Good post by Steven Taylor over at OTB and Rick Santorum’s odd morality:
Having said that (and hopefully have forestalled comments along those lines), Santorum does keep saying things that I think a substantial portion of the population believes. To wit: he frequently makes moral claims that paint the picture of a universe in which all outcomes are justly generated by the actions of individuals. In this universe, people are successful because they work hard and make good choices and people fail because they do not work hard enough and/or because of bad choices.
Now, let me stipulate another point: it is doubtlessly true that hard work and good decisions are incredibly helpful to the generation of success whilst slothfulness and bad decisions frequently lead to bad outcomes. This is not the issue. The issue is the degree to which is it possible to neatly categorize the citizenry into nice, neat boxes of the good and hard-working (i.e., the successful) and the bad and slothful (i.e., those who have failed in one capacity or another). Indeed, this issue is the crux of the social policy debate and is at the heart of contemporary partisanship (e.g., it is why Republicans frequently cast tax increases as “punishing achievers”—a phrase rife with normative judgments about the way the universe works).
Along these lines we can go back a few weeks to a town hall meeting in Iowa where Santorum extolled the value of “suffering” and apparently finds it problematic that various policies (e.g., food stamps, Medicaid, etc.) ameliorate suffering because, after all, “suffering is part of life and it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life.”
The thing is, Steven doesn’t realize it, but the only thing that separates Santorum from most of our elites is how blunt he is- he actually uses the word suffering, and not some euphemistic bullshit like “shared sacrifice” that David Brooks or Douthat or some other douche bag might trot out. It’s the core of the entire mythology they have used to divide “real America” from the decadent coastal elites. Real Americans understand “belt-tightening” and don’t want a “handout” and will “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” It’s so ingrained in our conversation that we actually have people making the honest-to-goodness argument that we shouldn’t extend unemployment benefits during the worst recession since the Great Depression because… we don’t people too comfortable while unemployed or they might not look for a job.
Now, mind you, as with everything else involving the GOP, this is a hoax. When they talk about suffering, they aren’t talking about the rich and well-to-do. They are talking about everyone else out in idiot America who hasn’t been able to see through this shit and keep voting Republican because both sides do it or the baby jeebus told them to save snowflake babies or because Obama is coming for their guns or because gays make them feel icky. That’s how they can simultaneously argue that the payroll tax should die but god forbid any tax cuts on the rich expire.
And don’t get me started on the glibertarians, who think basically the same thing, except without the religious component. To them, if you are suffering, it was because you made unwise choices in our fabulous free market FAP FAP FAP. At any rate, suffering is the entire core of the GOP philosophy. It’s just that you are the one they want suffering. But cheer up, I’m sure Chris Matthews will agree it builds character.
AA+ Bonds
Huh. So I wonder what it means that Santorum failed to win back his Senate seat by the largest margin ever for a Republican senator from Pennsylvania. Or what it’ll mean when Santorum’s presidential campaign fails. (If you want to pretend like it hasn’t already.)
Here’s my favorite human Santorum story, because I don’t got many about the other kind:
In so many ways, on so many occasions, Santorum’s proved it: Trolls Work.
Calouste
Of course, a very common case in America of making a bad decision is deciding to be born to the wrong parents.
cathyx
I’d have to think that even republicans can have a run of bad luck and have negative things happen to them too. So how can they believe this?
AA+ Bonds
Oh, and . . .
Wait, WITHOUT the religious component? Really? All they HAVE is their religion.
Nutella
It is characteristic of the class of people who are comfortable and privileged and either selfish or stupid that they believe there is no luck in life. Everything they have is deserved because they are, obviously, deserving. I can hear them shouting: “There is no luck. THERE IS NO LUCK.”
All of us sentient beings realize that good and bad luck have an effect on everyone’s life as well as good and bad levels of achievement. The proportions differ: For GWB 99% was good luck. For some particularly dedicated people with hard-luck childhoods it’s mostly achievement. For most of us it’s a lot of both good luck and achievement that allows us to be prosperous and safe enough that we can hang around bloviating on the internet.
AA+ Bonds
@cathyx:
They’re not critical thinkers and they’re prone to egotism. Their party philosophy deprecates the former and elevates the latter. That’s why they see themselves as constantly on the verge of immense personal wealth and power.
Certainly we have enough studies kicking around now about how conservatives think selectively much more often than others, and when confronted with the error of their own selective thought, they actually double down on being wrong.
