Santorum blames 'abortion culture' for problems with Social Security
(CNN) - Potential 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum said the "abortion culture" in America is to blame for the failing Social Security system.
In an interview with WEZS Radio in Laconia, New Hampshire, Tuesday, the former Republican Pennsylvania senator said abortion rates are influencing the number of children born in the United States and there are therefore not enough children to support the program long-term.
"The Social Security system in my opinion is a flawed design, period. But having said that, the design would work a lot better if we had stable demographic trends," Santorum said. "A third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion."
Santorum, an outspoken opponent of abortion, made the comments in response to a caller who said abortion rates are to blame for the problems with Social Security and Medicare.
"We have seven children so we're doing our part to fund the Social Security system," Santorum said. "I want children to be living in America and contributing. America's greatest resource is our people and we're denying America what it needs, which is more Americans."
Santorum was in New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state Tuesday to meet with voters and headline a GOP dinner in Concord.
From CNN Politics
- Democratic congressman announces he has 'serious but curable form of cancer'
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Biden marks International Transgender Day of Visibility by blasting Republicans targeting trans youth
- Breaking down Trump's 'Soros' attack on the Manhattan DA
- US bolsters forces in Middle East following series of attacks on US troops in Syria
- Manhattan DA's office again slams House GOP's efforts to investigate Trump probe, says approx. $5k federal funds used
Isn't it ironic that the Republicans claim to want less government while at the same time wanting to legislate against women's rights to their own reproductive decisions? Sounds like more government to me!
His 7 children might help fund Social Security when they are all (hopefully) working productively, but right now they are draining other programs, burdening the shcool systems, etc, and when they come to collect their own Social Security they'll cost us a fortune! What a ridiculous argument he has to justify overpopulation when we are already struggling to conserve resources! I respect him being against abortion, that's his right, but is he also against condoms? 7 children?
Santorum as alwyas TALKING NON-SENSE. How did he became a senator?
What a complete idiot.
These Republicans are lunatics. They blatantly try to weave their pet culture wars into anything they can. Now abortion, their favorite boogy man is tied to social security. Are we this stupid to blame the lost population due to abortion for the lack of people paying into social security? The reason these creeps do this is because it works. We, as a people, are dumber than a bag of hammers. If we were not they would not go for this ssstttrrreeetttccchhh.
lol. This guy is about as bright as Sarah Palin.
Does ANYONE really believe that this Roman Catholic theocrat opposes abortion because of his "concern" for the future of Social Security? I would have a lot more respect for Santorum if he would just come out and say that he wants to outlaw abortion because it is a sin against God, and he wants the United States to be subjucated to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.
Santorum is a pathetic moron. He'll make a great Republican presidential candidate.
Are you kidding me, I'm conservative, but this is downright ridiculous. If they had looked at the statistics a little more closely from the 1970's to the 90's, then they would see a distinct correlation between abortions and crime rate/ unwanted children. The reason for the drop in the major crime rate then was a direct result of Roe V. Wade, and legalized abortions. A large portion of criminal activity is a result of an often bad childhood, which mainly stems from unwanted/ untimely births. Therefore, if we were to factor in the money needed for law enforcement due to a higher crime rate (which would have occurred) plus take into account that the people that would have been born in and grown up in a negative environment would have ultimately contributed very little to social security, let alone taxes, and been more of a burden on society. New idea~ redistribution of wealth to fix social security.
Now that is crazy talk if I've ever heard it. There are way too many people. Way too many.
inSantorum's utter lack of insight and logic is shocking. What will he say next?
Another one gop'er from the funny farm. Keep em' coming. The more these extremist get publicity, the mainstream will be tossed out and President Obama will win in a landslide.
Say what. Abortion tends to be the birth control of the poor. The poor also happens to be the same group that puts a drain social service resources. This isn't exactly a group that has a net contribution to society.
.....yeah, this guy is a standard issue Rethuglican idiot.
Who the hell is this guy? What a freaking moron.
Maybe some of us are smart enough to realize children are a poor investments with minimal returns to happiness, wealth and sanity. No abortion needed.
