Rick Santorum's little handbook of Tradition, Family and Property

What's Rick Santorum talking about when he says things like this:

Rick Santorum warned that President Obama's attacks on faith could lead to a situation similar to the French Revolution.

Speaking at a campaign event in Texas on Wednesday night, the former Pennsylvania said that Obama was "crushing" faith in America.

"They are taking faith and crushing it. Why? Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God given rights then what’s left?" Santorum said according to radio station WLS.

"The French Revolution," Santorum continued. "What’s left is a government that gives you rights. What’s left are no unalienable rights. What’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the guillotine. [The Hill - Feb 9, 2012]

Or when he prattles on about "mainstream protestantism" being in "shambles" and "gone from the world of Christianity." Or evokes Satanic plots against America (bold emphasis mine):

"Satan has his sights on the United States of America!"

"Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition." - [Rick Santorum addressing students at Ave Maria University in 2008]

And there's this: from Revolution and Counter-Revolution by Plinio Correa de Oliveira (blod emphasis mine):

This terrible enemy has a name: It is called the Revolution.

Its profound cause is an explosion of pride and sensuality that has inspired, not one system, but, rather, a whole chain of ideological systems. Their wide acceptance gave rise to the three great revolutions in the history of the West: the Pseudo-Reformation, the French Revolution, and Communism.

Sound familiar?

During a 2002 event in Rome, Italy - celebrating Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer - Santorum told the National Catholic Reporter that John F. Kennedy's 1960 committment to church and state separation had harmed America:

He told NCR that a distinction between private religious conviction and public responsibility, enshrined in John Kennedy’s famous speech in 1960 saying he would not take orders from the Catholic church if elected president, has caused “much harm in America.”

Why does Rick Santorum say these kinds of things?

I'll tell you why. Because he is transmitting the ideological worldview of a guy named Plinio Correa de Oliveira. Who, in 1959, authored a manifesto called Revolution and Counter-Revolution. Oliveira is Rick Santorum's Saul Alinsky. Revolution and Counter-Revolution is Rick Santorum's Rules for Radicals.

Short Wiki entry on Oliveira HERE

You can read Revolution and Counter-Revolution at:
www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0038/

Understand that the "Revolution" (the "enemy") that Oliveira describes consists of the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, Communism and liberalism in general (liturgical, cultural and socio-economic). The "Counter-Revolution" (the good guys) is traditional Catholicism and the Church.

From Revolution and Counter-Revolution Introduction:

As we write these words, our thoughts transcend the frontiers of Brazil, to our dear sister nations of Hispanic America, and thence to all Catholic nations. In each, this same evil exerts its undefined but overwhelming sway, producing symptoms of tragic grandeur. Consider this example among others. In a letter written in 1956 regarding the National Day of Thanksgiving, Msgr. Angelo Dell'Acqua, substitute for the Vatican secretary of state, said to Carlos Carmelo Cardinal de Vasconcellos Motta of Sao Paulo: "Because of the religious agnosticism of the states," there has been "a decline or almost loss of the sense of the Church in modern society." Now what enemy struck this terrible blow against the Bride of Christ? What is the common cause of this and so many other concomitant and like evils? What shall we call it? What are the means by which it acts? What is the secret of its victory? How can we combat it successfully?

Obviously, it would be difficult to find a more timely subject.

This terrible enemy has a name: It is called the Revolution.

Its profound cause is an explosion of pride and sensuality that has inspired, not one system, but, rather, a whole chain of ideological systems. Their wide acceptance gave rise to the three great revolutions in the history of the West: the Pseudo-Reformation, the French Revolution, and Communism.

Pride leads to hatred of all superiority and, thus, to the affirmation that inequality is an evil in itself at all levels, principally at the metaphysical and religious ones. This is the egalitarian aspect of the Revolution.

Sensuality, per se, tends to sweep aside all barriers. It does not accept restraints and leads to revolt against all authority and law, divine or human, ecclesiastical or civil. This is the liberal aspect of the Revolution.

Both aspects, which in the final analysis have a metaphysical character, seem contradictory on many occasions. But they are reconciled in the Marxist utopia of an anarchic paradise where a highly evolved mankind, "emancipated" from religion, would live in utmost order without political authority in total freedom. This, however, would not give rise to any inequality.

The Pseudo-Reformation was a first revolution. It implanted, in varying degrees, the spirit of doubt, religious liberalism, and ecclesiastical egalitarianism in the different sects it produced.

The French Revolution came next. It was the triumph of egalitarianism in two fields: the religious field in the form of atheism, speciously labeled as secularism; and the political field through the false maxim that all inequality is an injustice, all authority a danger, and freedom the supreme good.

Communism is the transposition of these maxims to the socioeconomic field.

These three revolutions are episodes of one single Revolution, within which socialism, liturgicism, the politique de la main tendue (policy of the extended hand), and the like are only transitional stages or attenuated manifestations.

That, in a wingnut shell, is the foundation for Santorum's recent pronouncements. And, as well, the inspiration for an organization called the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, or TFP.

TFP is a Catholic traditionalist special interest/political pressure group with headquarters in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania (near York, PA).

From the TFP's "who we are" webpage - tfp.org (bold emphasis mine):

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) is an organization of lay Catholic Americans concerned about the moral crisis shaking the remnants of Christian civilization. Its origins date back to January 1971, when the first TFP members started to group around the publication Crusade for a Christian Civilization. Today, with over 120,000 active members, volunteers and donors, the TFP is on the front lines of the Culture War, peacefully defending the values of tradition, family and private ownership.

Central to the TFP mission is the idea that the various crises threatening American society and the Church cannot be seen as separate and disjointed. Rather they originate from a single cause.

The TFP handbook Revolution and Counter-Revolution by Plinio Correa de Oliveira masterfully traces the historical and philosophical roots of this single cause: a phenomenon called the Revolution.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE: TFP / Wiki page

From the TFP, February 2012 (bold emphasis mine):

www.tfp.org/tfp-home/catholic-perspective/confronting-religious-persecution-in-america-neither-ap ostasy-nor-dhimmitude.html

Under the patronage of St. Michael the Archangel

Most Rev. Daniel Jenky, bishop of Peoria, Ill., took the excellent initiative of ordering the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel composed by Pope Leo XIII to be recited during all Sunday Masses celebrated in his diocese. He has asked all his priests to announce as the prayer intention “for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.”

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a January 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.

Bishop Jenky’s request inspires us to place this campaign to abolish “Obamacare” under the patronage of the glorious Archangel and we encourage all Americans to recite the prayer daily.

We also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception and Patroness of the United States, to intercede for us in this great struggle.

February 2, 2012

The American TFP

And that is why Rick Santorum says the things he does. He's reading from the TFP handbook.

You Tube video of TFP activists protesting marriage equality HERE. Man on dog referrence near middle of video.

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