Redshift
The Punishment Party. If there’s a problem, their answer is always for someone to be punished, never to provide the resources to solve the problem. Bad school? Punish them by cutting their funding. And so on.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
beltane
@cathyx: When bad things happen to Republicans is is always the fault of: a) the government; b) liberals in the government; or c) black and brown people who are given preferential treatment by the government.
beltane
@Redshift: But God forbid any punishment be applied to them. Then they would need the whaaambulance.
4tehlulz
@beltane: You forgot the gays.
Baud
@cathyx:
Republican bad luck is attributed to actions of the “others” (liberals, minorities, gays, etc.). Bad luck falling upon those “others” is attributed to Providence.
ETA: I see beltane beat me in making the point.
beltane
@4tehlulz: Yes, the gays and the government that is forcing teh gay agenda down the throats of good Christians. How could I have forgotten that one.
cathyx
I’m trying to remember who said it, but a wealthy successful man said that he got that way because he was mostly lucky. Does anyone remember who it was? He may even have written a book about it.
AA+ Bonds
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a lot of books to that effect
cathyx
I need to start blaming everyone else for my problems. I bet I could sleep better at night if I did.
AA+ Bonds
It works even better if you blame all your successes on how dynamically you shot out your mom’s cooch, A DYNAMO FROM THE GET GO who never benefited from anyone or anything else
MikeJ
@cathyx: Not unless you make yourself believe it.
cathyx
@AA+ Bonds: Unfortunately for me, my birth story(that’s what they call it) is that I was too stubborn to come out when contractions started, and I had to make my mother wait another day to have me. But I blame my mother.
jl
@AA+ Bonds: Cooch gets no credit at all? Sounds sexist to me.
JPL
@beltane: Gays can be good Christians so I missed Santorums point. Maybe Andrew Sullivan can write the former senator a note and explain.
Evolving Deep Southerner (tense changed for accuracy)
Damn good post, Mr. Cole.
AA+ Bonds
@cathyx:
Mine is that I was HUUUUGE. Awwwww yeeeeaahhhhh.
I think the main problem most American conservatives have is that their party has more or less banned them from blaming the Jews at the top of their lungs. That was the go-to all the way up through Reagan.
catpal
the suffering is what the totally loathsome Santorum believes via his practice in the doctrine of Opus Dei – although he denies to be an “official” member.
But as most Repugs, he is full of the hypocracy on suffering:
AA+ Bonds
Oh yeah, I almost forgot that Santorum is another fake-ass wack-ass quotes-around-it “Catholic” who seems to believe that the Church endorsed capitalism at some point.
Also, as an Opus Dei hive queen, Santorum probably is a sure ‘nough antisemite, the real kind, the Holocaust-denier-in-secret kind.
Comrade Dread
@cathyx: I’m going with at some level they’ve embraced the Prosperity Gospel version of Christianity, where God would never allow hardship to enter the lives of the righteous, so if you’re suffering, you just lack (pick one or all: faith; good work ethic; ambition; holiness.)
The book of Job does not exist in the Objectivist Christian fusion bible.
cathyx
@catpal: And I bet he gets less sex now too. Sorry honey, I have a back ache.
Egg Berry
@beltane:
General Stuck
Santorum is too much of a loon, even for the tea tards.
Comrade Dread
@AA+ Bonds: I cut my own umbilical cord and gave the doctor a stirring critique on his shoddy techniques and let him know that my mother and father wouldn’t pay anymore than 4 chickens for his services in delivering me.
AA+ Bonds
@Comrade Dread:
The problem, of course, is that the Roman Catholic Church considers that doctrine to be apostasy at best and heresy at worst.
catpal
Ugh. I give up on comment format, can’t type today or fwp.
AA+ Bonds
@Comrade Dread:
~~inhale deeply~~ I LIKE IT.
Comrade Dread
@AA+ Bonds: Many Evangelicals also consider it heresy. It doesn’t mean people at some level don’t buy it.
Part of our national myth is the idea of the American Dream, and since the founding, generations have been exposed to fables about the hard working poor boy making good and becoming wealthy through his efforts. Regardless of its veracity, it is one of those shadowy ideas in the back of most of our brains that influences how we view the world.
