Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Brownback on immigration

This WaPo article, not altogether accurately, portrays Kansas Republican Sam Brownback as allied with Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy on immigration issues. Unlike Reid, who resisted attempts to permit votes on amendments to the Martinez-Hagel compromise, effectively killing the bill for the time being, Brownback would have permitted floor votes on measures that would have strengthened border enforcement. Not surprisingly, Reid’s motives seem to be connected with election year politics. For more, go here.

Brownback’s position seems a little more complicated and perhaps less calculating. He’s not always voting with his party and he’s taking heat from the right. His position genuinely seems motivated by religious concerns, though without the degree of indifference to national security and the rule of law that marks all too many of the explicitly religious utterances on the issue. One wonders what those who call Brownback a theocrat make of all this.

Discussions - 2 Comments

Our very conservative priest endorsed the Senate bill from the pulpit. It’s not his style to do such things, except on abortion. But something like half of his congregation is Hispanic and lots, of course, illegal. He also was quite negative on what the Republican Georgia legislature did in terms of withdrawing benefits etc. (And he’s certainly a Republican--a big friend of our Republican congressman.) This issue does, in fact, divide American conservatives, and I’m sure Brownback’s boldness is genuine and religiously inspired, as Joe says.

Brownback is looking more and more flaky. My guess is that in the unlikely event he wins the presidential nomination, he’ll crash and burn in some way. More likely it will happen during the primaries, if he runs.

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