Richard John Santorum

“ When we change the definition of something so central to the culture of any society—and that is what marriage is and what family is—it has profound consequences on children and thereby on the next generation. ”

“ Anyone who speaks out against this political thought is a hater. Anyone who speaks out for traditional truth, for truth that has been established in Biblical times, through natural law and a whole host of other cultures, in fact every civilization in the history of man—if you stand for that truth that was accepted by all for centuries, for millennia, you are a hater. ”

“ Marriage and family is more than that. Principally, marriage and family has been held up not as an affirmation to make you feel good about who you are or who you love, but it is about the selfless giving for the purpose of continuing. ”

“ That the basic unit of any successful society is moms and dads coming together to raise children?
Imagine what our Founders would say today, in a Constitutional Convention—which, by the way I suggest to the Senator from New Jersey this bill does not call for—that anyone who would come forward and suggest that holding marriage should be between a man and a woman is doing something that is hateful, something that is against the basic principles of equality within our Constitution. ”

“ This is a society that is so wrapped up in ‘‘me.’’ Make me feel good, make me affirmed—me, me, me. What about kids? What about the future? The greatest generation of America was the greatest generation of America. ”

“ It is not because we hate anybody. It is not because we don’t respect anybody. It is not because we don’t dignify their worth and value as a person. It is because there is a group of people who are trying to change the definition that is central to the future of this country. ”

“ These are people who are not elected, people who are not accountable, people who are not democratic, but they are elitists dictating what they believe their world view should be for America.
The only way for the people to decide, I suggest to the Senator from New Jersey, is exactly the process we have before us. It is the only way for the people to decide. Leave it to the people. ”

“ You see, tolerance means you must agree with me and how I feel about an issue, and if you do not, you are intolerant. Someone who supports traditional values is by definition intolerant because they do not want me to be able to do whatever I want to do. ”

“ But, no, the Senator from New Jersey figured out a long time ago, as have many others who agree with his position, that the way you accomplish these social transformations that fight against this evil, hateful culture that believes in moms and dads and children being raised in stable families—the way you do that is you get people on these courts who can then dictate to the rest of us how we now shall live. ”

“ But this is a country where marriage was a very stable aspect of their culture. They had the highest marriage rate and the lowest divorce rate in Europe. They had the lowest out-of-wedlock birth rate in Europe— until what? Until a social movement began to change the definition of marriage. ”