Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

Michele Marie Bachmann [ ˈbɑkmən ] (born Amble, born April 6, 1956 in Waterloo , Iowa ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . From 2007 to 2015 it belonged to the 6th congressional district of Minnesota to the United States House of Representatives on. In the 2012 presidential election , she applied in the primary of her party. She is counted on the extreme right wing of her party and is close to the tea party movement .

Family, education and work

Bachmann attended high school in Anoka . She studied English and political science at Winona State University and graduated in 1978 with a bachelor's degree . In 1986 she earned a Juris Doctor degree from Oral Roberts University (the largest university of the charismatic movement in the world ) and a Master of Laws in tax law from the College of William & Mary in 1988 .

Since 1978 she has been married to Marcus Bachmann, who runs a psychological practice for “Christian counseling”, in which, among other things, therapies against homosexuality are offered. The couple have five children of their own and have taken in 23 foster children over the years. In May 2012 it became known that Michele Bachmann had automatically acquired Swiss citizenship with her marriage , as her husband's parents were from Switzerland. A few days later, Bachmann announced that she would give up her Swiss citizenship; she is a proud American and belongs to the "greatest nation in the world".

From 1988 to 1993 she worked as a lawyer for the federal tax authorities . She quit this job to take more care of her children. She also became involved in local education policy, participated in the creation of a Charter School and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the School Board of Stillwater .

Political career

From 2001 to 2006, Bachmann was a member of the Minnesota Senate .

After her victory in the 2006 election , she was a member of the US House of Representatives from January 2007, where she represented Minnesota's 6th congressional electoral district . She was re-elected in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

In June 2011, Bachmann announced that he would run as a candidate in the party primaries for the 2012 presidential election. In the first vote, the caucus in her home state of Iowa on January 3, 2012, she ended up in sixth and last place and then withdrew her candidacy.

On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that he would not run again for her congress seat in the 2014 election. Her mandate expired on January 3, 2015.

Positions and controversies

Bachmann repeatedly attracted attention through controversial statements that often brought religious terms into politics. The Hurricane Irene and the earthquake in Virginia in 2011 called Bachmann as a "message from God" to the US policy. She criticized President Barack Obama's economic and financial policy as a “path to economic Marxism”. Bachmann told the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2016 that she believed Donald Trump was chosen by God to run for Republicans in the 2016 presidential election. During a trip to Israel with the Family Research Council in 2015, Bachmann declared that Jews should convert to Christianity; In 2018 she apologized for this statement. A Facebook post by Bachmann in April 2015 in which she compared President Obama with the suicide pilot Andreas Lubitz was criticized as tasteless ; like him, Obama drives his country against the wall.

She is a frequent interviewee and commentator on Fox News .

Domestic and social policy

Bachmann often represents right-wing conservative and Christian fundamentalist positions and is close to the tea party movement . It demands less taxes and more free markets. Like the Tea Party as a whole, Bachmann also calls for the state to stay out of the private life of its citizens and not be responsible for social welfare, gun control or health care.

In terms of social policy, Bachmann strictly rejects abortions ( Pro-Life ) and the recognition of same-sex partnerships . In 2005 she proposed an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that defines marriage as a partnership between a man and a woman. In educational policy, she took the view that in biology classes in schools, in addition to the theory of evolution, the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design should at least be imparted on an equal footing. In 2004 she presented a bill in Minnesota.

On the issue of global warming , Bachmann took the view that carbon dioxide was “a natural product” and could therefore not be harmful. She referred to warnings about climate change as “voodoo” and “nonsense”. It does not consider the EPA to be responsible for setting limits for carbon dioxide emissions to industry. In addition, it advocates expanding domestic oil and gas production and promoting nuclear energy .

In health policy , she rejected the measures of the Obama administration and the Democrats. She campaigns against state health insurance and for more competition as well as a reform of medical liability law. Her remarks on allegedly planned restrictions on health care for the elderly and the disabled by the democratic Obamacare bill were controversial . She accused the government of restricting treatment for these patient groups by setting up so-called "death panels" and thus wanting to decide which people could be allowed to die. This charge turned out to be completely unfounded.

Foreign and Security Policy

During the Republican primary campaign in 2012, Bachmann promised that if she was elected president, he would erect a double barbed wire fence on the border with Mexico and consistently expel illegal immigrants from Latin America .

