Brownbacker Excitement!
Brownbacker excitement hit a fever pitch in Topeka today!

As 800 people roared in approval – including all my family – Senator Sam Brownback announced his candidacy for President of the United States of America! Wow – what electricity went through the crowd with those words!!

Can a man of modest background from such a humble state as Kansas really become our nation’s President? Isn’t our state just too insulated, or too small, or too unimportant to produce a top leader? Hmm… they said the same about a man named Eisenhower…

And just outside my Senate office, there is a small plaque on the Capitol steps where President Gerald Ford announced that a man named Dole would be running with him…and another later announcement in Russell…

And I believe that on another set of our Capitol steps, a humble man named Landon announced he would run for President…

There is something about our Kansas values – our Kansas tradition of standing for what is right in the face of adversity – our resolve to get things done – our respect for others -- that is attractive then and now to America.

You can see Senator Sam’s exciting announcement at the following link: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid428895381/bctid435028009

Happy Birthday, Kansas!
There will be a great birthday celebration in Topeka this weekend – for the state of Kansas! On January 29, 1861, we were admitted into the union of the United States of America.

While it is a day of celebration for us now, let us also recall it was a day of complete tragedy for those in the pro-slavery movement. The supporters of the right to choose to own slaves were appalled as Kansas was admitted as a free state.

Rather than viewing black people as property and having no rights, the proud pioneers of Kansas understood that every person, no matter their skin color, was endowed with the inalienable rights to life and liberty. Praise God our Kansas forefathers had the fortitude, courage and wisdom to stand for truth in that age.

A similar disagreement is at the heart of the debate over abortion and cloning – also marked by rallies at the Capitol. On one side, you have the supporters of cloning and abortion, arguing that the unborn is not a human and should be considered only property of the mother or the scientist or even the pharmaceutical company.

On the pro-life side, we maintain instead that the unborn, no matter how small, clearly is human and thus endowed with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With the advancing medical technology, let us hope and pray that our society will soon come to know, accept and cherish the dignity of every human life.

Big Bureaucracy in Kansas Government
How many bureaucrats can the state afford? That is one of the critical questions we need to be asking here in Kansas.

A recent report from the important Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council provides shocking evidence at the high cost of government in Kansas. In a ranking of the number of bureaucrats in states across the nation, Kansas was the 4th worst in terms of bureaucrats per population. In other words – the citizens in only 3 others states bear a heavier bureaucratic burden than Kansans!

The new budget proposals from Governor Sebelius will only serve to worsen our ability to pay for government in Kansas:

Martin Luther King, Jr.
This past week, Senate Chaplain Fred Hollomon reminded us of the spiritual orientation of many of our civil rights leaders with the following invocation: Heavenly Father,

As we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday anniversary, remind us of some of the quotations from him and other prominent black Americans which point out their spiritual orientation:

Dr. King was a Baptist preacher who, in a speech on December 31, 1955, said: If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, ‘there lived a great people—a black people—who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.

Harriet Tubman, a former slave who repeatedly risked her life to free over 300 slaves, told her biographer in 1868: Twant me, ‘twas the Lord. I always told Him, I trust to You. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ and He always did.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, became an outstanding abolitionist and spokesman for all slaves. While retelling the story of his conversion, he said: ...I gathered scattered pages of the Bible from the filthy street gutters, and washed and dried them, that in moments of leisure I might get a word or two of wisdom from them. George Washington Carver, who was an agricultural chemist of international fame, introduced hundreds of uses for the peanut, soybean, pecan and sweet potato, which revolutionized the economy of the South. In 1928 he was asked to share some of his observations about God, and part of his response follows: My purpose alone must be God’s purpose—to increase the welfare and happiness of His people...should we who believe in Christ be so surprised at what God can do with a willing man in a laboratory? Some things must be baffling to the critic who has never been born again.

So thank You, Lord, for these and other remarkably courageous individuals who have blessed this nation, and brought honor and glory to You. I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, AMEN