Rick Santorum needs to do his homework

Former Republican Senator, Rick Santorum, came to speak at Vanderbilt on April 12th.  While his ultra-conservative stance on social issues has been criticized, what troubled me most about his talk was that he just hadn’t done his homework.

While his rhetoric and poise may have appeared convincing to some in the crowd, Santorum – like many of his Republican cohorts – is sadly out of touch with reality. His speech was unethical, as many of his arguments relied on untrue statements.

If you were one of the lucky ones who made it through the doors for the College Republican’s full-capacity event, you would have witnessed Santorum’s attempts to redefine American history in the most ‘white-privileged’ manner possible.

While I do agree that “all men are created equal” – as Santorum repeatedly stated – I question who exactly he defines as “men”.

Considering Santorum’s claim that we, as a nation, initially did an “amazing job” of protecting men’s basic rights, it is not too far to assume Santorum defines men as able-bodied, white, cisgender, heterosexual, Christian, males.

It appears Santorum failed to reach any kind of understanding of the three-fifths compromise, slavery, the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the systematic invasion and exploitation of Latin America, the colonization of the Philippines and Hawaii, Japanese internment camps, the disability rights movement, the fight for same-sex marriage protections, the current trend of Islamophobia, and so on – which all prove America’s ability to equally protect its people’s liberties to be insufficient.

Unfortunately, Santorum seemed to enjoy discussing topics he clearly knows very little about.

The Senator said the actions of radical terrorist organizations were an accurate representation of Sharia law. He claimed most Muslims supported ISIS’ interpretation of Sharia law. However, both those claims are entirely false.

Santorum’s lack of knowledge regarding Islam was especially evident when he was confronted after his speech by Vanderbilt sophomore, Hamzah Raza. In response to his claim that Sharia law was unjust, Santorum was asked to detail the five fundamentals of Sharia law. This video, which was viewed almost 35,000 times, shows Santorum being unable to do so.

When pressed by Hamzah, Santorum could also not cite a single Islamic scholar who supports ISIS’ adaptation of Sharia law.

As those who have done their homework know, the five fundamentals of Sharia law are not that dissimilar from the American liberties Santorum wants to protect. The five basic rights are: freedom of religion, protection of life, safeguarding of intellect, preservation of family, and sanctity of property.

It is unethical for Santorum to preach a position intended to incite Islamophobic sentiment without first doing his research.

Rick Santorum’s stance on same-sex marriage also relied upon falsified statements.

He said same-sex marriage threatens the heterosexual institution of marriage, and yet could point to no evidence of how same-sex couples prevent heterosexual couples from marrying.

In Santorum’s denunciation of same-sex marriage, hypocrisy was also evident. To support his argument for regressive marriage laws, he stated the Bible’s definition of marriage was a union “between a man and woman”.

However, in his denouncement of Sharia law, the former Senator stated religion has no business in determining civil laws. Someone needs to tell Santorum he cannot have it both ways.

Santorum came to our campus to argue against safe spaces – yet somehow I cannot help but wonder if he truly understands what safe spaces are. Safe spaces are not intended to silence your voice but rather to allow you to engage in respectful open dialogue.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with asking people to engage in conversation that is well organized and framed to attack ideas instead of character. When Senator Santorum closed his presentation by asking the audience to create an atmosphere that was “respectful” and “kind”, he was asking for a safe space. Those in attendance gladly provided it to him.

Perhaps, as a politician, Rick Santorum feels pressured to have an opinion on everything. But, I do not expect Santorum – or any other individual – to know and have opinions about everything. I do expect him, as I would any other politician, to have well-informed opinions about the issues on which he speaks.

I understand these opinions may differ from my own, we can’t all agree about everything. But we must hold people accountable for the statements they claim as fact.

Rick Santorum came to Vanderbilt and violated our honor code. He presented as fact, statements which have more basis in fear and hatred than in truthfulness. I thought someone should call him out on it.

Next time you come to a speak on a college campus, Mr. Santorum, please make sure you do your homework.