Bemoaning Ohio results, Santorum says ‘pure democracies’ aren’t how to run a country

After a particularly disappointing night of election results for Republicans, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) lamented “pure democracies,” where major decisions are left up to voters rather than their elected officials.

“Thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot, because pure democracies are not the way to run a country,” Santorum said Tuesday night on Newsmax.

Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved separate ballot measures protecting abortion rights in the state constitution and legalizing recreational marijuana.

“You put very sexy things like abortion and marijuana on the ballot, and a lot of young people come out and vote,” Santorum said.

Nearly 57 percent of voters backed the abortion access measure, and about 56 percent approved of the marijuana measure. Both are set to take effect in 30 days.

The Buckeye State will be the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.

In August, Ohio voters shot down an attempt led by Republicans that would have made it harder to amend the state constitution — an effort that was seen as directly aimed at preventing the abortion amendment’s passage.

Several states have been taking up abortion laws — both providing protections and implementing new restrictions — since the Supreme Court upended Roe v. Wade last year, pushing the issue of abortion access back to the states.

Seven of them — including Ohio, where the issue has been put directly to voters — have approved protections for abortion rights.