OMG Ricky! The SS coffers were holding up just fine until they were plundered by the same clowns that are now telling us that the funding is on thin ice. A larger population would not solve the problem. Quite the contrary as a larger population would eventually translate to a larger population of SS recipients requiring even more money to be paid out. Nearly every major problem facing us both locally and globally can be traced to over population and it looks like it will only get worse. Never will humans admit that their overwhelming need to procreate will eventually lead to their extinction.
Just what this country does NOT need are more people like Santorum! Instead of trying to reduce their carbon footprint on this troubled earth, he and his brood increase it on a daily basis!!! It might have helped all of us had he and his wife employed some sort of birth control instead of multiplying like rabbits!
The problem is we don't have enough jobs to employ the people we have so it's hard to say if these women didn't have the abortions that those one-third would be working and contributing to social security through taxes. Then again, before abortion people were using methods like alcohol and back alley abortions. I think here, he's connecting two dots that shouldn't be to further the recent argument by social conservatives' that the social issues they are championing are connected to the economy and that's why they are focusing on those issues rather then trying to promote job growth.
What a moronic statement. He is saying people should breed for money. How many children live in poverty in this country now? How many children are denied a good education? How many children were denied medical coverage under the GOP? And this guy wants to be president. Are there nothing but lunatics in that party?
Makes you wonder why we don't have any requirements at all for those who serve in public office. We should. Anyone who can make an "X" can be elected. A far bigger problem than social security is overpopulation of the planet. It's out of control now, imagine if everyone had 7 kids like brain donor Santorum.
Would love to see Santorum's basis for claiming that 1/3 of all conceived pregnancies in america, since roe v. wade, have been aborted. Its either supported by research or Santorum is inflating the numbers to make it seem like abortion is actually hurting social security. I wonder how much money americans have saved on welfare, WIC, public housing, criminal prosecution, and unfunded hospital bills because abortion is legal. Santorum is a silverspoin opportunist that happily ignores reality just to get elected.
And yet, virulently anti-immigration, right? Hooray for cognitive dissonance!
rick santorum needs to deal with the facts. republicans are always throwing crap on the wall to see what sticks! they will invent facts if it could get some votes. here is a fact ronald raegan borrowed suplus money from social sucerity to pay for his ares race with russia. george w. bush borrowed all of the suplus for all eight years he was in office to make it look like he was not spending to much. the suplus was payed for by the baby boomers in tax increases to help when they retired. suplus means that the money paid in taxes to social sucerity have allways been more than was spent out. george w. bush borrowed $674 billion in the 2008 tax year. the I.O.U.s left in the account to show how much was borrowed by mostly republicans stands at $ 2.5 trillion. saying that social sucerity has something to do with deficit spending is a lie and really is code for they don't want to pay back the money they borrowed. pay the money back SANTORUM and than see when social sucerity really goes broke along way down the road. you taxed us baby boomers on an ever icreasing amount because we were going to be a problem when we retired but instead you borrowed the money from our generation to give tax breaks to the rich. REPUBLICANS HAVE NO SHAME IN WHAT THEY SAY AND HAVE DONE TO US BABY BOOMERS!. TALK ABOUT A WEALTH SHIFT FROM THE POOR TO THE RICH OF $2,500,000,000,000 they took and have the guts to blame the boomers for their borrowing habits from the baby boomers.
This is, perhaps, the most idiotic, moronic thing I have ever heard uttered...this week...by one of these radical religious extremists. The stupidity of Mr. Santorum has only been outweighed recently by the insanity of Donald Trump and the President's birthplace. Rick Santorum has about as much chance of getting the GOP nomination as my Bull Terrier. Wait, now I'm insulting my dog. Newt Gingrich's recent contention that if we don't do something about these so-called "values issues," the rest "doesn't matter," sure makes sense to me. Yeah. People looking for work, trying to feed their families, pay their mortgage are really thinking, "Wow. How could I be so stupid? If they only stopped abortions, I'd get a job and all the kids born would make sure I have Social Security benefits when I retire." I mean, the logic is irrefutable. The more these cretins spout this rhetoric so they can cow-tow to the religious right insures a huge turnout in 2012 by Democrats and Independents, the re-election of the President and the re-taking of the house by Democrats. Can't wait.