Santorum: 'Obama Wants Every Kid to Go to College... It Is Indoctrination'
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Wednesday suggested that President Barack Obama wanted to every kid to go to college so they could be brainwashed into being a liberal.
Speaking to a crowd of Floridians at the First Baptist Church of Naples, Santorum said that churches and families were under "assault" by the president and liberals.
"We've lost, unfortunately, our entertainment industry," the candidate explained. "We've lost our higher education. That was the first to go a long time ago. It's no wonder President Obama wants every kid to go to college. The indoctrination that occurs at American universities is one of the keys to the left holding and maintaining power in America -- and it is indoctrination."
"If they taught Judeo-Christian ideology, they would be stripped of every dollar. If they teach radical secular ideology, they get all the government support that they can possibly get. As you know, 62 percent of children who enter college with a faith conviction leave without it. And I bet you there are people in this room who give money to colleges and universities who are undermining the very principles of our country every single day by indoctrinating kids in left-wing ideology. And you continue to give to these colleges and universities. Let me have a suggestion: Stop it!"
Santorum added: "What they say is, look, their values trump your religious values. The government can tell you they're going to starve you by taking money away, by taking out the charitable deductions. They're going to weaken you by passing statutes to change the institution of marriage, which will ultimately make what is preached here hate speech and bigotry."
Last month, the former Pennsylvania senator warned voters in Iowa that colleges and universities had become "indoctrination centers for the left."
For his part, President Barack Obama spoke about the importance of college affordability during his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday.
"We can't just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we'll run out of money," he said. "So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down."
I guess it is rather a left-wing thing to teach all students a multiplicity of subjects, and not just those that might appeal to a particularly reactionary subset of a religious mindset.
Still wondering if the words "effin' heretics" weren't swimming around this Opus Dei apologist's mind... speaking to a bunch of Florida Baptists...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Years back I was on Billy Graham's mailing list and received a wonderfully ridiculous book titled, "Prodigals" full of tales of children who have strayed from their faith, prayers to protect them and much more literary lunacy. One of my favorite stories went like this:
Between the line about the "fledgling scholar's assured arrogance" and "your terrible freedom" it really sums up the fear fundamentalists have for learning and life experience. As Theodore Reik wrote in his book "Myth & Guilt":
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Santorum is sounding more and more like the crazy man standing on the corner preaching to his shadow.
Wonder what he thinks of other countries governed according to religion? I'm guessing it would depend on which religion.
Is he all pissy because god's favorite quarterback didn't make the Super Bowl? If I recall this quarterback went to the U of Fl and came out the other end with his religion in perfect shape. How the hell did we heathens allow that to happen?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
One more thing. If those pants are as yellow as they look on my screen then the man should be arrested by the fashion police. In fact, if they are any sort of yellow I stand by my suggestion.
And no Mr. Santorum, that is not the proper way to flip the bird to liberals. That's the wrong finger, I know that because I went to a liberal college.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
The "man" is truly psychotic! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!!!!
real-life fraternal figure stunt double is getting ever closer to being the reactionary religious wingnut that is the lampooned topic of parody in shows like Moral Orel (not that he ever hasn't been in that mode, its just that he's becoming more like a believable claymation caricature of everything wrong with the American Right & their piss-poor understanding of this great big WALL OF CHURCH & STATE SEPARATION present day)...
I'm a non-denominational Christian, have been all my life, just like, oh yeah, just over 7 OUT of 10 AMERICANS who currently identify as Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical or some Christian denomination (and who attend some house of worship at least once a week)! Only in Richy Rick's world of frothy reasoning would he accuse a President who is ALSO an open Christian that is beyond respectful of all people regardless of their religious faith or lack thereof, as 'being indoctrinated' (which in this case simply means, THINKING people). How secular democracy is the antithesis of a country that has the most conservative and widespread Judeo-Christian & other religious adherence on the planet Earth is just beside me. This is exactly the 'Big Government Republicanism' they bombed us with Curious George and why the supermajority of the U.S. doesn't want their dumbasses anywhere near a public office in the Republican & Tea Party's present monster forms. No other heavily religious nation, the Conservative Party in the U.K. for example, is as divided and needlessly uproarious about this as the U.S. is.
Any by the way, I went/am transferring back to a private Catholic University (St. Edward's in Austin) this Fall hopefully, founded by a close-knit group of French priests back in the 19th century. They have every faith, sexual orientation, race, age group and all other demographs to speak of, and it's an amazing environment for cultivating great minds and tomorrow's leaders. Diversity does not mean loving or even fully embracing disparate beliefs and opinions, but adopting a live-and-let-live worldview that at least gives some humane consensus to my fellow man. I loved that, and I'm all the stronger in my pesonal convictions of spirituality because of that. If these so-called Christians (totalitarian fundies--fundamentalists, I call them) are getting off and circle jerking to this endless victimization and persecution of anyone not 100% in line with their narrow worldview, than THEY SHOULD have good reason to worry about the future of the faith, and people who feel like their being endlessly commanded and preached to should leave it and tell them to suck it. I love God and Jesus plenty sir, thank you; His (other) children and followers are the ones I have ill will and Hell dealing with (I like how Gandhi put that last point)!
