Sen. Sam Brownback’s Politics of Faith
Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas has been one of the Senate’s most outspoken social conservatives since he was first elected in 1996. Religion infuses his politics…. His conservatism is apparent in much of the legislation he has sponsored, including a bill requiring that women seeking abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy be informed by their doctors that their fetuses can feel pain. He’s sponsored a bill to ban human cloning and opposed stem cell research, which he likens to slavery…. In his capacity as chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on Science, he has held hearings on pornography addiction.
While so many political types are focusing their curiosity on whether or not Sen. Hillary Clinton will be running for President in 2008, there’s an even more frightening prospect on the horizon: Kansas Republican Sam Brownback. A proud Reagan Conservative, Brownback is perhaps the scariest member of a scary collection of Senate Republicans.
Brownback, a first-class moralist and borderline theocrat (though he will deny it vehemently), is also fervently anti-choice. Though I abhor Brownback’s politics, there can be no doubting that he is a man of strong convictions who lives by those convictions. It’s difficult not to admire a person who lives his beliefs to the degree that Brownback does, but the total package that is Sam Brownback is something that any Progressive will find wholly unpalatable and frankly frightening as Hell.
Of course, being a moralist means often being judgemental and a tad intolerant. Brownback wouldn’t be the first Social Conservative to denigrate those who don’t believe or lead their lives as he does, but for someone who wants to be President of all Americans, being judgemental and intolerant isn’t exactly an asset. And channelling Rev. Fred Phelps, who just happens to hail from Topeka, Brownback’s hometown, isn’t a way to win friends and influence voters:
Brownback was recently criticized for comments he made during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, he is quoted as having criticized Sweden for allowing same-sex civil unions. “You’ll know them by their fruits,” Brownback said, quoting Matthew 7:19. Rolling Stone writer Jeff Sharlet accused the senator of using the term ‘fruits’ to demean homosexuals, although the senator denies the charges.
OK, so perhaps comparing Brownback to Phelps may be a bit much, but then again, at least Phelps is honest enough to not disguise his true motives.
Brownback is an interesting political creature. Even for an age of rampant public piety, he is extremely religious. And his faith takes him to some surprising positions. But for all that, he says, his politics are familiar.
Here’s how he describes his political philosophy: “I’m a Ronald Reagan conservative, I’m an economic conservative, I’m strong military. But I also voice and speak and work hard on the social issues. I am pro-life. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I think the real needs in the country are for cultural renewal.”
In a day and age when national politics has become a horribly polarized winner-take-all proposition, the last thing this country needs is a pious Social Conservative bent on turning this country into something resembling the set of “Pleasantville”. A reasonable person might argue that what this country needs is someone who can be a uniter, who can find a way to bridge the divide between the Left and Right. Sam Brownback is hardly that person, and, if anything, is more likely to lead this country farther down the path we’re currently travelling.
And then there’s the “Abramoff Factor”.
Brownback accepted $42,000 from Jack Abramoff, a disgraced ex-lobbyist involved in a wide-reaching public corruption scandal. This prompted Wyandotte Nation Chief Leaford Bearskin to state in a press release that he was “outraged and so very disappointed to learn that Senator Brownback reportedly received large sums of dirty money from Jack Abramoff, a Washington D.C. lobbyist who abused the political system for financial gain at the expense of the Native American community.”
OK, so Brownback may be a moralist, but when it comes to cozying up to corrupt lobbyists…well, money IS the mother’s milk of politics, is it not? What’s a Republican to do?
It may be too early to consider (or worry about) the possibilities, but the prospect of President Sam Brownback should be something that puts the fear of God (no pun intended) into people who don’t want moralizing theocrats making decisions that impact the direction in which this country is heading. Like it or not, WE DESERVE BETTER.
