This has to be one of the more spirited exchanges of the GOP debates last night. It came during the so-called “undercard” debate. Here is Rick Santorum and George Pataki on the Kim Davis case:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmHc14PrmSE]Pataki is right here.
Santorum is making an argument based on natural law and God’s law. He is free to make these arguments and he is free to try to convince others to join him in making these arguments. But the United States was not founded as a nation based upon God’s law. Of course it is possible to make the law of the Bible or “God’s law” the law of the United States, but such a change must take place through the ballot box, through the amendment process, or through other means that conform to the principles of a democratic society.
As for Martin Luther King, Santorum is correct when he says that King made an argument from the Birmingham jail based on natural law, theology, and the founding principles of the United States. But it required political action–from the Supreme Court (which is indirectly elected by the people), the Congress (elected directly by the people), and several Presidents (elected indirectly by the people through the Electoral College)–to make the hard work of civil rights activists the law of the land.
And I think I will take a pass on Santorum’s Columbine reference. I’m not sure I understand the analogy.
As for Martin Luther King, Santorum is correct when he says that King made an argument from the Birmingham jail based on natural law, theology, and the founding principles of the United States. But it required political action–from the Supreme Court (which is indirectly elected by the people), the Congress (elected directly by the people), and several Presidents (elected indirectly by the people through the Electoral College)–to make the hard work of civil rights activists the law of the land.
Yes, but it was the civil disobedience that forced them to change that law. Massive jailings of state officials across the nation for refusing to comply with Obergefell would likely bring about a political accommodation. [This is not in the cards, however, the will is lacking.] Santorum is quite right, even if he was unable to flesh out the entire argument. The civil rights battle was advanced on the ideology of natural rights–as ways gay marriage!. These things start with an idea.
http://reformclub.blogspot.com/2015/09/lex-iniusta-non-est-lex-on-attacks-on.html
You can't fire elected officials, that would violate the rule of law. Perhaps the United States is not founded upon “God's law” (a phrase requiring interpretation) or “natural law” (also requiring interpretation), but here is the question: How do you ground the morality of law? Upon what basis do you determine what is morally right and wrong? If moral standards are not grounded in moral character of God and his law, then what are they grounded in? What did the founders believe moral law was grounded in?