Rick Santorum and the US Court System

First and foremost; congratulations on your new wave of popularity inspired by the caucus goers of Iowa. For your sake, don't hope for too much because you, like all the other candidates, will probably receive your week of fame and then be expelled from the mountaintop that you had just recently reached. Remember hope is one of the evils found deep in the box that was opened by Pandora's curiosity, so try not to place too much hope in your chance of winning this upcoming caucus. Nonetheless, I would like to discuss something close to my heart and what seems close to yours as well.

Recently, I have heard you speaking about the judiciary branch and its over-bias judges that never seem to rule in favor of your conservative values. This must be difficult for you, but your reactionary decision to overrule certain aspects of our American court system seems like a little much. I've been reading about your plan to reign in the power of the Ninth Circuit federal court and this is frightening to me. You would undermine the rule of law that all of us depend on. It seems your views on the subject would align with Mr. Gingrich's hatred of the federal court system and Mr. Perry's undying crusade for tort reform, but I ask you to resist the urge to drink from this poisoned chalice.

It is certainly tempting to make the court system less bias and more efficient at the same time, but your method of doing so would bring us no closer to this goal. It may speed up the process for the prosecution of certain "liberal" ideas and the people who hold them, but that would only make us less safe as a whole. I hope a quote from Robert Bolt's Thomas More in the play A Man of All Seasons, would change your mind. Speaking to a witch-hunter More asks if he would break the law in order to catch the devil. The witch hunter responds that not only would he break the law, he would cut down all the laws in England to capture him. More, brilliantly returns with a cool and insightful message:

" And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you—where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?" This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man’s laws, not God’s—and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?

Whether you know it or not, Mr. Santorum, you are the witch-hunter that More rebukes. You are looking to cut down the foundation of law in the United States. By destroying the court system and laws that are attributed to them, you are cutting down the metaphorical legal forests of Bolt's play. And when you are done bringing the law and the courts to its knees, who will protect you sir? When the people begin to see what you have down, and their vengeful eyes fall upon your conservative values, what laws will be left to constrain their passion for retribution. And this applies to all those who wish to undermine the rule of law. When the will of the masses begins to change course and they wish to destroy the foundation of conservatism in the United States, what law will stop them. A weak courts can't help you and the chaotic nature of pure mob rule will find a home in the United States.

The laws are meant to keep us safe from one another. Not just the commonsense statutes about murder and theft, but the laws that would take rights from the minority for what is considered the "greater good". Mr, Santorum, it is obvious you are scared by the liberal agenda and wish to break the law in order to defeat this "crazy" ideology, but remember public will is like the tide, it is an in infinite cycle that will change ever so often. Your conservative values will occasionally be washed away by the liberal tide and vice versa. The laws are meant to keep this from happening. So, when you cut down the forest to chase the devil, remember that there will be nothing to protect you when he turns around.