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MEMBER DIARY
Scott Brown is … Scott Brown!
As a conservative Tea Party patriot I confess I joined the online enthusiasm over the special election to fill the late Senator Edward Kennedy’s seat. We who say we stand on principles were upended the afternoon of Thursday, July 15, 2010. The Tea Party endorsed candidate Scott Brown swung his vote in Senate for the financial reform bill. Should anyone be in shock?
We knew who Scott Brown was not.He was not Ted Kennedy. Moreover, we knew too much about who Scott Brown is. We had Mr. Brown’s raw biography chronicled from birth to military to magazine to state legislature. A former JAG, Scott Brown supported the troop surge as a necessary component to achieve victory. That gave his candidacy a too hasty patriotic salute.
Senator Brown’s stands, however, on social issues were and are clearly moderate. Though he would not reject The Defense of Marriage Act, Scott Brown avowed the issue of same sex relationships in his state was “settled.” Despite his stand against partial birth abortion and his stand for parental consent, for Scott Brown the case of Roe vs. Wade was the “law of the land,” a law social conservatives deem unconscionable as it undermines the constitutional protection of life.
As for his fiscal positions, Brown seemed circumspect, as his campaign claimed he would not push for taxes in “a severe recession.” In a September 2009 radio interview Candidate Brown, reflected on the year anniversary of the financial meltdown.
It’s all about the economy and jobs. Pulling back on the financial [regulations], I think if you do too much too soon, it doesn’t have a chance to catch up and see if we can work out of this ourselves through free enterprise, through private enterprise, intervention and creativity. So I’m all in favor of just holding back for a little bit and letting private enterprise try to get us out of this mess.
So Thursday “a little bit” of time was up. Senator Brown cast a deciding vote. Does it matter whether the Senator along with two other Republican Party Senators read the 2,315 pages of that bill? Few in Congress know the details. The President will sign this bill with its 350,000 worded regulations. In this vote Senator Brown averred his moderate, big government stance.
Though I couldn’t vote for him, nor did I fund his campaign, I confess. I blindly rooted for his victory. I did not wear my pince-nez of principles nor my Franklin founding spectacles. I could have read the fine print news articles and determined that Brown was and is Brown.
In this election year we need to be as wise and as well-read as Jesus Christ and Abe Lincoln. I pray we don’t become repeat offenders in future political campaigns.
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