more energy if the government allowed oil exports, coal, and drilling.  I'm for the Keystone Pipeline and the Renewable Fuel Standard.  We can become energy independent, but that won't solve the Middle Eastern problems.  Israel is there.  Putin is messing with us, but Russia has a bad economy.  I'm not too concerned about his buffer zone.  The Persians don't let themselves be governed.  Iranians are mostly Persians.  They see themselves as an educated, accomplished dynasty, a great people that should govern the world.  The Arabs don't like the Persians.  When Iran gets a nuclear weapon, the Arabs will be right behind them. 

 I would try to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon on the first day of my presidency.  If they're not stopped, there will be a war worse than we've ever seen.  Followers of Apocalyptic Islam look for a global conflict.  Read their books and speeches.  They want to use EMP (Electromagnetic pulse) to knock out all our electricity.  All somewhat-modern cars use electricity.  It would be a disaster a thousand times worse than Hurricane Katrina.  And we have no back-up plan.  Our President has done nothing.  You never hear about this.  No one talks about it.  We need a President who understands the jihadists' plans.

Q:  My two children are in the Air Force, and they will soon be deployed to Syria.  I'm concerned about them.

A:  My son is going into the Air Force as well.  We need a Commander-in-Chief who will tell the armed forces what they need to do to win, will keep them well equipped, and bring them home.  Russia is willing to do what is necessary to win.  But we just "contain" our enemies.  That is the worst strategy.  

ISIS is a caliphate.  If a caliphate maintains its land, it can call for jihadists to help it.  They say, "The greatest power on earth is trying to beat us, and we are winning.  Allah is blessing us."  If they win, they believe it's Allah's blessing, and if they fail, they believe they must have offended Allah.  We are just flying 11 sorties to drop 3 bombs a day.  ISIS is getting stronger.  Obama is not going to win, or stop Iran or Syria.  We need our ground troops to defeat ISIS in Iraq (not Syria) and throw the Iranians out of Iraq.  We need a government in Iraq composed of all Iraqis. 

Q: Not all illegal immigrants are bad people.  My neighbors are nice, and they keep their house and lawn in perfect order.  

A:  Most people who come to this country are trying to make good.  But we are a country of laws.  What makes America a compassionate nation is that all are equal before the law; none are above the law.

Question about IRS being used against conservatives.

A:  My economic plan would take a blowtorch to the IRS.  We'd have a flat tax, and get rid of favors to special interests.  All income would be treated the same.   There'd be a 20% tax on income and on capital gains.  There would be tax credits, and you'd end up paying less taxes.  Corporate taxes would go down.  We'd shrink the IRS, repeal all funding for Obamacare, cut the deficit, and grow the economy.  We'd add over 3 million additional jobs.  Wages would go up; we'd have a manufacturing explosion, and our biggest problem would be to train workers.

Question about entitlements.

A:  I wrote the welfare reform bill, and carried the load in the Senate.  We got rid of the AFDC program.  We need to have a work requirement and time limit on all entitlements.

Q:  Why are we having problems with illegal immigration from Mexico and not Canada?

A:  The Mexican government is sending people to us.

Q: Can we swap some people? [laughter from audience]

A:  Mexican workers are sending money back to Mexico.  Oklahoma has a 1% tax on wire transfers leaving the country, which counts against state income taxes.  It's a sort of fee for working here illegally.  We should think of doing something like that federally to pay for the fence across the border.

Q:  The government interferes with so many things.  Can we have less government interference?

A:  The President sets the tone.  He thinks the government knows best.  We need a president who knows how to clean up the fish tank in Washington.  Outsiders say they'll do it, but when they get there they won't know what to do.  I know I can do it because I've been there, not because experts say I can.  One of the best compliments I've ever gotten was from Senator Grassley, "I've known Santorum for 20 years, and he's never changed."

Further Resources: Visit Senator Santorum's website to learn more about him and read his stance on the important issues.  You can also read about him on Wikipedia.

Santorum's books are available on Amazon: Bella's Gift (Audiobook, 2015), Blue Collar Conservatives (2014), American Patriots (2012), It Takes a Family (2006), and Rick Santorum (Compilation of speeches, 2005)

My remarks:  Last time I saw Senator Santorum was when he was at a town hall in 2011 before he won the Iowa caucus (see photo above).  When I asked for his autograph (and told him I still had his autograph from last time), he told me his signature hasn't changed either.  Well, now I have two photos with Santorum, and two autographs!  

Disclaimer: Candidates' speeches are reconstructed from my imperfect notes.  If you notice any mistakes, just let me know.  I would not intentionally misrepresent anyone's position.  I am not endorsing any candidate or candidate's position at this time, and no candidate has endorsed me.  And yes, I do realize that often speeches are to some extent propaganda, but it's interesting to me to see the points candidates consider as most important.
For my personal political views, please see this article.