So even if someone knows that the idea that “suffering never strikes the righteous” is blatantly false, when they see something bad strike someone, one of the first thoughts in the back of their mind is “I wonder what they did to deserve that.”
catpal
@cathyx: he doesn’t need it, he is raptured all on his own, all day, every day.
AA+ Bonds
@Comrade Dread:
Oh, I agree. It’s just a different thing with Catholics because there’s a catechism and an institution to enforce it, supposedly. I’m just saying that Santorum, Gingrich, etc. appear to have fallen out of communion with Christ by the measure of the Church with their statements about the moral worth of wealth, how the poor and especially their children should be treated, etc.
And I’m sure any day now all those bishops who interfered illegally with the 2004 election over Kerry are gonna pop up and explain why Gingrich and Santorum can’t receive the Eucharist. Right? Right? Any day now . . .
harlana
it all comes down to this: if you’re not successful, God hates you, so you’re unworthy and you can be dismissed with a clear conscience
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Dread:
My father — rightfully — held a grudge against my grandfather (his father) for years because, upon being told that my mother had terminal breast cancer, my grandfather said, “Well, she must have done something really bad in her life if God gave her cancer.”
My father also told me that he was very tempted to say something similar to my grandfather when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but he at least knew it was a mean thing to say.
Villago Delenda Est
If any of these assholes actually believe any of this shit, they’d be demanding, at the top of their lungs, 100% confiscatory estate taxes, with plenty of safeguards to insure that there is no way to get an advantage in life by choosing the right vagina to be squirted out of.
But, of course, they don’t actually believe in all this hard work shit. They only believe in wealth, no matter how obtained. By theft, by being born to the right parents, by fraud, or by winning the lottery.
“Sloth” is not the problem. If you inherited millions, you can be as fucking slothful as you want. They do not fucking care.
Rihilism
In Santorum’s case, I wonder if it’s a bit of a Catholic thing. Reflecting on growing up Catholic, it seems obvious to me now that fetishizing suffering and poverty contradicts the goal of ameliorating them. After all, if the poor in spirit are owed the kingdom of heaven and the meek shall inherit
what’s left ofthe earth, providing succor to the downtrodden may, in effect, deny them their God-bequested inheritance…Suffern ACE
Everything in block quote is so much cooler than everything in strike through. It’s like joining the hive mind.
Jim Pharo
For the record, we are now in the midst of an “emperor has no clothes” moment: With just a bit of hindsight, we’ll see that this was when the scales started to fall from the eyes of millions, in what will seem like the blink of an eye (historically speaking, natch).
We have laid a solid and substantial base the past few years: the left blogosphere, our strong embrace of data and science, the rise of other progressive media, of think tanks that, you know, think, the many groups, individuals, etc., who have been proselytizing for years now, all out of a shared set of values: humanity, compassion, community, justice and opportunity for all, etc.
This is what living history feels like, bitches!
carpeduum
Does anyone still watch Chris Matthews?
Southern Beale
Yes, good things happen to good people, wealthy people obviously deserve their blessings, the righteous are blessed in this lifetime, yada yada. It’s a nice fairy tale but it has no bearing on reality. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes good things happen to bad people. That’s just the way it is, and try as we might to make sense of it, it just won’t ever happen.
It’s fine to talk about this stuff but when assholes like Santorum, Gingrich, etc. start trying to craft actual public policy based on this fantastical worldview, we have a HUGE problem.
Along these lines, remember that family in rural Tennessee last year who didn’t pay their $75 fire protection fee, and when their house caught fire with their dogs and cats inside, the fire department came out and did nothing? Even though the man begged them to, said he’d pay the $75 right then and there? Remember that? Glenn Beck and the other sadists of the Republican Party made a big deal out of saying “serves you right” to the guy.
Yeah, well, it’s happened again. Same rural Tennessee town. Only this time it wasn’t a middle class guy who “forgot” to pay because he really thought they’d put it out if it came to it: it’s some desperately poor couple living in the most ramshackle backwoods trailer you’ve ever seen. I don’t know but I’d say $75 was out of their budget this year. Why the fuck people in these dire straights aren’t offered another option besides “pay up or suck it up,” I don’t know.
Chuck Butcher
I’m reminded of alcoholics/other addicts who think getting clean and sober means that things will go well. It does mean that you’ll be better equipped to deal with life, but it certainly does not ensure that things won’t happen. It doesn’t mean you won’t get laid off or can’t get hit on a crosswalk or that your … take your pick.
