by Bud Cothern, Ed.D.

In an interview about the revelation that Trump campaign members met with several Russians in June of 2016 under the promise of providing trash on Hillary Clinton, Congressman Dave Brat stated, “Everybody colludes.” Well, then Dave, piss on your epistemology.

If you listen to Dave Brat long enough you will hear him interject into the conversation that he is an economist or that he went to seminary or that he taught ethics. I would submit to you that he is grounded in none of those schools, disciplines or principles.

Dave Brat’s theories and opinions are as wacky and convoluted as those of L. Ron Hubbard, the inventor of Scientology. The Georgetown University economist Harry Holzer commented on Dave’s economic hypotheses: “A good journal is not going to publish the kind of statistical work he did because it is so low in quality.” Brat believes that the role of Protestantism is the strongest factor in economic growth of a country. He leans heavily on Max Weber, a nineteenth century philosopher/economist who believed the same thing, except Weber thought that religious context was eventually drained away from capitalism. Not so Brat, who believes religion, particularly Christianity, is still the strongest factor in promoting capitalism.

Holzer goes on to say, “But his statistical models are very simple-minded … In these small-sample regressions, how do we know that religion or the other variables are really ‘exogenous’ and not just correlated with other characteristics of countries that are doing well? If Christianity is so crucial, what explains the explosion of growth in China, India and other Asian countries (did they experience an explosion of Christianity that I missed)?” (msnbc.com) So how does he dispute this? By going after his own field of study at the epistemological level. He essentially argues that economics is not a science at all and that mainstream economics is grounded in moral assumptions that are unexamined. In other words, the “science” of economics is a sham. His own profession! (Slate.com ). Dave, piss on your epistemology.

Interestingly, like Paul Ryan and other right-leaning politicians Brat also embraces Ayn Rand, the kooky atheist and literary champion of unfettered capitalism in the 1960’s. Rand was not an economist or even a philosopher, but her literary devotees include Milton Freidman, the monetary economist who promoted the “shareholder value” theory of corporate America. Friedman proposed that employees and customers had no stake in a corporation since the all money belonged to shareholders. The only job of the executive was to maximize profits for the company’s investors. In other words, he favored moneymaking and greed at all costs to employees and customers. Friedman was also one of the early proponents of school vouchers as an economic principle. Now we know where devotees like Brat and DeVos are grounded. Dave, piss on your epistemology.

Brat’s somewhat bizarre philosophical and ethical connection to Ayn Rand is probably more grounded in pragmatism than in belief. Ayn Rand was an atheist unlike Brat, who went to seminary. She believed the source of man’s rights are derived from observed facts. She was dubbed an Objectivist. (The Objective Standard ) However, for Brat, man’s rights are derived from God. Rand was also a huge advocate of open immigration unlike Brat, who made undocumented immigration a central campaign issue against Cantor. (Look for the irony here: Rand died of cancer and was dependent on Medicare and social security in her final days.) I guess for Brat, like Rand, money makes all things palatable. Enter Rand enthusiast, millionaire, John Allison, IV.

Allison, head of the large regional bank, BB&T was such a disciple of Rand that he gave out copies of her work, Atlas Shrugged to his executives and everyone he met. Leaving BB&T after the financial collapse of 2008, he became head of the Cato Institute (engineered by the Koch brothers) in 2012. Interestingly, true to his economic philosophy of unfettered capitalism, (wait for the irony) he took TARP bailout funds just before his departure! (New Yorker, June 12, 2012 ).

Dave Brat received a $500,00 fellowship from Allison “to spread the word of Ayn Rand to impressionable college students.” (New York Magazine ). So much for his teaching of ethics. Moreover, Brat’s political career has been enabled by talk radio host Mark Levin, himself aided by the Koch brothers to the tune of $750,000 to promote him and other libertarian-leaning conservatives. (Alternet, June, 2014 ) Dave, piss on your epistemology.

Although Brat has pretended to run against the influence of big corporate money in politics, he has accepted huge donations corporations and PACs like Altria, Deloitte, AKSM (medical), the Koch brothers, the DeVos family and many others. (Open Secrets ). “I am running against Cantor because he does not represent the citizens of the 7th District, but rather large corporations seeking insider deals, crony bailouts and a constant supply of low-wage workers,” he wrote in the Richmond Times-Dispatch days before the primary. Dave, piss on your epistemology.

So I say to Dave Brat. You are not a scholar or even believe in the validity of your own field of study. Quit saying you’re an economist. Quit talking about the value of Western religion. Your callous pursuit of unfettered capitalism to the detriment of less fortunate members of the society and your unwelcoming of strangers make you unfit to even bring up your knowledge of anything taught in the seminary. Stop telling us about that; we know it was an empty education. You taught ethics. Pity the fools! You are just a shill for big money interests and a morally corrupt President. You don’t care about people losing healthcare, destroying public education or separating families who have lived here most of their lives. You sir, have no compassion. You are there for the highest bidder. As you said, “Everybody colludes.” Dave, piss on your epistemology.