Suffering Is Good for You

Now we know some more of the reasoning behind Republicans wanting to slash taxes on America’s wealthiest 1 percent of residents and shift that burden onto the shoulders of the rest of us. Think Progress reports on a recent public get-together offered by former U.S. senator and GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum:

During a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa, Friday afternoon, Rick Santorum argued that Americans receive too many government benefits and ought to “suffer” in the Christian tradition. If “you’re lower income, you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance,” Santorum complained, before adding, “suffering is part of life and it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life.”

“Credit Santorum for being honest, I suppose,” writes Michael J.W. Stickings in The Reaction. “This is what many Republicans believe, based on their ‘Christian’ faith. But of course he’s just giving explicit voice to the assholish, don’t-give-a-shit conservatism that dominates the Party of Cruelty and Brutality that is today’s GOP.”