Fw: Remembering Tom Coburn, a Man of Integrity

The words are accurate, Dr. Tom was considered to be a good friend, not seen
enough, but who always was friendly and affable to me, even when making me the
but of a joke!!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Solomon" <jimsolomon@windstream.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2020 1:08 PM
Subject: Fwd: Remembering Tom Coburn, a Man of Integrity


The reason people like Tom Colburn are few and far between is why we must
be distrustful of all politicians:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/remembering-tom-coburn-man-of-integrity/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/remembering-tom-coburn-man-of-integrity/>

Tom Coburn, a Man of Integrity
Jim DeMint <https://www.nationalreview.com/author/jim-demint/>March 31, 2020 4:27 PM

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) speaks during a hearing on border security by
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol
Hill in 2014. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
His achievements stemmed from his deep faith and solid principles.
The word "integrity" has two meanings. The first is the quality of having good
values and morals. The second is the quality of being whole and uncompromised.
My friend Tom Coburn, who died this past weekend, embodied both.
Tom was a good senator and a good congressman — and a good physician
and a good husband and friend — because he was a good man. Every facet of his
life was defined by his integrity.
In my years in politics, I never met anyone who took his oath of office more
seriously than Tom Coburn. To Tom, the oath wasn't a bunch of ceremonial words
you say before you get on with the real work of politics. He understood that
obedience to the oath is the real work of politics.
According to the oath, a public official's first duty is neither to his party nor to
his ideology, nor even to his constituents. His oath is to the Constitution itself: its
institutions, its rules, its principles.
In Washington, this approach to politics made Tom a curiosity, even a nuisance.
It never occurred to the party leaders he so often rankled that the real problem might
not be him, but them.
NOW WATCH: 'Economic Powers Vow to Fight Crisis'
https://www.nationalreview.com/videos/economic-powers-vow-to-fight-crisis/>
Watch: 0:40 Economic Powers Vow to Fight Crisis
Some of his detractors — pork-barrel politicians and their K Street funders,
mostly — nicknamed him "Dr. No." But they misunderstood. Elected officials who
take their oaths of office seriously — left, right, and middle — have to vote no, and
often, because the Swamp has so warped federal policy and institutions. During Tom's
tenure in Congress, saying yes to the oath of office meant saying no to Washington.
When Tom first raised red flags about Congress's addiction to earmarks —
special spending provisions inserted into legislation at the explicit direction of individual
members — leaders in both parties, to say nothing of the media, laughed at him.
He didn't mind. Tom Coburn understood that for outsiders, to win the fight, you
first had to win the argument.
Year after year, bill after bill, he showed that earmarks were corrupt and
corrupting. They warped Congress and empowered insiders and influence-peddlers
at the expense of the public. Projects such as the notorious "Bridge to Nowhere" not
only wasted a lot of money; they also covered up even more, because once members
got their own personal teaspoon of Swamp water into a bill, party leaders became
free to pour in gallons more without losing any votes. Every year, he and his staff put
out an exhaustive report on dumb, abusive programs — the annual Waste Book.
Soon after Tom won the argument, he won the fight. Congress banned earmarks,
in large part because of the grit and intelligence of one man.
And what a man.
For as great as Tom Coburn's legacy was as a legislator, even that was dwarfed
by his legacy as a person. When the Ethics Committee told Congressman and then
Senator Coburn that conflict-of-interest rules prevented him from continuing with his
obstetrics practice, he started seeing his patients free of charge. During his long career
as a physician, Dr. Tom Coburn delivered more than 4,000 babies. He served
countless of those and other kids as a regular Sunday-school teacher at his church.
Tom Coburn's life is a testament to the power of personal integrity, and his
integrity was as fixed as the North Star because it was built on his faith in Jesus. Tom
was a great example to me as a legislator, but an even better example of how to be a
cheerful warrior while sharing the love of Jesus. He changed Washington, and made
the world a better place, through the simple but extremely difficult work of being a
good man. And I'm quite sure he recently heard the words from his savior, "Well done,
good and faithful servant."