“I think the people are just ready for some major changes in this country, and I was blessed. It’s a miracle.”The Tea Party is NOT an organization, it's a movement of individual, faithful American citizens.
-- Dave Brat, Virginia congressional candidate
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
GOP Strategy: Dump Old Uneducated Christian Voters
GOP in Illinois Proclaims Biblical Beliefs Unacceptable
GOP Funds Pro-abortion Homosexual Candidates
GOP Has Failed the Nationwide Marriage Amendment Test
GOP Platform OKs Abortion & 'Gay Marriage' at Nevada Convention
-- From "Who is Dave Brat?" by Alex Isenstadt, Politico 6/10/14
Brat, a Michigan native, is 49 years old. He’s spent the last 18 years working as an economics professor at Randolph Macon College, a school of around 1,200 students located in Ashland, Va. According to news reports, he also spent time working as an economist in the Army and at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
He earned his bachelors degree from Hope College, a small liberal arts college in Holland, Mich. He would go on to get a doctorate in economics from American University. Brat, who is Catholic, got his masters from Princeton Theological Seminiary, an institution that, according to its mission statement, “prepares women and men to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the public arena.”
Brat launched his campaign in January. Like many tea party-aligned candidates, he said he wanted to address the nation’s ballooning deficit and that he wanted to be Cantor’s “term limit.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "David Brat’s Writings: Hitler’s Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’" by Reid J. Epstein, Wall Street Journal 6/11/14
In his 13-page essay titled “God and Advanced Mammon — Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?” Mr. Brat [wrote:]
Capitalism is here to stay, and we need a church model that corresponds to that reality. Read Nietzsche. Nietzsche’s diagnosis of the weak modern Christian democratic man was spot on. Jesus was a great man. Jesus said he was the Son of God. Jesus made things happen. Jesus had faith. Jesus actually made people better. Then came the Christians. What happened? What went wrong? We appear to be a bit passive. Hitler came along, and he did not meet with unified resistance. I have the sinking feeling that it could all happen again, quite easily. The church should rise up higher than Nietzsche could see and prove him wrong. We should love our neighbor so much that we actually believe in right and wrong, and do something about it. If we all did the right thing and had the guts to spread the word, we would not need the government to backstop every action we take.To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Protecting Values" posted at Dave Brat for Congress website
On Eric Cantor’s watch, our treasured American values have taken a hit. Our Freedoms and Rights have been diminished. Since 2008, the Obama administration has systematically trampled on Constitutional protections with little opposition from Eric Cantor and the Republican Establishment which has either been utterly ineffective, completely silent, or outright complicit in this administration’s assault on our values.
Conservative leader Dave Brat is the strong voice we need to restore those values. Specifically, Dave believes the Declaration to be true. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights."
Dave has spent a life time learning and educating others about these fundamental rights and values. Dave respects and values every person he meets because he truly sees them as Children of God. Our Rights come from God and not from Government. Government is instituted to protect these rights.
Additionally, Dave Brat respects the Constitution, and he will oppose the efforts of the Obama administration to curtail freedom of speech, freedom of the press, religious liberty, and our Second Amendment rights.
Dave understands that the most important factor in our nation’s success is the strength of the family unit. As our congressman, Dave will protect the rights of the unborn and the sanctity of marriage, and will oppose any governmental intrusion upon the conscience of people of faith.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Cantor challenger, Dave Brat, 'shocked' as results rolled in" by Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent 6/11/14
"This is the happiest moment, obviously, of my life," Brat told his supporters at a post-election event in Glen Allen, outside Richmond, on Tuesday night. "The reason we won this campaign, there is just one reason, and that's because dollars do not vote -- you do."
Brat, who raised less than $300,000 to the House majority leader's campaign war chest of $5.4 million, said, "It's not about David Brat winning tonight, it's about returning the country to its principles."
Many political pundits were quick to credit the tea party for boosting Brat's campaign, but his campaign did not get any significant financial support from conservative groups because they were funneling money into other primary challengers they believed had a better shot at beating GOP incumbents.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "David Brat’s Biblical Views Shape His Tea Party Politics" by Elizabeth Dias, Time Magazine 6/11/14
[David Brat] waved a piece of paper with a Bible verse in the air when he won: “Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God!’” he announced to the crowd’s applause.
But there was another reason as well. Brat’s spiritual life has long been as central to his identity, even though it has also been difficult to pigeonhole. He currently attends a Catholic church, but he also identifies as a Calvinist, and he lists four churches as affiliations on his resume: St. Michael’s Catholic, Christ Church Episcopal, Third Presbyterian, and Shady Grove Methodist. . . .
Like many of his Tea Party colleagues, Brat is an Ayn Rand enthusiast, and coauthored a paper assessing the moral foundations of her writings in 2010. Like many Protestants in the classic Calvinist tradition, he believes Christ is the transformer of culture, and that capitalism is the key to this world transformation. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "David Brat Just Became the Christian Right’s Favorite Economist" by Kevin Roose, New York Magazine 6/11/14
. . . one subset of Republican voters — namely, evangelical Christians with an interest in economics — should be more excited than most. Because, in addition to getting a tea-party conservative on the ballot, they just got a new poster boy for their cause.
. . . A review of several of Brat's academic papers reveals that he sees free-market economics as being intricately linked to ethics and faith. He's not just a professor who happens to believe in God; he wants to put God at the center of his work.
. . . As Vox's Zack Beauchamp puts it, Brat believes that "most economists are motivated by philosophy rather than science: they're secretly utilitarians who believe that the goal of public policy is to produce the greatest good for the greatest number."
The Christian right can be a lonely place for serious academics. Especially in the hard and social sciences . . . when a professor comes along who has both impressive secular credentials and a strident religious worldview, they're immediately moved to the front lines of the culture war.
To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.