In an interview on the debate on President Obama's strategy for the civil war in Libya on March 30, 2011, she spoke of the US military operation in Libya as “Obama's war”. Of Gaddafi no threat to the United States go out; national interests of the USA are not threatened. There are atrocities in many parts of the world, including the current civil war in Syria . If this is Obama's rationale for the intervention, then it is dealing with an “Obama doctrine” of humanitarian intervention, which requires the US to intervene in one country after another. She criticized the lack of sufficient intelligence about the Libyan opposition, referred to reports that there should be al-Qaeda forces there, and then asked why the US should support al-Qaeda in North Africa - that is not in the national interest. She rejected the allegation of a lack of compassion for the victims of Gaddafi. She justified her opposition to the use of the military for humanitarian purposes by stating that the intervention in Libya according to the “Obama Doctrine” was fundamentally different from previous interventions by the USA. As US President, she would not supply insurgents with weapons because they did not know enough about who they were dealing with in the Libyan opposition, and because it was also not clear what the central national interest of the US was, namely intervention could justify.

At the 2014 White House Christmas party, Michele Bachmann called on President Obama to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran. In April 2015, Bachmann said that Obama's policy towards Iran, with which the United States was negotiating a civilian nuclear program, was leading straight into the apocalypse. However, this is basically to be welcomed, since it also means that the return of Jesus Christ is imminent, which she as a believing Christian fills with joy.

Web links

Commons : Michele Bachmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michele Bachmann in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Bachmann's YouTube channel (English)
• Ryan Lizza: Leap of Faith. The making of a Republican front runner. Portrait. In: The New Yorker , August 15, 2011 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Michele Bachmann: I'm Running for President" , YouTube , June 13, 2011.
2. Jump up ↑ gay healer center. In: Queer.de , July 22, 2011.
3. ↑ Arthur Honegger: "Tea Party" front woman Michele Bachmann is Swiss. In: Schweizer Fernsehen , May 8, 2012.
4. ↑ Michele Bachmann no longer wants to be Swiss. In: NZZ Online , May 11, 2012.
5. ^ Minnesota Legislative Reference Library .
6. ↑ The US election campaign is getting serious: Bachmann is another applicant. ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: News.de , June 14, 2011. 
7. ^ Philip Rucker, Dan Eggen: Romney endorsed by McCain; Bachmann quits; Santorum, Gingrich take battle to NH In: The Washington Post , Jan. 4, 2012.
8. ^ Brian Bakst, Ken Thomas: Why Michele Bachmann is leaving the House. In: Christian Science Monitor , May 29, 2013.
9. ↑ Bachmann calls Hurricane "Irene" God's message. In: Stern , August 30, 2011.
10. ^ K. Diaz: The Messenger: Michele Bachmann. In: Star Tribune , April 9, 2009.
11. ↑ Deena Zaru: Michele Bachmann: 'God raised up' Trump to be GOP nominee. In: CNN.com , August 31, 2016.
12. ↑ Michele Bachmann apologizes for calling on Jews to convert to Christianity. In: Jerusalem Post , May 15, 2018.
13. ↑ US politician compares Obama with Andreas Lubitz. In: Stern.de , April 6, 2015.
14. ↑ Michele Bachmann: Political career and political positions. In: State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg , 2012.
15. ↑ HF No. 6, 2nd Engrossment - 84th Legislative Session (2005–2006). Minnesota House of Representatives, March 30, 2005.
16. ↑ SF1714 Status in Senate for Legislative Session 83. Minnesota State Legislature, accessed January 3, 2012
17. ↑ B. Johnson: Stumped By Science: Michele Bachmann Calls CO2 'Harmless,' 'Negligible,' 'Necessary,' 'Natural' '. In: Center for American Progress Action Fund. April 24, 2009; Grace Wyler: The 9 Craziest Things Michele Bachmann Has Ever Said. In: Business Insider , June 14, 2011.
18. ↑ A. Kaplun: Looming Climate Regulations Put EPA in Conservatives' Cross Hairs. In: The New York Times . March 5, 2010.
19. ↑ Michele Bachmann on Energy & Oil. In: On the Issues.
20. ↑ Bachmann says Obama health adviser thinks health care ought not to be extended to the disabled. In: PolitiFact.com. August 12, 2009.
21. ↑ Bachmann slams Obama's Libya strategy. In: MSNBC , March 30, 2011.
22. ↑ Ashley Killough: At Christmas party, Bachmann tells Obama to bomb Iran. In: CNN.com , December 12, 2014.