The State of Pork

Citizen’s Against Government Waste has ranked North Dakota 5th on per capita pork - $123.35 per person.

Some interesting line items from the Pig Book for North Dakota are (remember these are federal dollars):

• $384,000 -  weed control
• $1,750,000 -  Minot State University for the rural methamphetamine education demonstration
• $1,400,000 - Battlefield production of hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles (do we have battlefield vehicles running on hydrogen yet?)
• $1,200,000 - Advanced coating systems for ground-based military vehicles (paint?)
• $350,000 - City of Killdeer to construct a community activity center

A Failed First Half At The North Dakota Legislature

If a democrat governor would have proposed a 24% increase in spending as Governor John Hoeven did, Republicans would be all over the tax and spend fiscal policy. But somewhere along the line something strange happened. The Republican legislature decided to make Hoeven look conservative by going even further on spending. As of crossover, the legislature had managed to pass enough new spending to turn that surplus into a potential deficit if each chamber chose to pass the other’s approved legislation.

Even more ludicrous is the fact that this same Republican controlled legislature has yet to pass meaningful tax relief for its citizens. Sure, the House has passed so-called “property tax relief” which is nothing more than an income tax redistribution scheme that most certainly will be challenged on its constitutionality. It does not extend relief to the 30% of North Dakotans who do not own property. It does allows property owners who do not pay income tax in North Dakota to be granted property tax relief using funds generated by those who do pay income tax in the state. Finally, and worse of all, to sustain the state funded property tax relief, the income tax will probably be raised at some point.

In summary, the “property tax relief” package the governor is pushing, and the legislature is so eager to pass, is nothing more than a subsidy to those who can afford property on the backs of those who do not or can not. Ironically, the best tax plan to address the property tax issue was a Democrat tax credit that included those who do not own property, but contributed to the surplus, in the relief (SB 2291).

But when it came to meaningful tax relief that will not end up costing the taxpayers more a few cycles from now, our elected representatives have failed miserably. A Republican majority, holding 61 of 94 seats in the State House, failed to achieve a constitutional majority to pass a meager 20-basis-point income tax rate reduction (HB 1170).

Not only has the Republican majority failed to pass real tax relief; it even blocked the repeal of age discrimination on the tax exempt status of retired military personnel pay (HB 1418). Republicans that voted against this tax cut for military vets claim it was because it did not go far enough. If that really is the case, this group of naïve elected officials chose to “forsake the good, for the perfect.” Good policy should be approved or simply amended to make it better, not opposed because it does not do enough.

The Republican majority also made a policy statement on how it views college graduates. By voting against HB 1518, they stated to the public that interest generated from student debt is nothing more than just another revenue stream – just like any other tax. The bill would have reinvested interest from student loans, in college scholarship funds. It is unfortunate that Republicans have decided that taxing the young people of this state is more important than making it easier for them to afford to actually stay here.

As a conservative, this session has been a total disappointment. The failure to enact real tax relief for all taxpayers, the refusal to cut taxes for military vets, and the immoral government policy of profiting from the debt of its own citizens all lead to a questioning of what the Republican label even means at this point. And to top it all off, the legislative majority leadership even wrote an editorial bragging about “increased funding at record levels across the board.”

As Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana stated of the national party in the Spring of 2006: “It’s one thing to drift off course…It’s quite another thing to continue that course when half the crew and passengers are pointing out that nothing looks familiar … not to mention the tens of millions of Americans lining the shoreline screaming, “You’re going the wrong way!” In a word, we’re no longer adrift. We might’ve been when we started but now “off course” is the accepted course.”

We will see if legislators “right the ship” on their own here in North Dakota in the next two months, or if that task will be left to the voters in November 2008.

The 29th Dumbest State

North Dakota has been ranked as the 29th Dumbest State in the Union by Morgan Quitno Press (21st Smartest for those of you math challenged North Dakotans).

Yes AP, I will remove all your content at somepoint

The AP is cracking down on bloggers as a result I will be going thru the blog and taking out a lot of content and a lot of links to local North Dakota newspapers. The AP doesn’t want me quoting newspapers that use their stuff, so whatever. I’m a little to busy too do it right now, but it will get done, so you can stop with the emails.

Since I am not making money off it, and I’m not a copyright lawyer, I dont know what the huge deal is - but whatever, it will get done.

Caricatures of Themselves

I would expect better humor from Rush. This borders on just plain stupid cause it’s not that funny.

And could Ann Coulter just please go away? She misportrays conservatism worse than anyone else.