This seems to have followed the concept of life being fair when the term has nothing to do with life. I see this feeling ascribed to various “philosophies” while I’m of the opinion that those are simply constructed around a fairly common feeling.
Scott P.
This attitude is so prevalent you’ll even see conservatives hold up the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath as examples of the can-do American spirit and as role models for modern Americans.
RSA
Threadkiller
My wife (Catholic-raised) asserts that this is a common notion among right-wing Catholics.
“I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.” – Mother Teresa
Happens to synch somewhat with prosperity gospel.
Threadkiller
@Scott P.: Lolz.
“Wherever there’s a hedge fund manager fighting for his carried-interest 15% tax rate, you’ll find me.
Where there’s an oil company defending its depletion allowance, I’ll be there.
And when there’s a dirty hippy “drawing contact” from a poor copper’s baton, well, I’ll be there too”.
ericblair
@Rihilism:
I’ve seen that before, and defines your basic “totally missed the point” Catholic. If you’re a sociopathic asshole, poor people aren’t people who need your help; they’re just things that you can work on to get yourself extra bonus Heaven points. The poor will always be with us, right, so what’s the point in actually fixing the problem?
In a similar vein, “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.”
Liberty60
@Threadkiller:
Keep in mind this was stated by someone who literally devoted her life to easing the suffering of the poor.
As a former Catholic, I can say honestly that Catholics are like anhyone else- they enjoy picking and choosing what parts of the Gospel appeals to them and ignoring that which doesn’t.
Which wouldn’t be such a problem, if there were a leadership that wanted to keep the focus on afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted; but as has often happened through the centuries the contemproary Church leadership seems quite comfortable with the world as it is with the singular exception being the freedom you have with your uterus.
Kilkee
@Threadkiller: Love it.
Betsy
@cathyx, @beltane — I think it’s a consequence of believing in the Just World fallacy (the logical fallacy that everyone gets what they deserve). If you believe that virtue leads to earthly reward, and vice to punishment, then if you are not doing well in life, you must be evil and undeserving — UNLESS you can pin your misfortune on someone who kept you from what you were otherwise entitled to.
Thus, the natural outcome is hatred of some scapegoat group, be it affirmative action recipients, government handout recipients, the gays, etc. (and of course the group one chooses to blame has to be an already picked-on minority or persecuted segment, otherwise it wouldn’t be quite as safe to blame them, would it).
Betsy
Also at some level our puritanically founded society does just hate pleasure. I think a lot of folks just feel guilty if they have it pretty good — Americans in general seem to relish discomfort, and apologize for ourselves if we have it very good.
Outcome of an officially class-free society (that’s really not): people feel guilty for having more than others, therefore we reject comfort as being a guilty thing.
No Swiss would impose suffering on a Swiss poor or disabled kid the way Americans seem to. Because the kid is SWISS, he deserves the best! But we Americans — we would let fellow Americans crawl into a corner and die, and celebrate it as the deserving fate.
300baud
@cathyx:
Maybe you’re thinking of Warren Buffett? That’s a regular theme of his. E.g.:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/03/31/warren-buffett-on-the-lottery-of-birth/
Mnemosyne
@Betsy:
Maybe not a official “Swiss” kid, but there seems to be a whole political party that doesn’t consider immigrants (especially Muslim ones) to be Swiss and would be happy to let them suffer.
Xenophobia and racism are not reserved to the US, unfortunately.
JGabriel
John Cole:
The only things I’ve ever seen suffering build are frustration, pain, despair, and post-traumatic trauma.
.
BC
But then when there are people who truly pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and succeeded by dint of intellect and hard work, the Republicans do not acknowledge their achievements. Witness: Bill Clinton and Barak Obama.When these two Democrats were successfully elected president, the Republicans did not acknowledge this is the way things work. Instead, they tried to use their history of hard work against them. So as usual with everything Republican, it’s just a crock of shit from beginning to end. There is no coherent philosophy or principles here, just win at any costs.
Lex
Beware those who profess bravery in the face of the suffering of others, for they are the sociopaths and ill will befall all who cross their paths.
Except in sane societies, which, unlike ours, lock them away forever.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: Your father was a nicer man than I.
Paul in KY
@Threadkiller: Mother Teresa was a weirdo (IMO).
Paul in KY
@Liberty60: She wouldn’t do anything to potentially stop them from being poor.