Rick Santorum: Historically Deprived and Depraved!
Rick Santorum recently compared President Obama’s recent executive order to insure that ALL women have access to free contraception to the “French Revolution” stating the President was “taking faith and crushing it removing God-given rights” adding “What’s left is the French revolution - What is left is the guillotine.” RICK SANTORUM IS A HISTORICAL IDIOT!
First of all, the French Revolution had very little to do with “faith” and EVERYTHING to do with UNFAIR TAXATION and REPRESENTATION on what was then known as the French “Third Estate”. A historical summary of the French Revolution on sparknotes.com reveals that during the reign of King Louis XVI, France was experiencing a “downward economic spiral”. When the King called in his advisors to address the problem, they realized that the only way to resolve the problem was to introduce a “radical change in the way France taxed the public”. So, King Louis XVI appointed a new controller general of finance Charles de Calone who suggested that “France begin taxing the PREVIOUSLY EXEMPT nobility” and “the nobility refused” – SOUND FAMILIAR?
“In a final act of desperation, Louis XVI decided to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different estates that each represented a portion of the French population”. The First Estate comprised the clergy; the Second Estate comprised the nobility, and the Third Estate comprised the general French public. According to the rules of the Estates-General, each estate was given a single vote, “despite the fact that the Third Estate consisting of the general French public was many times larger than either of the first two estates.” Irreconcilable feuds broke out over the disparity in estate numbers resulting in the Third Estate declaring itself the sovereign National Assembly. Shortly after the National Assembly formed, its members took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing that they would not relent in their efforts to fight for FAIR representation AND taxation – SOUND FAMILIAR?
The National Assembly’s “revolutionary spirit galvanized France, manifesting in a number of different ways. In Paris, citizens stormed the city’s largest prison, the Bastille, in pursuit of arms. In the countryside, peasants and farmers revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking the manors and estates of their landlords.” Matters proceeded to go downhill from there with rifts between radical and moderate assembly members, while the common LABORERS and WORKERS began to feel overlooked – SOUND FAMILIAR?
All sorts of internal and international plots and intrigue followed with Louis XVI being caught in an unsuccessful escape plot and being forced from this throne; neighboring countries issuing a “Declaration of Pillinitz” which insisted that the French return Louis XVI to his throne, and ending with Louis XVI being tried and executed for treason.
If Rick Santorum KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT HISTORY, he would realize that his “French Revolution” comparison ACTUALLY describes 2012 Republican presidential candidates’, Tea Partied Republican Congressional members’, Tea Partied Republican Governors’ and Tea Partied Republican state legislators’ REVOLUTIONARY plot to UNFAIRLY tax, deny the voting rights, squash the workers rights, and legislate AGAINST government programs essential to the day to day survival of AMERICA’S “THIRD ESTATE”!
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