Republican Presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum recently called President Obama a "snob" for encouraging all Americans to go to college. We are thankful that someone has finally stood up for the (heterosexual) worker and commend Santorum for sticking it to the president. Obama's snobbish investments in community colleges and trade schools that will help train future generations of workers, close a persistent opportunity gap and get middle-class Americans back to work are absolutely indefensible.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines snob as "one who has an offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste." Other dictionaries state that a snob is someone who believes that he or she is an "expert" and is "disdainful of those who hold other opinions." This sounds right, seeing as Santorum definitely doesn't have an offensive air of superiority in his remarkable disdain for a particular group of people, like homosexuals.
For those not familiar with Santorum's stance on gay rights issues, the former senator has said that he doesn't believe that homosexuals should necessarily have the right to engage in private sexual acts behind closed doors. He has also said that homosexual marriage could dangerously legitimize "man-on-dog" or "man-on-child" relationships and that children with fathers in jail are better off than those with lesbian parents. We are extremely impressed with the senator's ability to coalesce such levels of misogyny, fear-mongering and homophobia around a singular issue. Hopefully, Santorum will continue to turn up his nose at snobbish liberals who encourage an educated populace and mischievous homosexuals perverting American culture from the privacy of their own bedrooms.
While President Obama has made proposals to increase funding for community colleges and two-year colleges, Santorum doesn't want to waste his time with silliness like training and educating a struggling workforce. Higher education is for snobs, and the American worker is no snob. Santorum's plans to slash government spending, push a balanced budget constitutional amendment that would undoubtedly terrify elitist foreign investors and credit rating agencies and freeze education spending seem completely in line with his desire to empower the working class. Thankfully, Santorum will give American workers the greatest asset of all — time. Because they won't be educated or trained enough to get a job.
Economics experts have noted that most desirable manufacturing jobs necessitate more education than a high school degree. Frank Levy, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stated that "unless you're okay with the earnings of a high school graduate," artisans, mechanics, manufacturers and the like need to get a college education. But we're skeptical of Levy's claim. A so-called expert at an elitist university supporting Obama's big spending policies? Sounds like a liberal conspiracy to us.
In all seriousness, we are deeply troubled by Santorum's comments on a number of subjects, particularly higher education and homosexuality, and find him to be a particularly vile and offensive candidate. While we understand that Republicans seemingly would rather nominate a lounge chair than Mitt Romney, their latest conservative alternative is especially disconcerting. In that vein, we propose that perhaps they nominate someone who has integrity, financial experience, history running a successful corporation, the appropriate respect for higher education and who will soon be out of a job anyway. That's right, GOP: Why don't you give Ruth a call?
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