What happened to Christ saying 'seek me for your salvation, for the ways of man are deceptively wicked' and 'NOT to pray in public or outside the temple where all others will see and resent your faith like the hypocrites (i.e. the show-offs and opportunists)'? I moderately agree with some points regarding creationism and the apologetics of Intelligent Design (OUTSIDE the class room), but when you have knuckle-draggers like this proclaiming God around to suit their own narrow poltical agenda and personal gain, its all the more reason to be convinced of Evolution and (some) of us regressing back to the intellect of monekys, if not farther down the I.Q. ladder...
Everyone (especially the fundies of all faiths) repeat it to yourself again, "FACTS have a LIBERAL bias," says Stephen Colbert, and are 'stubborn things' (said Benjamin Franklin). We can all have our own opinions, mindsets yes, but NOT our own facts---as obvious as that should be. If we're tolerated the latter, than we had sure as heck better be ready for the well-deserved criticism they richly deserve! Just another reminder that they (conservative Republicans & Tea Baggers) have created their own alternative world to reality, where we're merely objects and annoying pawns to push around. Nothing new to be 'indoctrinated' about (besides free thinking).
P.S.-Did anyone else see or hear about that conductive research survey that showed a full 80% of Americans (Democrats & Republicans) wanted science and religion to have complimentary roles both in the academic and personal spheres of our lives, without being overtly propagandistic to any one's views of either? I wish I could find it, I think it was cited in Eric Alteman's Why We're Liberals book in the 'Why Do Liberals Hate Religion?' chapter....
President Obama is like the AHCA his administration miraculously passed: marginally helpful, efficient enough to be built upon, and will only become a uniform disaster if Republicans win 2012 & repeal it (with all the other good he did)!
YES, all learning and education institutions are liberal (even so-called conservative or reactionary ones like Jerry Falwell's Liberty University) by default. LEARNING, and THINKING, and EXPERIENCING are all PROGRESSIVE action verbs and human activities that are the standard bearing of reality, as monotone and humbling as it may sometimes be. LIBERAL ARTS, by bearing of its very name, involves teaching of what you don't know to become somebody who will know how to be a more productive and well-rounded human being. These things expand the mind, inform our worldviews, form our opinions and lead us in our actions and all other behavior. Perhaps the reason why U.S. Conservatives are so gung-ho on their often redundant and contradictory ideology is because THAT thing (i.e. reality) is simply too much for them to handle or comprehend going along with on the daily. I guess they have more (fatally) active imaginations than we give credence to...
President Obama is like the AHCA his administration miraculously passed: marginally helpful, efficient enough to be built upon, and will only become a uniform disaster if Republicans win 2012 & repeal it (with all the other good he did)!
Totally agree. In my above comment I put a story from a Billy Graham's ministries book which highlights how fearful the faithful are of learning. As for your line: "I guess they have more (fatally) active imaginations than we give credence to..." I think J. G. Frazer summed it up best in The Golden Bough:
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
..to Mr. Mixture:
95% of American kids want to go to college for one reason: So they can study in their chosen field & get a good job after they graduate.
Of course, everybody who is not a right wing nutbag already realizes this.
This is a guy who goes to great lengths to sequester his children from reality by homeschooling them. Seems to me that the very definition of indoctrination.
If you want to get a hearty helping of authentic indoctrination, somebody needs to record what mother Mixture "teaches" her children around the kitchen table.
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
Funny, when I went to college, the vast majority of us were adults, not children, who could make up our own minds about such issues.
And too bad that a similar percentage with a drug conviction can't lose that reality, post-graduation...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
As you know, 62 percent of children who enter college with a faith conviction leave without it.
The ones who leave without it are the one's whose faith is invested in a religion that can't stand up to reasoned scrutiny. My beliefs have never been weakened by contact with reasoned argument and science; in fact, they're strengthened by such contact. That's because I don't take ancient myths literally, but rather understand them for the product of the time and place that inspired them. It's idiots like Santorum, who are too stunted to see religion in anything like a nuanced fashion, who insist on believing things that snap at the first pressure of logic or reason. If your religious platform can't take a bit of stomping, it's not fit to carry anyone.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Education is a conspiracy against ignorance and hate.
...my moral values trump your religious values every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Did I mention I'm an atheist? Makes me wonder what you are.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
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