Did this "really" cause the the fall of the British Empire?

Elise Foley

elise@huffingtonpost.com

BOONE, Iowa (Can such a place truly exist?? haha)

Rick Santorum said Monday that the United Kingdom's development of a social safety net, including universal health care, cost the nation its empire and "world domination," a mantle he said the United States has assumed but is in danger of losing under Barack Obama.

"If you look at every European country that has had world domination, a world presence, from the French to the British -- 100 years ago, the sun didn't set on the British Empire," Santorum said at an appearance in Sioux City, Iowa. "If you look at that empire today -- why? Because they lost heart and faith in their heart in themselves and in their mission, who they were and what values they wanted to spread around the world. Not just for the betterment of the world, but safety and security and the benefit of their country."

"We have taken up that cause," Santorum added. But now, he said, "We have a president who doesn't believe in America."

Santorum said the United States is being handed to the United Nations under President Obama, who he often says cares about making government bigger, not better, for the American people.

"This is a decision about what kind of America you are going to hand to your children and grandchildren," he said in Boone. "Are you going to leave an America that is more and more dependent on bigger and bigger governments that do the things that families and churches and local communities should do?" as audience members shouted, "No!"

(Well he gets my vote for nut job of the day!)