Know Your Candidate #8 - Rick Santorum

Welcome to Know Your Candidates, a fresh weekly feature here on Change and Cherish Blog that gives you the chance to learn about presidential candidates you may know nothing about! The feature maintains this blog's vision of ensuring that every voice is heard and that every light has the opportunity to shine. Major news networks fail to consider these things when they insist on focusing on controversial or purely entertaining candidates.

Let's meet ... Rick Santorum!

Rick's campaign website Rick Santorum for President has a whole heap of information regarding his campaign efforts. It appears to be frequently updated with videos and news, and has a lot of different things you can study to learn more about him and his issues.

Here's what Rick himself has to say on the issues.

First, Rick wants to create an economic freedom agenda, which will adjust taxes, encourage businesses to remain in the United States, cut spending, increase domestic fuel production, fix entitlements like the food stamps program, and cut back on all types of immigration.

Second, Rick wants to involve America in the fight against radical Islam by advocating Israel and restricting trade with Iran.

Third, Rick wants to reduce immigration and increase the number of jobs available in the US by cracking down hard on immigrants, including implementing biometric tracking systems and removing laws that state anyone born here is an American citizen.

Fourth, Rick is pro-life and pro-disability, and wants to support legislation that protects these things.

Fifth, Rick wants to protect families by encouraging traditional values and discouraging efforts to redefine marriage.

Sixth, Rick wants to raise awareness of legislation encouraging governmental involvement in education while seeking to tear such regulations down.

Seventh, Rick wants tax code to treat everyone fairly and encourage American manufacturers to keep manufacturing here at home.

Eighth, Rick wants to severely decrease government spending on a national level.

For more on Rick's thoughts, I would recommend visiting OnTheIssues.org (click here). You'll find a collection of quotes from Rick about different issues.

What do I think?

 Honestly, Rick doesn't sound that bad of a person, but I'm confused about the outlandishness in some of his policies. The biometric tracking system he wants to implant in immigrants sounds like Big Brother all over again. I can't help but feel like people are going to be terrified by that prospect. If we're willing to remove a level of privacy from immigrants, when will the law require all natural-born citizens to do the same?

Either way, thanks for reading! I'll see you tomorrow, as always.