It often surprises people when I tell them I’m a Republican. Admittedly, this has at least a little to do with my upbringing, but I believe that a president genuinely committed to a smaller federal government can be successful.

It’s not that I don’t think the government should help out its citizens, it’s that I think it should be up to the states, where if done properly it can be more closely tailored to fit the needs and desires of that specific population (e.g. Massachusetts’ public healthcare). It’s a lot easier to choose what state to live in based on individual policies than it is to move to a different country.

This brings me to this current crop of candidates, or, more specifically, the baffling surge of Rick Santorum. Well, I say baffling; the truth is, life is in the patterns, and I suppose it was inevitable that Santorum would have his day in the front just as Herman Cain and Rick Perry did. Maybe the behaviorists were onto something after all.

Many political pundits suggested in the aftermath of the 2008 presidential election that, had the housing collapse occurred earlier and the economy became the dominant issue, Mitt Romney would have beaten John McCain. The theory goes that Romney’s business and economics background would have trumped McCain’s focus on social issues.

Fast forward to 2012, and a similar situation is unfolding. Santorum’s surge is largely due to his focus on social issues – or the media’s focus on his social stance, depending on whom you ask. Next thing anyone knows, this guy is winning primaries.

Super Tuesday is this week, which includes my home state of Georgia. I’m not voting for Rick Santorum. It doesn’t matter whom I am voting for, frankly, because my passion for not voting for Santorum far exceeds my passion for the man I am actually choosing.

By now most people have heard Santorum’s comments regarding godless, liberal institutions of higher learning. Although recently he clarified that he felt everyone should at least attend some sort of community college or technical school – putting him in line with the president – this wasn’t what actually bothered me the most.

What really stuck with me was Santorum’s assertion that President Obama wants higher university enrollment to “remake you in his image.”

The religious connotation is obvious: In the Bible, God made man in his image. Santorum wants you to believe that Obama wants to change that, to replace God, our Founding Father, with himself.

This, of course, is both ridiculous and hugely insulting to anyone who attends or has attended college.

I’d like to think that college has enhanced my critical thinking abilities. In fact, I’d say college has actually expanded my intelligence enough to prevent that sort of indoctrination. College has also given me the mental tools to recognize a hack when I see one.

I don’t know what it is about the Grand Old Party that allows for such insanity to come to the forefront. Maybe I haven’t been paying as close attention to the Democrats, but it always seems that the most illogical, absurd candidates consistently find a platform in the Republican Party.

I was excited for this election cycle because it promised to not be about social issues. Gay marriage wasn’t at the forefront, nor was abortion or the separation of church and state. It would be about the economy, the place of government in wealth redistribution and immigration.

(As an aside, it continues to baffle me that the same people who shout about keeping the government out of our business lives propose in the same breath bills and constitutional amendments that increase the role of government in our personal lives.)

Now, because of this issue of birth control, social issues threaten to elevate a candidate who was just a few months ago considered a complete and utter joke. Frankly, he still is.

John Davis is the chief copy editor of The Crimson White. His column runs on Mondays.