WASHINGTON D.C.—Every politician tries to claim he/she is a maverick, but Scott Brown, the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, is truly the definition of the word. A man who won the seat that liberal icon Edward Moore (Ted) Kennedy held since 1972 until his death last year, Brown became a Tea Party candidate. Without embracing their negative attributes, he used his unique brand to convince voters in his state to back him over a democratic candidate; thus, making him the first Republican U.S. Senator in the state in almost four decades.
Brown refused to join Tea Party rallies when he found them racist and boorish, to say the least. He’s also decided to vote in what he believes, having voted with democrats and independents whenever he found it to be the right thing to do for the country. Perhaps his integrity is what makes him so popular throughout the U.S. When Americans are polled about senators and likability ratings, Brown has support across the board. This week Senator Brown released his memoir titled “Against All Odds.” He chronicles a life of a young boy raised in the ghetto, whose mother married four different men, some of whom were very abusive toward him and his mother. Brown also revealed his desire to join the National Guard during a crisis in his state. While maintaining a level of integrity, Scott Brown is brutally honest, even when describing how he was forced to steal food as a hungry child on the streets of Boston. I have known people who were just as poor, but now as adults they shun the idea that there are children in America who are hungry. It’s shameless to ever forget one’s own childhood and to belittle poverty and blame it on the poor themselves, simply because their poverty remains on a higher level in the U.S. than that of children in African nations and third world countries. When Scott Brown was hungry as a youth, he was not concerned with statistics and rhetoric; he wanted and needed food to eat.
In the past two years, I have had friends who sided with bigots in political matters, while excusing their immoral and cowardly behavior by saying, “I don’t like Obama or his agenda.” Scott Brown’s behavior is refreshing and proves that one can remain ethical and full of integrity while also being a politician or disagreeing with an opponent. He is a man who has never pandered to the right-wing base of the Republican Party. He believes in smaller government and lower taxes, but says no to rallies where people carry overtly racist picket signs about the president of the United States. This deserves respect. However, his stance on speaking openly about his childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse encourages young kids who are struggling through these challenges today to speak out as well. While most politicians appear fake, as though they are potential candidates for Mt. Rushmore, Brown proves the adage that kings too are made of clay.
Brown recently told his mother and family about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered as a child, which he characterized as less violent than what many of America’s children suffer at the hands of adults. He chronicles this life-altering experience after attending a Christian camp with such dignity and candor that he brings himself to a whole new level of humanity. The one point where I disagreed with the senator, was that he decided not to name the man who allegedly abused him when he was a kid. I along with the rest of the nation, have to believe that he knows or believes that this man is no longer in a position to abuse any other children. However, that’s why I believe abusers should always be exposed, no matter how much time passes after the abuse may have occurred, but we are a nation where people with different opinions no longer seem welcome to the dialogue. For that reason, I will respectfully disagree with the senator’s decision not to divulge his alleged abuser’s identity.
“Against All Odds” is a must-read book for adults and children. In his past, Scott Brown has appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in a nude spread, using the money to pay off student loans from Tufts University. He used his athletic ability to gain entry to a university education, then proceeded to obtain a law degree and is currently married with two daughters—one even appeared recently on Fox’s “American Idol.” Scott Brown is not the typical politician: he’s not pandering to bigots within his party or vilifying those with which he has political disagreements. Could Brown possibly be what Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and every Republican presidential hopeful wrongly claims to be—the next Ronald Reagan?
