Scold war: by putting families, not individuals, at the center of his philosophy of freedom, Sen. Rick Santorum misreads two centuries of American political thought.

• Author: Galston, William A.
• Position: On Political Books - It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good - Book Review

It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good By Rick Santorum Intercollegiate Studies Institute, $25.00

This is not an easy book for a moderate Democrat to review because its author indulges in serial caricatures of his opponents. We learn from Sen. Rick Santorum that liberals want to "pulverize" the nuclear family and discourage economic self-sufficiency, that they are hostile to work and ordinary morality. (I select these items from dozens of comparable insults.) Liberalism, Santorum instructs us, is an "ideology" while conservatism is "common sense." These sorts of animadversions are rooted in the conservative echo chamber that is an increasingly prominent part of Beltway political culture, and they do not contribute to a productive discussion.

There is another side to It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, however--a serious argument that deserves respectful consideration. Santorum contends that the idea of individual autonomy, which he takes to be the core of contemporary liberalism, constitutes a conception of "no-fault freedom" that undermines an older ideal of ordered liberty on which republican self-government depends. The propensity toward ordered liberty is not innate; it must be carefully nurtured in "traditional families" and in neighborhoods and communities that take responsibility, so far as possible, for their own fate. Liberal individualism is blind to the essentially social nature of human beings. Not the individual, but rather the family, is the basic unit of society. Individual rights take their place within, and are subordinate to, institutions and practices that promote the common good. In the last analysis, republican government rests more on virtue than on freedom; otherwise put, genuine freedom is oriented toward virtue and especially toward duty and self-sacrifice.

In the body of this book, Santorum examines what he calls the "five pillars of American civilization"--otherwise put, the arenas within which individuals may cultivate the virtues needed for individual success and for the survival of the American experiment in self-government. Expanding on Robert Putnam's discussion in Bowling Alone, Santorum examines society, the economy, morality, culture, and the educational system as sources of "capital" on which individuals can draw--that is, if these sectors are in good order. But they are not, he contends; in each, the influence of pernicious liberal ideas is weakening their capacity to promote virtue. Conservatism, then, means more than limiting government; indeed, it may mean expanding government. (Santorum proposes to cream or expand numerous public programs)...