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Republicans Archive

Monday

3

August 2009

1

COMMENTS

A Lesson Not Learned

Written by , Posted in Education, Free Markets, Liberty & Limited Government

Three republicans, including a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, argued in a Washington Post editorial that Republicans should cooperate with the White House on education reform.  They note three items that President Obama has called for which Republicans generally support: 1) merit pay for teachers, 2) dismissal of ineffective teachers, and 3) expansion of public charter schools.  Furthermore, they argue that this is a wonderful opportunity for Republicans to show that they aren’t just “the party of no.”

At the risk of being pegged an obstructionist, I beg to differ. There’s nothing wrong with free marketers, conservatives, libertarian, Republicans or anyone else working with President Obama when he is right, but this is not such a case. Yes, these items are things which education reformers want to see happen, but how these ideas are implemented is just as important to get right as the ideas themselves. The President offers a top-down approach. After the failures of No Child Left Behind, Republicans should know better than to fall for that again.

The best way to ensure teacher accountability is not through promises to strengthen the political resolve to hold them more accountable – which never really works – but to actually make them accountable to the most interested party in the process, namely parents. When parents have a real choice where to send their children to school, and individual schools have a real choice as how best to educate those children, then and only then will there be accountability for the performance of teachers and schools. Only then will successful teachers and methods be rewarded while unsuccessful ones are punished.

In order for this to happen, states need the freedom to experiment with different education policies. Hooking state legislators on generous federal grants places them at the whim of federal policy desires. Today’s Department of Education recommendations could easily become tomorrow’s requirements. Given the animosity directed at school choice reforms by interest groups with strong influence at the federal level, Republicans should be pushing for a reduced federal role in education, and not supporting the President’s efforts to expand it, as a necessary first step in moving to school choice and real reform.

Wednesday

19

November 2008

0

COMMENTS

Parker’s Wrong Diagnosis

Written by , Posted in Liberty & Limited Government

In response to her latest column, in which she seeks to cure the Republican party of its ills, I sent Kathleen Parker the following response:

Mrs. Parker

Big government Republicanism is what’s killing the party, and it comes from both sides of the religious line. The religious right and secularized Republicans alike have contributed to the eroding of the core Republican principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. Blaming the religious is a reflection of your obvious bigotry – evidenced by the numerous pejoratives in your piece – not the result of an honest evaluation of the facts.

While many of the religious right, such as Michael Gerson, have promoted and celebrated big government, the two groups are not equivalent. Drumming out religious conservatives will not only unnecessarily alienate many who believe in republican ideals for no reason, it will leave untouched many others who contributed to the Rrepublican collapse. It’s simply a wrong diagnosis. The GOP doesn’t need to give up on God, it needs to give up on big government.

– Brian Garst

Tuesday

29

July 2008

0

COMMENTS

Porker Indicted

Written by , Posted in Waste & Government Reform

The longest serving Republican Senator in history has been indicted by a federal grand jury.

In a press conference, acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said that according to the indictment, Stevens is being charged with seven felony counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms. The indictment alleges that Stevens did not, as he is required to do, report gifts he received from Veco Corp., which included $250,000 of materials and labor related to the renovation of his home in Girdwood.

Ted Stevens is well known for his love of bacon and ability to direct it toward his home state of Alaska.  Even the imminent threat of a corruption investigation couldn’t slow down his rampant porking.

“He’s at the head of the pack,” Ellis said. “His ability to bring home the bacon to Alaska is legendary and he doesn’t make any bones about doing that.”

Stevens gets his buying power from his staying power. With nearly four decades in the Senate, now at age 83, he’s the longest-serving Republican senator in history.

Less than three months after the FBI searched his Alaska home in a bribery and public corruption probe, Stevens proved he hasn’t lost an ounce of clout. He added an incredible $215 million in earmarks to the defense bill – more than any other senator.

Ted Stevens epitomized the failures of the republican party to govern responsibly.  Let’s hope his eventual replacement brings with him more respect for the taxpayer.

Saturday

26

July 2008

0

COMMENTS

More Anecdotal Evidence On Why Republicanism Is In Decline

Written by , Posted in The Nanny State & A Regulated Society

Remember, this bill was signed by a man who was a featured speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

California, a national trendsetter in all matters edible, became the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday to phase out their use.

Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Packaged foods will be exempt.

New York City adopted a similar ban in 2006 — it became fully effective on July 1 — and Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md., have done so as well.

