TRIBUTE TO TOM COBURN
by Bob Linn
Dr. Thomas Allen Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming. Casper is Wyoming’s own “Oil City”. It is also a city deep in “cowboy” country. Wyoming’s culture provided a natural foundation for Dr. Coburn’s eventual passage to Oklahoma.
Oklahoma, home to both the oldest Petroleum Program in the U.S. (the University of Oklahoma) and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, was a natural destination for the pride of Casper, Wyoming.
Oklahoma provided the opportunity for the man who would become known as "Dr. No" to grow to national prominence.
The foundation of his life was two-fold. He was a product of common-man’s Americana. He was in all things guided by his Christian faith.
Tom Coburn was known as one of the few in Washington who stood firm on principle.
Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid, declared in 2008, “You cannot negotiate with Tom Coburn.”
His business & professional successes meant that Washington, D.C. money did not entice him. Nor was he confused by the games its entrenched political establishment played.
While still a young man in his twenties, Tom demonstrated his leadership when he moved to Virginia to take charge of the Coburn family business there. Under his leadership, the Virginia division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market. And, in 1975, Revlon, the cosmetic giant, bought the company Coburn developed.
It was then that Tom Coburn had his first bout with cancer. He was given a 20% chance of survival. He survived, but the experience gave him a love for medicine. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma medical school, he opened his obstetrics practice in 1983.
Having personally delivered more than 4,000 babies, he was a fierce advocate of the rights of pre-born babies. He also stood up against the leftist fake science of global-warming, same-sex marriage, opponents of the second amendment, and the expansion of the federal government.
His business & professional successes also combined with his Christian foundation to give him his fierce, patriotic independence. What Norman J. Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute congressional scholar, called the iconoclastic streak inherent in Dr. Tom Coburn.
Iconoclasm is the bold and assertive destruction of cherished beliefs and the practices of established institutions. Having established himself in Washington as a voice of moral rectitude, he raised the hackles of senior leadership of both parties as he denunciated their high-dollar pet projects and earmarks.
He demonstrated that iconoclastic fire when, in 2011, he wrote a thirty-seven-page report titled, “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous.” It detailed nearly $30 billion spent annually in government subsidies, tax breaks, and federal grant programs to millionaires.
His report states, “From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous."
In 2014, he told Sixty Minutes:
"I see them make decisions every day that benefit their career, rather than the country."
Famed theologian, Gabriel Vahanian, said, the “Christian faith can be true to itself only if it is iconoclastic.”
Clearly, the iconoclastic Dr. Coburn was true to his Christian faith in the world’s center of political power.
All of this prompted Charles McCall, Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, to say of him, “He was successful in politics, medicine and business, but never forgot his faith in Jesus Christ.”
He married the 1967 Miss Oklahoma and his three daughters includes the accomplished operatic soprano, Sarah. This extraordinary family affirmed his deep Christian values.
In a family statement, they said, “because of his strong faith, he rested in the hope found in John chapter 11 verse 25 where Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, will live, even though they die.’ Today, he lives in heaven.”
The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) salutes the Coburn family and the rich political and cultural heritage they have given to the future of Oklahoma.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Coburn
"Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 - March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician…"
