Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works by Rick Santorum Read Free Book Online Page A

these lies about freedom to the rest of us, and the people who suffer the most from these lies are the ones who can’t buy their way out of the neighborhoods that are ravaged by the resulting dysfunction. The music producers, Hollywood moguls, advertising executives, and politicians who subscribe to these lies will not be there to bail them out of jail, pay for rehab, help their children stay in school, orgive them a job when their lives fall apart. They are too busy exercising their narrow, destructive view of freedom.

    Achieving our dreams and building a better life for our family require tremendous work and commitment, but that is what makes them so worthwhile. The result most likely is good health, freedom from want, a strong and thriving family, and spiritual well-being. Not bad. We are the stewards of this. It’s up to us to maintain this ideal and reject the unhealthy distortions our culture too often forces upon us.
    The Harrisons know this. They never had illusions about wealth and fame, and they’ve taught their boys that success in life is not defined by how much disposable wealth you have and how famous you are. Those things are mirages, and they’re dangerous for the people who pursue them. What the Harrisons want for their children are good jobs that allow them to live comfortably, strong families, and healthy values that include faith and giving back to the community. That’s their American Dream.

    Thinking about the problems we face—the economic and cultural threats to the American Dream—it’s easy to become gloomy. Especially if, like the Harrisons and like me, you’ve got children who are going to inherit a nation whose promiseseems dimmer than the one we inherited. That’s a temptation we’ve got to resist. I like to recall the three greatest leaders on the world stage when I started my family and my career—Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and John Paul II—the president, prime minister, and pope who, against all expectations, brought down the evil empire of Soviet communism. No one saw the world’s problems more clearly or appreciated their gravity more thoroughly than those three extraordinary people. Their personalities and temperaments were very different, but none of them ever gave in to discouragement. It was not a matter of mere optimism, of a naturally sunny disposition, but of a deep faith in divine Providence. With the same faith, we will be equal to the challenges of our own time.

    There are solutions to America’s problems. We will have to work both from the bottom up and from the top down. Above all, we must be daring. Let’s turn now to what we can do.
    Marriage, family, community: This is where it all starts. Family is the basis. As Iain Duncan Smith showed, the number one “path to poverty” is family breakup. What are the core causes of this, and how do we address them? Family breakup is the result of poverty and a cause of poverty—it’s a vicious circle with many victims. You won’t hear a word about it from President Obama or the Democrats, or from many Republican for that matter. This is up to us as Americans to take care of.
    Healthcare: President Obama’s massive healthcare plan—Obamacare—is perhaps the biggest domestic threat confronting the American Dream today. This disastrous legislation is going to destroy the greatest healthcare system in the world and make Americans more, not less, dependent on our federal government. It fundamentally restructures the relationship between our government and our citizens for the worse.
    Education: From early childhood education up through college and graduate education, we need to ensure that Americans have access to quality, affordable, and practical education. Our schools, riddled with apathy and clogged with bureaucracy, have fallen behind others in the world. It’s unacceptable, and before we can have jobs and industry, we need education.
    Industry and energy: It’s simple. We need to create more