Angelika Tomorrow, on March 6th, the so-called "Super Tuesday" will take place, as primaries for the Republican Party's presidential nomination will be held in a variety of states, including Ohio. Currently, the candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul are still in the race, with Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney running neck and neck in Ohio according to opinion polls.
The rise of Rick Santorum in this election campaign has surprised many, as he was actually considered to have no chance due to his political views being deemed too extreme. For instance, he considers contraceptives dangerous and views public schools and universities with suspicion, as they supposedly feed the younger generation with immoral ideas. His wife and he homeschool their children. He believes climate change is a hoax and would like to soften the strict separation of church and state enshrined in the American Constitution. The man seems a bit like he's stuck in the 1950s. Or perhaps he should have pursued a church career in the conservative Vatican rather than a political one. Santorum is a practicing Catholic but comes across as more papal than the Pope. He justifies his stance on contraceptives with the teachings of the Catholic Church, but conveniently overlooks the fact that the Catholic Church opposed the Iraq War and is against the death penalty, both of which Santorum supports. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is rubbing his hands together, as no one questions his membership in the Mormon Church anymore because the press prefers to focus on the antiquated Catholic.
Now every rational-thinking person must ask themselves: how can someone like Santorum get so far in a primary race for the most important office in the country? Because both domestically and internationally, it's not about ultra-conservative issues like contraception, same-sex marriage, or the separation of church and state, but rather about jobs, social systems that are on the brink of collapse or don't even exist, debt, and crises like the nuclear ambitions in Iran. One could dismiss all this as the American penchant for flamboyant, extreme personalities, but that would be a bit too simplistic. The Republican Party is in a deep crisis because the moderate voices in the party are increasingly becoming a minority. Just recently, Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican senator from Maine, threw in the towel because she was tired of working with her extreme party colleagues. Even in the Republican primaries, the moderate voter base is now staying home, allowing the extreme voters to take the lead. However, in a democracy, compromise is essential, and with extreme views alone, nothing works in the long run. While the Republican candidates are tearing each other apart, Obama is pleased because his popularity ratings have risen since the Republicans have been engaging in a mudslinging contest during the primaries. Mitt Romney rightly points out that Santorum has no chance against Obama. Whether the Republican voters see it the same way will be revealed tomorrow.