Political Rhetoric Gone Too Far

How far to the right are Republican candidates willing to go just to capture the nomination? This weekend Rick Santorum, a Republican Presidential hopeful, was quoted calling President Barack Obama a “snob” for encouraging young Americans to seek higher education in a volatile economy.  It is mind boggling to think a senator who he himself wants his children to pursue higher education feels this way but changes the rhetoric to fit his own agenda when speaking to an audience of blue color workers.

“President Obama has said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob. There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day, and put their skills to the test, who aren’t taught by some liberal college professor who tries to indoctrinate them. I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his,” said Rick Santorum this past Saturday.

Rick sanctorum completely mischaracterized what the president originally said; in actuality what the president was saying is that a high school education will not be enough to compete in this global economy, where competition is at its highest due to globalization. Therefore, in order to have a fighting chance, he suggested getting some form of higher education whether it’s through a trade school, community college or a traditional four year university. To support that project, the president has set aside eight billion dollars to help Americans horn their skills through a variety of programs.

As Americans we should demand and expect more from those we choose to represent us. It is one thing to disagree with your opponents on a factual ground, it is an entirely different thing and utterly irresponsible to be sending those types of messages to young voters, promoting this false notation that higher education is not going to be a vital part in the twenty first century. Someone needs to remind Mr. Santorum that we are in a technological world and it’s going to require a lot more than a high school education to acquire a job in this economy.

This attitude of winning at all cost is dangerous and completely reckless, most Americans want the best for their kids and sacrifice a lot to see them achieve more than they did. I hope we all can come to the understanding that if the youth fails then America fails.

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