Changing Sides

Steve Beren, who is running against Baghdad Jim McDermott, deserves more attention than he's getting. It's great seeing that Seattle Times columnist Bruce Ramsey agrees. Mr. Ramsey has written one of the best articles on Beren that I've seen thus far.
Most of us never change our political clothes, being comfortable in hand-me-downs. But Ronald Reagan stripped off his New Deal shirt to become a conservative. Whittaker Chambers joined forces with Richard Nixon. Irving Kristol, godfather of the neoconservatives, was a youthful adherent of the Socialist Workers Party. Beliefs change, though in the believing there may be a continuity.

Which brings me to Steve Beren, the party-endorsed candidate in the 7th Congressional District. He is the most pro-war-on-terror Republican out there, and is challenging what he calls Seattle's far-left congressman, Jim McDermott. The Republicans' candidate is interesting not because he might win, McDermott got 81 percent of the vote last time, but because of who he is.

Beren has been described in Seattle's two dailies as a former Democrat and liberal. He was that, for a while. But from 1968 to 1990, Beren was an activist in the Socialist Workers, the party inspired by Leon Trotsky. Somehow, this interesting fact has been missed by the Seattle papers, though Beren is open enough about it.
I've interviewed Steve Beren and I can tell you that he knows the left as well as McDermott does. The differences between McDermott and Beren are that he didn't close his mind and he was willing to have his beliefs challenged. McDermott and Beren started off believing the wrong things. McDermott accepted the mindless drivel as Gospel fact; Beren did some serious soul-searching and came to more intelligent conclusions.

Nowadays, Steve Beren is as solid a conservative as there is, opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants, hating high taxes and despising a passive approach to winning the GWOT. Considering what he first believed, that's quite a transformation. To learn more about Steve Beren, I'd strongly recommend you read the entire article. You'll be thankful you did.

It's time Seattle fired McDermott and got a real congressman. That man is Steve Beren.



Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:57 PM

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