Musings of a Values Voter, 2016

It is our character that supports the promise of our future – far more than particular government programs or policies.  – William Bennett

By Tommy DeSeno

There were those of us, the values voters, who stood by stunned when the bar for personal conduct, vulgarity, sexual assault, law and American values was lowered by those who refused to remove Bill Clinton from office in 1998. We were told we were prudish, imposing religious values and should mind our own business by staying out of Clinton’s “private life.” That side won the culture war. My side lost the culture war. They may now reap what they have sown, and what they have sown is an acceptance of Donald Trump. This linguistic monster, whose polyglot range is a very limited dirty to deriding, was created by those who stood with Bill Clinton, who made the coarsening of American discourse official.  They’ll never admit it. The left is married only to the moment with no view of history or legacy.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Analysis: GOP can no longer look to court to repeal Obamacare

 

WASHINGTON — It’s clear now that any overhaul of the Affordable Care Act will have to come through the political system, not the court. And repeal-minded Republicans face trouble generating a mandate for change. Republicans were hoping the court would decide against this key part of the law — and in turn give the party momentum… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Six in 10 Democrats favor nominee moving away from Obama

President Obama said recently that the American people are going to want that “new car smell” in 2016 – and two new polls show that might apply to members of his own party. A new McClatchy-Marist poll says that 38 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents think it’s more important to have a Democratic nominee for… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Monmouth Poll: Christie’s numbers remain strong

A Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll released this morning indicates that Governor Christie’s approval numbers remain above 50% in New Jersey.  53% of registered voters approve of the job Christie is doing, compared to 35% that do not.

61% of Jersey voters think its a great idea that Mitt Romney tab Christie to give the keynote address at the Republican National Convention next month.

Christie has been promoting his bipartisan accomplishments in his out of state travels, but Jerseyans aren’t buying it.  31% of voters say that Christie and the Democratic leadership is working well together, 53% say they are not playing nice.  58% blame Christie and the Democrats equally.

The Democratic legislatures approval ratings remain in the tank, 35%-43%.

A majority of voters think it is wise to wait for state revenues to improve before cutting taxes.

• Tweet

The Return of Corzine Democrats…..and Whitman Republicans

Photo Credit: NJ.com

Governor Chris Christie has taken to the town hall stump declaring that the Corzine Democrats are back.

“In the last couple weeks, we’ve seen an ugly type of Democrat start to rear its head again,” Christie said during a town hall last week. “I think you thought you had slayed this type of Democrat in 2009 — that you had taken the wooden stake and out it through this type of democrats heart. But I am here to tell you today that I fear this type of Democrat has returned to the state legislature. You know what kind of Democrat I’m talking about: A Corzine Democrat.”

The governor will likely expand on the Corzine Democrats theme at his town hall meeting in Brick this afternoon, as he did last evening in his statement about the budget passed by the Democratic State Legislature yesterday:

“With today’s budget, Corzine Democrats reversed course and sent a loud and clear signal that they want to go back to the eight years prior to my administration when taxes and fees were raised every 25 days. After two years without raising taxes, the only way to feed the Corzine Democrats’ obsession is to hold tax relief hostage. I will not allow New Jersey to go back to the same failed policies that nearly put our state over a fiscal cliff. Tax relief for our hardworking families is long overdue and that is exactly what I will continue fighting for.”

But the budget the Democrats passed doesn’t raise taxes once every 25 days.  It doesn’t raise taxes any day.  It also doesn’t reduce income taxes as Christie’s budget proposed.  Nor does it reduce property taxes as the proposal that Senate President Steve Sweeney reneged on would have done.

The budget that the Democrats passed spends $400 million less than the budget Christie proposed.

Christie’s budget would have increased spending 8% with a phased in 10% income tax reduction.  It relies heavily on one shot gimmicks and increased borrowing.  Christie’s revenue projections, which the Democrats have acceptted, are based upon extremely optimistic assumptions that seem to have little grounding in reality. New Jersey’s economy would have to suddenly start growing faster than the rest of the country in order for Christie’s revenue projections to come close.   That sounds a lot like the fiscal cliff that the Whitman/DiFranceso/Bennett Republicans drove New Jersey over in the 1990’s until New Jersey voters kicked them out of power in 2003.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Blame Hoover

By Jim Morford, cross posted at InTheLobby

When I was a youngster and things weren’t going well in the economy, the Democrats would always claim, “It’s Hoover’s fault.”  Republicans, on the other hand, blamed Democrats for “getting us into war” citing Wilson, Roosevelt (FDR) and Truman.

Today, things have changed. Democrats blame Bush for both the economy and for getting us into war.

But who really should bear the responsibility, if not the blame, for the problems facing our country today? To be sure, there is enough blame to be shared by both political parties for landing us in the deeply troubled economy that haunts us today. Politicians of all stripes and at all levels of government have, through fiscal irresponsibility, over taxed and over spent the public’s money. Truly, the blame can reach beyond politicians to include skillful labor unions who have negotiated benefits beyond the ability of governments and private sector employers to pay for them. Additionally, an apathetic public – perhaps the greatest cause of all our woes – has allowed corrupt politicians, avaricious businesses and organized labor to loot the public coffers.

Since the days of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, our country has been on a Fabian path to statisim. Some are surprised that the Obama Administration has accelerated the pace.

In his most recent book, The Next Decade, geopolitical analyst and founder of Stratfor George Friedman presents a provocative and insightful look into the next decade. It’s a book well worth reading, as he sees a time of massive change and what the US will need to do to survive.

