American Thinker

by Frank Friday

    Kentucky governor Andy Beshear's quixotic run for the Democratic nomination in 2028 is well underway, and while he is a long shot, he knows how to generate a lot of publicity and campaign contributions. Beshear's audacious intellectual dishonesty might also make a good foil for the GOP contestants and is worth studying in terms of where today's Democrats have their hearts and minds.

    Beshear's latest doing is a campaign book he is rolling out -- pretty much expected for any presidential aspirant these days. Like Obama before him, the candidate has guaranteed a best-seller and a good chunk of money for himself, as his campaign and allies buy up copies of his tome.

    Beshear's offering is called Go and Do Likewise, a reference to the story of the Good Samaritan. Preacher Andy's theme is that Democrats need to reclaim Christianity for the party, as they are the exemplars of Gospel ethics. With his annoying, stammering accent and Bill Moyers-style and holier-than-thou attitude, the secular press may decide he must know something about the Bible.

    But genuine Christians will see the problem right away. Jesus' Good Samaritan rescues and cares for a robbery victim by spending his own time and treasure. He was the victim's "neighbor" even if from a different religious sect.

    Preacher Andy seems to think being a good neighbor is now about how generous the government can be with your tax money. Hence, any attempt to limit taxes and reform social spending is cruelty to the poor. Us ordinary folks have to pay till it hurts and do what liberal government elites, like Andy Beshear and his dad, also a two-term governor, tell us to do.

    Well, that's not Christianity, it’s a variation on a heresy sometimes called Erastianism, where big government replaces the Church at the center of Christianity. The late Mario Cuomo was probably the last Democrat to sneak in some Erastian thinking on the campaign trail. He once said that Ronald Reagan's economic ideas were "Pelagian." Forgetting, of course, that free markets are history’s best poverty fighter. Individuals starting businesses on their own, without government help and approbation, Cuomo thought, were somehow denying a gift of grace from above. Weird.

    Even the timid Catholic bishops of that era denounced Cuomo, and his national reputation collapsed. Just a few Catholic Democrats to this day, like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, still adhere to the Cuomo argument, and they are often banned from communion for their foolishness.

    Preacher Andy goes Cuomo one better, insisting that abortion is an outright good, using the story of his supporter, the abortion rights campaigner Hadley Duvall. Duvall was raped by her stepfather at age 12 and became pregnant in 2014, a story she told over and over in Beshear re-election commercials in 2023, and then for Harris in 2024.

    What she left out was that this was before the Dobbs decision; she was never denied an abortion, and she actually miscarried early in her pregnancy. Also, her stepfather was successfully prosecuted and imprisoned. Beshear's Republican opponent in 2023 was, however, caught flat-footed without a good response. Similar to Richard Mourdock, the GOP Indiana Senate nominee in 2012.

    But this type of argument should be easy to counter. I expect if JD Vance or Marco Rubio is asked, they will point out that pregnancy by rape is rare, about 2% at most. There's already the "life of the mother" exception. Most pro-lifers can allow some narrowly drawn exceptions on rape, incest, extreme youth, etc. The real question is -- can you pro-abortionists, in turn, accept legal restrictions on the other 98% of cases  Well, we all know the answer there.

    Of course, Beshear's purpose in writing this book is not to explore serious ideas about faith and morals, or otherwise edify his party and the public. It’s to put some money in his pocket and maybe snag a cabinet post in a future national administration; his current office being term-limited so he has no future in deep red Kentucky.

    When Beshear has had a chance to put his faith into public policy, it often has gotten ugly. During the COVID crisis, he was one of the worst governor/tyrants, trying to shut down the whole state, even sending out the state police to intimidate Easter services. Fortunately, Kentuckians don't yield their rights so easily. The courts and then the Republican legislature, canceled Beshear's emergency powers. Beshear also fought the legislation banning transgender therapy for minors, which easily passed over his vetoes.

    One thing you won't find in Preacher Andy's work is anything about turning the other cheek and working with opponents. Instead, he constantly heaps scorn on Republicans like Donald Trump and former Republican governor Matt Bevin, whom he calls Trump Light.

    Beshear basically had two jobs after law school. The first was as a highly paid lobbyist angling for favors from his father's administration. The second was his election as the state attorney general. In that post, he spent four years in non-stop legal warfare against Governor Bevin and the Republican legislature, using every conceivable frivolous action.

    This was helped along by some very partisan Democrat judges. Eventually, though, Republicans overcame Beshear and passed things like historic state pension reforms.

    This finally solved what had been a catastrophic, Illinois-level budget crisis, brought on by Beshear's father and generations of big-spending Kentucky Democrats.

    And even after getting to be governor himself, Preacher Andy continued his hyperpartisan ways. He won't just not work with Republicans, but the officials in his administration are often forbidden to even meet with state and local Republicans on routine matters.

    It seems that Beshear's Christianity has little to do with Christ and his apostles. Rather, it’s about whatever strikes the fancy of the American left. Fortunately, just like Kamala Harris, the more people hear from Preacher Andy, the better it is for our side.

    Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, KY.