I don't think people like Rick Santorum really care about people who don't fit their narrow definition of what an American is. They always talk about 'taking the country back' or 'restoring American values' all the while surrounded by flowing waves of corn, patriotic music and the American flag flying majestically behind them. I remember three rather intriguing episodes of the quintessential nostalgic TV show Leave it to Beaver. One show was about Paco, a Hispanic (they were called Mexicans at the time) who was a friend of Beaver's but his mother had trouble understanding how the two got along because of the language barrier. The awkwardness between the two mothers was supposed to be hilarious but was quite painful when you realize June Cleaver never was going to relate to the foreigner, even though I'm sure Paco's family wanted to live out the American dream just like the Cleavers. Another episode had to do with Beaver making friends with the junk yard family. Man, did Mrs. Cleaver have a problem with that! They played in a junk yard?! Oh, will poor Beaver survive with those poor folks? The third one was about a painter who had a drinking problem. The family thought the maid (yes they had a maid at one time even though June Cleaver didn't work) was nipping into the alcohol and almost had her fired. When they found out it was the handyman, they told Beaver he had a condition and , of course, let the guy go.

The Cleavers never dealt with tough issues. You could say, obviously, this was because Leave it to Beaver was a lighthearted sitcom, but many in the Republican Party want to think American life in the 50s was like it was on the sitcom. One thing you would realize if you watched old 50s TV shows was there was very little depiction of other people. You wouldn't see black, Hispanics or other minorities unless they were domestic help. If you saw a minority, they were either Jewish or fresh off the boat from Europe.

I bring all this up because Rick Santorum insulted so many people today you would think he was from a 50s TV show transported to our time, not realizing the world today is vastly different. At a high school prep school he told gathered students, when talking about gay marriage, he said only a man and a woman should have the 'privilege' of marrying, specifically because of children. He doubled down on this by suggesting that for children it was better for children to have a father who was in jail and abandoned the kids rather than to have two gay parents. His basis for this was a panel he was on in 1996 with Jason DeParle, who wrote a book on welfare reform and suggested this notion.

Another foot in the mouth occurrence happened earlier in the day when he said people with preexisting conditions should pay more for health insurance by using the dumbest analogy in the book. When asked about higher health care costs he said, again comparing health care to auto insurance, people with greater risk should pay a higher cost. The kicker to his comment was when he said, 'Why should we charge more to people who have done everything right?'

Understand the person he was responding to was a nurse who had a son diagnosed with cancer at age five who was just graduating from college. With a preexisting condition he is going to pay through the nose on health care just as he is starting out on his career and adult life. Santorum, a Catholic, believes the kid did something wrong at five to cause him to get cancer so now he should pay for it?

Also today, like I said it was a busy day for Santorum foot in mouth, he offered the tired but red meat conservative trope of the homosexual slippery slope. He said if you allow gays to ruin the holy bond of marriage, then that opens the door for polygamy and other unnatural acts.

It seems incredibly stupid to argue about issues in the bedroom when people are worried about if they will get the next paycheck. Santorum, and to a lesser degree other Republican candidates, are going to keep pushing the social agenda, because that is what their base is fearful of. They don't like change, unless it's going back to the time of Leave it to Beaver. They have been fed the mantra in the churches, on talk radio and other outlets that the country is going in the toilet because what they feel is their moral code is being destroyed. They don't realize those old days weren't rosy and bright for everyone. For a group that talks about less government regulations, they are very eager for the government to regulate the most intimate aspects of our lives.