I haven't seen this particular irony about Santorum's most recent campaign focus pointed out explicitly yet...
One of the reasons that immigration is such a hot topic is that many voters object to paying-- via their taxes-- for illegal residents' children's education, as well as for their health care and other miscellaneous costs. (Personally, I figure it just makes up for the low-wage, benefitless jobs, which allow most of us to afford food fairly easily, whether from the supermarket or in a restaurant, etc.)
In other words, those who come down hard and fast on the side of tough border enforcement--like Santorum-- want to hold people to account, not just on where they live at the moment, but on where they are from and still have their roots. However, the taxpayers who live where Santorum claims his roots are-- in western Pennsylvania-- don't really want to pay for his children's education while they are living in Virginia.
Granted, Santorum is not an illegal alien in the States, but how are his statements about why his wife and children live in Virginia, while his children are cyber-schooled at Pennsylvania taxpayers' expense, essentially any different than a resident-- legal or not-- from Mexico who is trying to support his or her family, whether the family members are here in the States, back in Mexico, or both?
"His No. 1 priority is being a father and a husband, and the Senate is in session 35 to 40 weeks of the year," Davis said. "It's very important that when he's here, his family is with him." (story here)
A migrant worker, picking our produce at less than subsistence wages (unlike Santorum's senate salary) might say the same thing about having his or her children nearby during the harvest season.
photos: here & here
12:18:34 PM
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