Addressing supporters in Gettysburg, Pa., Rick Santorum invoked Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. He also recalled the election of 1860 — when Lincoln was first elected, and after which the Southern states seceded from the Union in order to uphold the institution of slavery — and said the 2012 election is the most important contest in the 150-plus years since.
“And you think about the great elections of our past. And I’ve gone around this country over the past, and said this is the most important election in our lifetimes, in fact I think it’s the most important election since the election of 1860.
“The election of 1860 was about about whether ‘These United States’ — which is what it was mostly referred to, prior to the election of 1860 — would become ‘The United States.’ Whether we would be a Union, a country bound together, to build a great and prosperous nation, a nation based on a concept, a concept that we were birthed with, a concept birthed with our founding document of the Declaration of Independence.
“I’ve said over the course of this campaign, that while other issues are certainly important – the economy, joblessness, national security concerns, the family, the issue of life – all of these issues are important. But the foundational issue in this race, the one that is in fact the cause of the other maladies that we are feeling, whether it’s in the economy, or whether it’s in the budget criss that we’re dealing with, all boils down to one word. And that’s what’s at stake in this election, and it’s right behind me on that banner, and that’s the word ‘Freedom.'”
