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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat Happened When Extremist, 'Christian' Fundamentalist Brownback drove Kansas in to the ground
Liberals throughout the land breathed a sigh of relief when Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas stepped down in 2008 and later decided to run for governor. Yes, the nation's gain was a loss for the good people of Kansas, but Brownback's special brand of right-wing fundamentalism was so extreme that many felt it was better to try to contain him in a single state rather than inflict him on the whole of the country. Judging from the four years he's been in charge of that unfortunate state, their concerns were well-founded.
This should come as no surprise. His tenure in the Senate was characterized by his righteous absolutism and entirely predictable ultra-conservative vote. There was no tax cut he did not back or military adventure he wasn't in favor of. He voted to impeach President Clinton and even took the unusual step of decrying the immorality of the American public for failing to be properly outraged. But it was in the realm of culture and religion where he made his mark.
Once a devout evangelical Protestant, Brownback converted to Catholicism later in life. (His chief of staff at the time was none other than Congressman Paul Ryan, who is credited with counseling him in his conversion.) In the Senate he took up the banner of the culture war, even chairing a Senate group called the Values Action Team which included such conservative activist groups as Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the National Right to Life Committee, where he and fellow right-wing senators plotted their strategy for taking America back to the Dark Ages. He was so doctrinaire he even refused to vote for a particular judicial candidate because she had once attended a lesbian commitment ceremony. (She didn't officiate or participate; she merely attended.) For the two terms he served in the Senate he was a ferocious culture warrior.
http://www.alternet.org/what-happened-when-extremist-christian-fundamentalist-got-run-whole-state?akid=12077.1892773.gnd3yl&rd=1&src=newsletter1013718&t=2
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What Happened When Extremist, 'Christian' Fundamentalist Brownback drove Kansas in to the ground (Original Post)
doxydad
Aug 2014
OP
The Kansans Will Probably Vote Him In Again With All The Other GOPPERS.
TheMastersNemesis
Aug 2014
#2
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)1. the pope would not approve of him. convert back.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)2. The Kansans Will Probably Vote Him In Again With All The Other GOPPERS.