Rich guy to poor Americans, "You should suffer"

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum wants the poor to suffer.

During a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa Friday afternoon, Rick Santorum argued that Americans receive too many government benefits and ought to “suffer” in the Christian tradition. If “you’re lower income, you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance,” Santorum complained, before adding, “suffering is part of life and it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life.”  Link

Shouldn't our goal as human beings be to reduce ALL human suffering?  Isn't it our moral imperative to work to  ELIMINATE all human suffering?


But then, what do I know about morality?  I'm just an atheist.