"How things are supposed to be"

Rick Santorum claims that using birth control is "counter to how things are supposed to be." The problem is, Rick Santorum has no business claiming to speak for how things are supposed to be; and if things were as they are supposed to be, he would be nowhere near where he is now.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, the legitimate winner of the 2000 presidential election would have been in the White House last decade, and the debt crisis facing America now would not have taken place.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the people who want an end of the world before the children being born now have reached maturity would not be allowed to claim that they have "family values."

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the people who appropriate for themselves the right to "religious freedom" while denying the same right to the next person would be seen for what they are: wannabee tyrants who seek to usurp the Constitution to impose upon America an apocalyptic totalitarian regime.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the political conmen who aggressively deny reality would not be allowed to claim that they have character or values or integrity.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the leaders who use lies to drag America into needless wars would be in jail, as would those whose corrupt machinations put them in the White House.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then people would see right through the conmen who promise lower taxes, debt reduction and increases in military spending at the same time.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the right-wing activists who advocate overtly totalitarian tactics, such as killing or imprisoning liberal Democrats, would be arrested for inciting violence.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the credit for America's economic and technological accomplishments would go to government-funded science, which is at the root of all technological accomplishments, rather than to Republican Party or to God.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the 1980s and 1990s prosperity would be credited to its true engine - the computer industry, began by a hippie and located in Democratic-voting areas of America, with Democrats forming the bulk of its management and its rank-and-file.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then Bill Clinton - the only president in recent memory who achieved a balanced budget while also creating 23 million jobs - would be celebrated as someone who made possible America's greatest period.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then millionaires would not be paying smaller portion of their income in taxes than manual workers and secretaries.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the scoundrels who batter their wives and rape their children would be behind bars rather than protected by courts corrupted by Christian Right in their abominations.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then liar media outlets such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck would not be whining about being outcompeted by "liberal media" at the same time as they accuse liberals of being whiners.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then America and the rest of the world would have long ago been running clean energy.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the government-subsidized, government-hating Texas Oil would not have gotten away with its lies to the people and the lobbying of the government, and vigorous progress in energy sector would have begun three decades prior to today.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then America's farmland would be used to feed 2 billion people around the world, instead of having most of that land used by government-subsidized, government-hating Big Beef to raise cattle feed to the point that the land feeds a fraction of that number, and instead of gaining vast economic benefit from selling the food abroad and vast political benefit from giving it away in time of famine America reaps obesity, diabetes and debt.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then the Christian Right would not have been allowed to get away with its ridiculous lies - such as that AIDS is God's way of controlling homosexual population, that 9-11 happened because God removed his protective umbrella over America, that a Satanic conspiracy is running the world, that global warming is a UN hoax or that Obama is a Communist - nor allowed to get away with its more ridiculous claims that it possesses integrity and values.

If things were the way they were supposed to be, then conmen such as Rick Santorum would be nowhere near the head of a major party; dictatorial entities such as the Christian Right would be seen as in sedition against democracy; the corrupt entities that deny scientific reality would have zero credibility; and the people who want an end of the world before the children being born now have reached maturity would be laughed at when they claim that they possess family values or that they have America's best interests in mind.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just a fraction of what would be happening if things were the way that they are supposed to be.