A meeting with Senatorial Candidate Scott Brown

 

By: Randall Miller- January, 2010

Scott Brown
Scott Brown

I recently had the pleasure of spending an evening with WBZ News Radio’s Dan Rea. Arriving early, I was pleasantly surprised to find State Senator (and U.S. Senate hopeful) Scott Brown (R) waiting outside of the production booth. I spent the better part of the next hour chatting with him about a number of issues.

The Massachusetts Special Election is Tuesday, January 19. Brown is running against current Attorney General Martha Coakley. Republican or not (yes, Massachusetts does have Republicans), here are three reasons why you should vote for Scott Brown for U.S. Senate.

As a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and current member of the State Senate, Brown is no stranger with getting “up close and personal” with the people who put him in those positions.
His appearance on “Nightside” with Dan Rea happened about 24 hours after President Obama announced his plans for a “troop surge” in Afghanistan. Predictably, he spent the first segment of the show discussing his own position on the issue. At the first commercial break, he took off his headphones, turned to me, and asked what I thought. He listened closely as I explained my position (which is the polar opposite of his) and acknowledged my points as I made them. Suffice it to say that he knows what he’s talking about (unlike most of our politicians who are painfully ignorant when it comes to anything beyond spouting their “talking points”), and he responded by making a convincing argument without belittling mine. It’s tough to imagine having the same conversation with John Kerry.

Military service is not a prerequisite for elected office, nor should it be. However, we live in a day and age where the use of military force is, unfortunately, very common. As a consequence, I feel more comfortable knowing that the elected officials making these decisions have, themselves, served in our Armed Forces. Scott Brown has served honorably in the Massachusetts National Guard for almost thirty years and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School and decorated for meritorious service for homeland security in the wake of the September 11 attacks, I’m pretty confident that he wouldn’t send our troops to places where he wouldn’t be willing to go himself. Maybe this is a bigger deal for me than it is for you, but it seems that some of the biggest hawks today are elected officials who have never picked up a weapon or served a day in uniform. We need more soldier representation in the U.S. Senate.

One Party Rule is Killing Massachusetts. In November, I attended the New England Business Expo and spent the entire day on the floor talking with exhibitors. The mood was cautiously optimistic until Democratic Governor Duval Patrick showed up and sucked the life out of the entire DCU Center. I won’t go so far as to blame all of our woes on the Democratic Party but, when you have a lock on just about every level of government in the Commonwealth, you have to accept the majority of the blame. This political monopoly needs to end. Massachusetts voters need to stop blindly following the same party that year after year, decade after decade, consistently fails them. Electing Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate certainly won’t solve our state or national problems overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Sidenote: Brown’s complete biography and positions on the major issues can be found on his official campaign website: www.brownforussenate.com. He has an interesting story and a talented family (his wife is WCVB TV’s Gail Huff, and one of his daughters is American Idol semi-finalist Ayla Brown).

Randall H. Miller is an American college educator/blogger. He is also a former U.S. Army officer (82nd Airborne) with a M.A. in Diplomacy (focusing on International Terrorism) and a B.A. in Criminal Justice. The words and ideas expressed here are his own and not those of his employers or affiliated organizations. His blog address is www.Randall-Miller.com.