Vocal do-gooders have once again conspired to deprive citizens of their freedom to choose.  You are simply not trusted to make the correct decisions in your own life, even if the weighting of risk versus reward is entirely subjective. That this charge was enabled, if not actually led by, a prominent republican illustrates the sad state of our national affairs.

Wednesday

13

June 2007

0

COMMENTS

Eroding Freedom Should Never "Feel Good"

Written by , Posted in Energy and the Environment, Free Markets, Liberty & Limited Government

I’ve addressed the folly of “price gouging” legislation here enough already, but something in this article caught my eye. Though loaded with most of the usual nonsense, a particular statement stood out.

For the first time, it would be a federal crime to charge “unconscionably excessive” prices for petroleum products at the wholesale or retail level. Critics of the provisions, including the Bush administration, said the measure amounts to price regulation and could lead to supply shortages.

“The federal government has all the legal tools necessary to address price gouging,” said the White House.

The oil industry has repeatedly argued that many investigations have failed to uncover price fixing by oil companies. “If there is no manipulation, there should be no fear of a strong federal statute,” Cantwell countered at a news conference Tuesday.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, called the price gouging provision “a feel-good vote” that he probably would support. “But does it bring gas prices down? Probably not,” he said.

And for whom does this vote “feel-good”? It shouldn’t feel good for anyone who believes in free enterprise. It shouldn’t feel good for anyone who believes in the fundamental principles this country was founded on. It might feel good for those who think the federal government should have the final say in everything, including the prices of our goods. So I’d expect it to feel great for a socialist, but it’s a sad state of affairs when such nonsense feels good to Senator and member of the supposedly free-market party. No wonder Republicans seem lost. No one has any principles any more; it’s all just “feelings”.

Tuesday

11

July 2006

0

COMMENTS

House Passes Bill On Online Gambling

Written by , Posted in Liberty & Limited Government

AP –

The House passed legislation Tuesday that would prevent gamblers from using credit cards to bet online and could block access to gambling Web sites.

The legislation would clarify and update current law to spell out that most gambling is illegal online. But there would be exceptions – for state-run lotteries and horse racing – and passage isn’t a safe bet in the Senate, where Republican leaders have not considered the measure a high priority.

The House voted 317-93 for the bill, which would allow authorities to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling Web sites.

…Supporters of the measure argued that Internet betting can be addictive and can lead people to lose their savings.

Leach said the problem is particularly acute for young people who are frequently on the Internet. “Never before has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age,” he said.

Yes, people certainly could lose their savings, but only if they choose to risk their savings. It can’t happen by accident. This kind of nanny-state, protect-the-people-from-themselves logic is typical of the ideologies of big government. To see it used here by  conservatives is telling as to the nature of their beliefs. In the end, only 17 Republicans, self proclaimed believers in small government, stood up for personal freedom.

Monday

26

June 2006

0

COMMENTS

Still Spending Like Crazy

Written by , Posted in Big Government

The National Taxpayers Union released a report confirming what we already knew: Republicans are continuing to act like Democrats and nobody’s acting like Republicans (that is to say, like the small government advocates Republicans claim to be).

Congress’s feverish voting habit for higher spending may have declined a fraction of a degree last year, but lawmakers have largely failed to pursue the aggressive treatments needed to cure Washington’s budget deficit, according to the latest VoteTally study from the nonpartisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). The one-of-a-kind analysis, which measures the dollar impact of all voting activity on the floor of the House and Senate, shows that the average Representative supported five cents in federal spending reductions for every dollar of increases, while the Senate’s ratio was just two cents on the dollar.

. . . The average Senator voted for a net $198.2 billion in additional annual federal spending last year, 31 percent less than the spending hike he or she supported during the 1st Session of the 108th Congress (2003). House Members backed, on average, a yearly expenditure boost of $172.9 billion ? 24 percent smaller compared to the same period in the previous Congress. These totals do not include lawmakers’ acquiescence to “mandatory” (such as entitlement) spending growth, which would add nearly $130 billion to the 2005 figures cited above.

However, this drop-off is attributable to a slightly slower pace of spending hikes, not a new-found interest in spending cuts. Both chambers put together considered amendments that would have trimmed annual outlays by a total of $5.0 billion, less than one-tenth of the $54.1 billion in savings that were debated in 2003.

. . .VoteTally totals were nearly indistinguishable between Democrats ($178.1 billion) and Republicans ($168.3 billion) in the House, although party differences were somewhat greater in the Senate ($217.0 billion for Democrats versus $183.0 billion for Republicans).

 

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About Me

profileI serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.

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