Barely had I published my last entry, when the Washington Post came out with a story about how many Democrats are adding fiscal austerity pledges to their campaign platform. I'm unimpressed.
On one hand, it's good that politicians of both parties have finally come to understand that Americans are fed up with deficits and debt. On the other, Democrats in general and many Republicans are missing the bigger picture: the American people want a reevaluation of the proper role of government and how that role should be distributed among the levels of government.
It's not just about the money; it's about being accountability. And if private enterprise cannot successfully undertake some collective action and government can do better, it should be the most local government that can address it, which also happens to be the level most accountable to the people. Suggesting that a congressman from Ohio can be held accountable for education quality in Florida, or a senator from New York for road congestion in California, is simply preposterous.
It's also about being left alone. The decennial census is supposed to count inhabitants for the purpose of apportioning members of the House of Representatives, nothing more. Yet it has morphed into a vast treasure trove for social science researchers. It sounds benign, but besides the privacy issues, the conclusions of that research provide justification for any number of wasteful and often counterproductive interventions.
Americans want more than cheap talk about the federal budget. They want their national political representatives to fundamentally reconsider the role of the federal government, eliminating, privatizing, or transferring to the states those activities that are not within its proper scope.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) is Fiscally Reckless
Over the past few weeks, I've received a number of snazzy glossy flyers--booklets, really--from the office of Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Fairfax, VA) touting his fiscally conservative bonafides. His campaign site make similar claims with issues section including headings of "Fighting Wasteful Spending and Budget Deficits" and "Holding the Line on Taxes."
[Begin tangent: The flyers, by the way, apparently meet the guidelines of the House Franking Commission, the congressional body that oversees mailings from representatives to the people they represent to make sure they're constituent service rather than campaign materials. They're obviously campaign materials--I've only received them this summer, despite being "represented" by Mr. Connolly since January 3, 2009. Just another example of the incumbent protection scheme our leaders have established. For our own good, of course. End tangent]
So I wondered, just how fiscally responsible is Mr. Connolly? Let's look at his votes on the big issues. Did he come down on the side of taxpayers? ("No" means he voted "yes," that is, not fiscally responsible.)
- The failed "stimulus" bill: no and no.
- The spendthrift Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Resolution: no, no, and no.
- Cap-and-tax: no.
- A toothless pay-go (touted in his mailers): sure. A decent pay-go: no.
- EFCA, the union payback: no vote, but Connolly is a cosponsor.
- Obamacare: no, no, no.
- The "Homestar Energy Retrofit Act" boondoggle: no.
- "Deeming" the Fiscal Year 2011 budget passed instead of actually passing a budget: no.
- The teacher union bailout: no.
- A resolution to prevent Congress from passing major legislation during a post-election lame duck session, once the voters have rejected the Obama-Reid-Pelosi radical agenda: well, it wasn't a recorded vote, but no.
Want something more rigorous and systematic? Fine. In the first session of the 111th Congress, Gerry Connolly scored a grade of "F" on the National Taxpayers Union congressional report card with a whopping 6%.
Let's face it: glossy flyers notwithstanding, Gerry Connolly is not being responsible with taxpayer dollars. To my fellow residents of Virginia's 11th congressional district, let's encourage him to make a career change after November 2nd.
[Begin tangent: The flyers, by the way, apparently meet the guidelines of the House Franking Commission, the congressional body that oversees mailings from representatives to the people they represent to make sure they're constituent service rather than campaign materials. They're obviously campaign materials--I've only received them this summer, despite being "represented" by Mr. Connolly since January 3, 2009. Just another example of the incumbent protection scheme our leaders have established. For our own good, of course. End tangent]
So I wondered, just how fiscally responsible is Mr. Connolly? Let's look at his votes on the big issues. Did he come down on the side of taxpayers? ("No" means he voted "yes," that is, not fiscally responsible.)
- The failed "stimulus" bill: no and no.
- The spendthrift Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Resolution: no, no, and no.
- Cap-and-tax: no.
- A toothless pay-go (touted in his mailers): sure. A decent pay-go: no.
- EFCA, the union payback: no vote, but Connolly is a cosponsor.
- Obamacare: no, no, no.
- The "Homestar Energy Retrofit Act" boondoggle: no.
- "Deeming" the Fiscal Year 2011 budget passed instead of actually passing a budget: no.
- The teacher union bailout: no.
- A resolution to prevent Congress from passing major legislation during a post-election lame duck session, once the voters have rejected the Obama-Reid-Pelosi radical agenda: well, it wasn't a recorded vote, but no.
Want something more rigorous and systematic? Fine. In the first session of the 111th Congress, Gerry Connolly scored a grade of "F" on the National Taxpayers Union congressional report card with a whopping 6%.
Let's face it: glossy flyers notwithstanding, Gerry Connolly is not being responsible with taxpayer dollars. To my fellow residents of Virginia's 11th congressional district, let's encourage him to make a career change after November 2nd.
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