The Old Site Is Imported

You can now find all the great FreeRepublicans.com content right here, no more going back to Blogger to look for something!

Legislators Raise Their Own Salaries, Refuse To Let The People Keep More Of Theirs

A day after refusing to allow taxpayers and military vets to keep more of their own money the Republican controlled North Dakota House of Representatives voted themselves a raise before leaving town for their five-day crossover.

So let’s review - the legislature gave state employees a 4% raise, refused to cut income taxes to let everyone keep more of their money, voted to keep age discrimination on military retiree pay, and voted to give themselves a 12% raise.

Republican Controlled Legislature Defeats Tax Cuts

The North Dakota House of Representatives defeated House Bill 1418 which would have eliminated the age discrimination clauses of the state income tax exemption for military retirees and eliminated state income tax liability for all military retirees’ income from pensions.

The House also defeated House Bill 1170 which was a 20-basis point across the board rate cut of state income taxes.

Republicans hold 61 of 94 seats in the House.

Conservatism beyond Reagan?

George Will says so

In this winter of their discontents, nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking. This mental paralysis — gratitude decaying into idolatry — is sterile: Neither the man nor his moment will recur. Conservatives should face the fact that Reaganism cannot define conservatism.

[...]

But he notes that Reagan’s theory was radically unlike that of Edmund Burke, the founder of modern conservatism, and very like that of Burke’s nemesis, Thomas Paine. Burke believed that the past is prescriptive because tradition is a repository of moral wisdom. Reagan frequently quoted Paine’s preposterous cry that “we have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

Reagan’s popularity was largely the result of “his blaming government for problems that are inherent in democracy itself.” To Reagan, the idea of problems inherent in democracy was unintelligible because it implied that there were inherent problems with the demos — the people. There was nothing — nothing — in Reagan’s thinking akin to Lincoln’s melancholy fatalism, his belief (see his Second Inaugural) that the failings of the people on both sides of the Civil War were the reasons why “the war came.”

As Diggins says, Reagan’s “theory of government has little reference to the principles of the American founding.” To the founders, and especially to the wisest of them, James Madison, government’s principal function is to resist, modulate and even frustrate the public’s unruly passions, which arise from desires.

“The true conservatives, the founders,” Diggins rightly says, constructed a government full of blocking mechanisms — separations of powers, a bicameral legislature and other checks and balances — in order “to check the demands of the people.” Madison’s Constitution responds to the problem of human nature. “Reagan,” says Diggins, “let human nature off the hook.”

The founders as “true conservatives”? Not of their time.  Of their time they were the “true liberals;” knocking down the conservative construct of the British system.

Modern “true conservatives” are the result of classical “true liberals” like Jefferson.

Take a read of Mike at SaveTheGOP.com’s take on this.

What ever happened to disaster aid bills?

Matt Mechtel

Today I looked at my calendar, Feb 1. Already a month into 2007. Personally, for myself and my family, 2006 was an absolutely crazy year.

Thinking back about everything that happened, something struck me today as I worked on my planter, getting ready to seed corn in 2007.

What happened to the Disaster Bill? Does anyone remember that hot election topic? Everyone, including myself, made it a centerpiece of his or her campaign for 2006 in this neck of the woods. Today, there is barely an echo of disaster aid talk. I am pretty sure nothing much has changed out in farm country. There were quite a few producers hit hard with extreme heat and dry conditions.

After thinking about this today, it reminded me of a moment in the campaign. At a “meet the candidate” event a month or so ahead of the election, someone coyly asked me, “Which party is more farmer friendly: Democrats or Republicans? Be honest!”

With just a little thought, I answered the audience member, “I don’t really think it is as much a partisan issue as it is a regional issue, and let’s face it, up here in farm country, we simply do not have the numbers to be as effective as we would like out in D.C.” I am not really sure whether he liked my answer, but after watching the Democratic Party take control of the House and the Senate, and remembering the discussions of election year 2006, I believe it to be one of the biggest truths spoke during my campaign.

I am sure farm country politicians are working to try and put something together, but is anyone really listening? Is the power structure in Washington, D.C., even slightly interested in it right now? There is a new sheriff in town out there, and it seems that the last thing on their mind is helping out some farmers in the Midwest.

Everyone was excited about the potential for change with the result of the election. As a farmer, I ask other farmers and ranchers, in the way of disaster aid, what has changed?

Clout comes from votes, ladies and gentleman, not senators and congressmen, and votes are something farm country just doesn’t have a whole lot of, nor are we getting any more of them.