US Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum was asked during a televised debate about single parent families. The former Senator from Pennsylvania gave an answer where he outlined his belief that the US economy could be fixed by ensuring all children were raised by heterosexual parents.
Mr Santorum was asked by moderator Trish Regan if he thought there should be policies to reduce the number of children living in single parent families.
Citing the works of Harvard sociologist Robert D Putman, Mr Santorum said the growing inequality in the country was due to the breakdown of the American family.
“The reality is if you are the child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighbourhood, and you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever, reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America.” Mr Santorum said.
Mr Santorum said his view was that the situation was not good enough.
“We have been too politically correct in this country because we don;t want to offend anybody, to fight for the lives of our children.”
Mr Santorum said America needed to have leadership from the next President to have a national campaign to rebuild the American family.
“Let’s have a national campaign to rebuild the American family to give every child their birthright, which is a Mum and Dad that loves them. This will change the economy.” Mr Santorum said.
Watch the clip about how traditional families will fix the US economy
The claim that encouraging traditional families would fix the economy wasn’t the only moment of the debate where Mr Santorum got people talking.
The candidate suggested that voters should compare him to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mr Santorum asked viewers to look him up on Google.
At first it seems a simple enough suggestion, but the former Senator may have forgotten about the reaction to homophobic comments he made back in 2003.
Thirteen years ago Mr Santorum said marriage could only ever be between a man and a woman. He then suggested that marriage equality would lead to acceptance of pedophilia and bestiality.
In reaction to the then Senator’s comments columnist Dan Savage encouraged his readers to come up with a new definition for the word ‘Santorum’. The definition they came up with is a fairly graphic and unsavory one.
The neologism is now listed on many websites including Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary. So when viewers took up Mr Santorum’s invitation to ‘Google him’, if they omitted his first name, the first results they would have seen would be about how his name has become a new word for a bi-product of anal sex.
Dear @RickSantorum the problem isn’t single-parent families. The problem is a lack of societal support for such families. #GOPDebate
— Heather Parker (@heatherr_parker) January 14, 2016
@FoxNews @RickSantorum it’s not the government’s job to make families… I didn’t even know you were still running tbh
— Incitatus Swift (@IncitatusSwift) January 15, 2016
Without strong families, statism thrives. @RickSantorum understands and conveys this better than anyone. #GOPDebate
— Jack in NYC (@talkradio200) January 14, 2016
I have too many thoughts than 140 characters on what Rick Santorum just said about families #GOPDebate I can sum them up as FJKLDFJLDKAJF
— Jessica Hall (@jessicahall0625) January 14, 2016
Vote NOT earned by @RickSantorum tonight: LGBT families, single mothers. #GenderWatch2016 #GOPDebate
— Gender Watch 2016 (@GenderWatch2016) January 14, 2016
Rick Santorum, who doesn’t like big government, just called for a national campaign to preserve families.
— Quentin Hardy (@qhardy) January 14, 2016
