Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback (b. 1956 - still kicking) is the governor, and former senior US Senator, from the state of Kansas who wrote a less than stellar editorial for the New York Times about how he thinks evolution is false.[1] Although he is very pro ID, he still maintains a "teach the controversy" view in the political arena. In 2007, he was a Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential election. His views on immigration are considered to be at odds with the general conservative view, apparently he likes them because of what the Bible said about welcoming strangers. He retired from the Senate in 2010, due to self-imposed term limits. This meant he promptly became governor.
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[edit] Economic policies
“”This is exactly the sort of thing we want to do here, in Washington.
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| —Mitch McConnell[2] |
He is a strong proponent of Reaganesque supply-side economics which he has implemented in Kansas in the form of extensive tax cuts, resulting in extremely high deficits due to tax revenues being approximately cut in half, which have resulted in a two debt rating downgrades.[2][3] Brownback has responded to this situation by blaming Obama[4] and proposing to double down on the hot mess he created. He appears to be headed towards doing this after being reelected in 2014 and claiming a mandate, though some Republicans are showing resistance.[2][5] If he has his way, the doubling-down is going to include raiding $95 million from the state highway fund, raiding $41 million from the state teacher pension fund, and cutting agency budgets by 4%.[6][7]
[edit] Scientific views
A Christian fundamentalist wingnut, Brownback has many of the standard fundie views on science. This is unsurprising; here's what he had to say on man's origins.
“”While no stone should be left unturned in seeking to discover the nature of man's origins, we can say with conviction that we know with certainty at least part of the outcome. Man was not an accident and reflects an image and likeness unique in the created order. Those aspects of evolutionary theory compatible with this truth are a welcome addition to human knowledge. Aspects of these theories that undermine this truth, however, should be firmly rejected as an atheistic theology posing as science.[8]
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Brownback is Young Earth Creationist and supporter of the microevolution but not macroevolution argument, [9][10][11] He is also afraid that those evil atheist geneticists will create man-animal hybrids and, by golly, he's going to put a stop to that.[12]
[edit] See also
- Blogs 4 Brownback
- Fun:Bizarro Kansas
- Sam Brownback: What I Think About Evolution
- Wikipedia, for a full list of his political positions
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Brownback's New York Times editorial
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Brownback scrambles to clean up his mess
- ↑ Rating Action
- ↑ Kansas tax revenue off $92 million in April
- ↑ Kansas Governor Wants To Double Down On Massive Tax Cut That Tanked State Finances
- ↑ Sam Brownback unveils plan to close budget gap
- ↑ Kansas governor unveils plan to close budget gap
- ↑ DON'T KNOW MUCH BIOLOGY
- ↑ What Sam Brownback thinks about evolution
- ↑ Sam Brownback, defender of the faith
- ↑ Brownback on evolution
- ↑ Grandma Manimal