The Odd World of Art Robinson

The battle for Oregon’s 4th district is not exactly Bush v. Kerry.

 

Republican Art Robinson wants the congressional seat and his currently locked in a lackluster, albeit slightly comical, battle with Peter DeFazio to obtain it.

 

A PhD, Robinson is apparently a “respected scientist and educator” according to his official campaign website and has developed a curriculum, along with accompanying books, that are popular amongst the home-schooled crowd and his six children. Three of the six currently hold doctorates and follow in their father’s footsteps, going into the science field. One child, in particular, took the role of adoring son one step further and followed his father into the political area. In the same building. During the same sideshow. After changing his political affiliation in August of last year, Matthew Robinson ran as a democrat against DeFazio in the primary. The result, should he have won, would have been a head-to-head with his own father. Robinson for Congress, indeed.

 

On the issues, Robinson falls safely on the Republican platform. He’s pro-life, anti-big government and believes that, if left to their own devices, people will ultimately make enough money and live comfortably. Mainly, according to Robinson, because if people should happen to fall out of work because government regulations strangle them out of their position, their fellow Americans will provide for them privately and on the down-low. In his book, Common Sense, which was delivered to some local voters recently, Robinson says of the welfare system, “These charities, however, should be handled voluntarily at the local level by the people themselves with their own earnings – not by government seizure of their earnings to pay for ill-conceived bureaucratic programs that harm both the charitable and the unfortunate… Americans are a generous and charitable people. They will not fail, within the limits of their resources, to meet the needs of any hungry child, sick or injured person, or unemployed individual who deserves a hand up until he regains self-sufficiency.” On hot button social issues, including abortion, he writes, “Many people think that Congressional power should be used to mold the behavior of their fellow Americans in accordance with their preferences. The Constitution, however, provides very little such power to the federal government. Social issues are delegated by the 10th Amendment to the States and the people. Federal power should not be used to regulate most personal behavior… it is self-evident that these tax payers should not be required to finance this (abortion) activity.”

 

While Robinson promises to put Oregonians back to work by eliminating government oversight, work to rid the world of Obamacare, protect veterans and balance the budget, some in district 4 think he’s from out of this world. Such accusations come with the political territory but famed astronauts Scott Carpenter and Harrison Schmitt have traveled to Oregon to give Robinson a ringing endorsement.

 

 

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