Ya know, there’s been a lot of back and forth among folks on either side of the aisle concerning Voter ID laws making their way into state houses around the country. With the massive Republican win in 2010, control of state government swung hard right. And using those majorities and governorships, the GOP is passing laws that would restrict voting. Now, the restrictions are common sense and are reasonable. Basically, you have to be a citizen. Crazy talk I know, but nothing will get a bunch of statists up in arms like a good government regulation!
Wait.
But serious. Think about voter id laws and the reaction to ’em. It goes back to the days when polling places, cities, counties and even entire states tried to prevent black people from voting. For no other reason than they were black. We’re stuck there. We can’t escape from there. Talk about requiring some burden of proof and the immediate reaction is the usual “Tea Party is racist!” meme.
Nonsense.
But here is something that will REALLY get the Left up in arms. If we’re gonna restrict voting, restrict it on the basis of your Federal Tax burden.
We have come to the point where the pendulum can’t swing any further “our way”. We are going to have to begin to compromise.
This is a list of Senators, ranked by their conservative/liberal slant in 2010:
Barrasso
WY
R
Chambliss
GA
R
Cornyn
TX
R
Crapo
ID
R
DeMint
SC
R
McCain
AZ
R
Risch
ID
R
Thune
SD
R
Coburn
OK
R
Wicker
MS
R
Enzi
WY
R
Bunning
KY
R
Roberts
KS
R
Hutchison
TX
R
Sessions
AL
R
McConnell
KY
R
Hatch
UT
R
Inhofe
OK
R
Isakson
GA
R
Vitter
LA
R
Kyl
AZ
R
Shelby
AL
R
Ensign
NV
R
Graham
SC
R
Cochran
MS
R
LeMieux
FL
R
Corker
TN
R
Grassley
IA
R
Burr
NC
R
Alexander
TN
R
Bond
MO
R
Johanns
NE
R
Bennett
UT
R
Gregg
NH
R
Brown, Scott
MA
R
Murkowski
AK
R
Lugar
IN
R
Snowe
ME
R
Collins
ME
R
Voinovich
OH
R
Nelson
NE
D
Lieberman
CT
I
Tester
MT
D
Baucus
MT
D
Warner
VA
D
Lincoln
AR
D
Pryor
AR
D
McCaskill
MO
D
Webb
VA
D
Bennet
CO
D
Hagan
NC
D
Udall, M
CO
D
Nelson
FL
D
Landrieu
LA
D
Feinstein
CA
D
Begich
AK
D
Klobuchar
MN
D
Rockefeller
WV
D
Feingold
WI
D
Kohl
WI
D
Boxer
CA
D
Cantwell
WA
D
Conrad
ND
D
Shaheen
NH
D
Dodd
CT
D
Kerry
MA
D
Carper
DE
D
Specter
PA
D
Bingaman
NM
D
Dorgan
ND
D
Harkin
IA
D
Johnson
SD
D
Merkley
OR
D
Akaka
HI
D
Durbin
IL
D
Inouye
HI
D
Murray
WA
D
Casey
PA
D
Franken
MN
D
Udall, T
NM
D
Lautenberg
NJ
D
Menendez
NJ
D
Gillibrand
NY
D
Reed
RI
D
Schumer
NY
D
Brown, Sherrod
OH
D
Cardin
MD
D
Leahy
VT
D
Levin
MI
D
Mikulski
MD
D
Reid
NV
D
Sanders
VT
I
Stabenow
MI
D
Whitehouse
RI
D
No one is out of order. Every single Republican is more conservative than every single Democrat. And every single Democrat is more Liberal than every single Republican.
The United States brings in some amount of money. And the united States spends some other amount of money.
There is a difference between those two amounts of money; and right now, the bigger amount is the amount we spend.
We’re in debt and getting debt’ier.
All the talk ’round town is that we have to fix this problem pretty soon and the deadline that’s looming is the debt ceiling. Everyone is looking at August 2nd and working to build a plan by then.
In it’s simplest form, the debate is about narrowing the gap of the spending and the revenue.
I think that I have stumbled on the compromise that Congress needs to make.
On the one hand, you have the Left that insist the ONLY way to address our deficit is to raise more revenue; certainly this is a fair argument that deserves consideration.
On the other hand, you have the Right that insist the ONLY way to address our deficit is to cut spending; there will be no raising of the tax rate. Again, a fair position worthy of consideration.
Light-rail and high-speed trains have long been the darling of the Left. If some local or state government can come up with a plan to build trains, the Left is only TOO anxious to deliver the money.
Rail corridor between Raleigh and DC? Done!
Charlotte and Atlanta? Done!
Roanoke and Durham. Done!
I admit that I’m flummoxed by this fixation. But let’s take a look:
The idea is based on two angles:
If we can move more people from here to there on a train, we’ll decrease the amount of fossil fuel burned.
It creates jobs.
How much of this is true? And to the extent that it IS true, what price are people willing to pay?
If President Bill Clinton with a Republican House is credited with balancing the budget why isn’t President Obama with a Republican House being credited with NOT balancing the budget?
Or, the other way:
If the 2011 House is being credited with preventing fiscal responsible legislation, why isn’t the House in the 90’s credited with the passing of the fiscal legislation?
Recently I posted about an Economics Literacy Test. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve conducted a survey and asked people to answer 13 economic questions. Those 404 people didn’t do so well.
While I took the test I wondered who would do well and who would do so well. It occurred to me that some people will do better just because they want the answer to be something other than what it is. For example, if asked, I suspect a vast majority of Liberals would say that the oil companies make too much profit. Indeed, the oil companies rank 114 out of 215 industries in profits. Hardly gouging, huh?
For a long long time I resonated with a “team” more than I resonated with a concept.
I mean, I grew up pullin’ for the Vikings, so, naturally, they are the coolest team in the whole world and the Packers just suck.
And the Cowboys [Drew Pearson—shiver]
And the Steelers
And the Falcons
I digress. Anyway, teams.
My dad liked Reagan, but not until later in life, much later, did I learn that dad was a democrat, and pretty hard core too. We would often argue and debate and each of us left the conversation seriously considering the voting tendencies of the milkman. I wonder how much of that was due to the fact that I grew up THINKING dad was a Republican?
Weird.
I’m pretty convinced that I’m a Christian because I grew up in a Christian family in a Christian town in a Christian nation. I think that’s pretty clear.
However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to try and back away a little bit and see things…twice. It’s an old Billy Joel song, “Things I didn’t know before I learned by doin’ twice….”
Anyway, its awareness, being able to see and focus and count the things going on around you. Sometime they happen so fat, ya miss ’em.