Before we jump headlong into speculation about the next decade, let’s take a look at the recent past to get some idea of whose policies and actions have put us where we find ourselves today.

From 1949 until 1995, the Democratic Party held majority control of the House of Representatives, thereby acting as a restraint on one-party dominance when Republicans sometimes had majorities in the US Senate and/or the White House. The philosophy of bigger and bigger government, embraced to greater and lesser degrees by both political parties, has dominated the country since the 1930s.

It was the relatively short period from 2003 to 2007 that the Republican Party controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. Even during the “conservative” presidency of Ronald Reagan, at least one house of Congress remained in the control of the Democratic Party and government continued to grow.

The current and dramatic shift in political dominance in Washington did not just take place on January 20, 2009 when President Obama was sworn into office. The shift actually began on January 3, 2007 when the Democrats recaptured control of the US Senate. At that time, the Dow closed at over 12,600; unemployment stood at 4.6% and the economy under George W. Bush set a record of 52 consecutive months of job growth.

It was on January 3, 2007 that Barney Frank (D) became Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd (D) took over the Senate Banking Committee. 15 months later a meltdown occurred in the banking and financial services sector of our economy, notwithstanding President Bush’s urging repeatedly that serious reform was needed.

One of the most important responsibilities that a member of Congress has is to enact an annual budget for the federal government. However, the US Senate under the leadership of Harry Reid (D) has failed to pass a budget since 2009. The House, under Republican control since 2011, has twice passed budgets and sent them to the Senate, which for purely partisan reasons has failed to enact a budget bill. Unfortunately, Majority Leader Reid and his Democratic colleagues believe that partisanship  is their primary responsibility, rather than fiscal stewardship and sound public policy.

The Federal budget cycle is governed mainly by six laws. Probably the most important of them is The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 that governs the basic practices of federal budgeting and spending. Because of partisan irresponsibility in refusing to enact a budget and to avoid government shutdowns, Congress gets along by enacting continuing resolutions. Doing so fails the test of fiscal responsibility. However, public apathy (cited above) allows negligent politicians to get away with it.

President George W. Bush was no fiscal conservative or effective small government advocate. During his eight years in office, he increased the federal budget by 104% and the national debt grew by $3.3 trillion.

The Obama Administration has accelerated the pace of spending and debt to unsustainable levels. Today, the national debt stands at over $15 trillion. The debt is dismissed by some as just money we owe ourselves, but the interest on that debt has to be paid out of tax revenues, or borrowed and added to the debt. That interest so far in 2012 is nearly $4 trillion. There are those politicians who see increasing taxes as the only answer to any problem. Others contend that the problem is not that government has too little in revenue, but that it is spending far too much.

Whether it is the fault of Republicans, Democrats or both, it is a useless exercise to simply blame. Rather, we must reverse course and get our fiscal house in order if we are to survive as a nation that resembles anything we have known up until now.

There are solutions, but no easy solutions. Our apathetic and dependant population “served” by corrupt and power-grasping politicians may result in our becoming more like Greece than the affluent land of opportunity we once were.   

In a 2011 interview conducted by economist Donald Luskin, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan observed that he sees the United States as having crossed the threshold, a point of no return, at which we’ve taken on too great a government debt, and at the same time made too great a commitment to government control of the economy. Luskin wrote, “He told us that we won’t recognize America 20 years from now, and that we won’t like what we see.”

Jim  Morford is former Associate  Director of Government Relations for the NJ Education Association, former VP and chief lobbyist for the NJ Chamber of Commerce, former President of the NJ Food Council and is Executive Director Emeritus of the NJ Society for Environmental, Economic Development (NJ SEED). He is a partner in the Trenton-based consulting firm of Morford-Drulis Associates, LLC. The opinions expressed in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any clients or associates. 

• Tweet

Rebranding The Democrats

By Thomas F. Stokes, Middletown

On September 15^th, the Los Angeles Times reported that the national Democrat Party had a new “rebranding effort” showing a new party logo and slogan.

Just released census data now show 43.6 million Americans living below the poverty line.

The census figures also show that among the working age (18-64) population, poverty levels rose to the highest level in almost fifty (that’s 50) years.

Together with the latest unemployment figures, it is no wonder that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their “progressive” (ultra-liberal) fellow democrats (such as incumbent Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt), who have controlled Congress, spending and taxes for the past four years, want to “rebrand” their democrat party. If I had such a dismal record, I would too.

Based upon the democrats’ actual record of digging the economic ditch we now find our country in, and continuing their spend, borrow and tax policies, which have obviously failed, may I suggest a new rebranding with “truth in advertising”. They are now “POP”, the Party of Poverty. The “D” now stands for “Digging the Ditch”.

Spare me the standard response that it was “Bush’s fault”. No president, whether Bush or Obama, pass a budget or taxes. That is only Congress. The president’s only responsibility is to sign or veto the legislation. Under the current administration fat chance of this president vetoing any increase in spending (or more government bailouts, takeovers or expansion of government).

Years ago, common sense was that if you found yourself in a hole, you should stop digging. Then again, the “progressives” in the Party of Poverty seem to have ignored Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity – keep doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting a different result!

Even Fidel Castro was recently quoted as saying Cuba’s socialist economy  “doesn’t work for us anymore”. Cuba just announced the layoff of 500,000 government workers. Greece’s socialist economy has literally bankrupted that country. European socialism is going the way of the dinosaurs.

And our Party of Poverty progressives want to continue down the yellow brick road, paved with trillions of dollars of deficits. How long will it take our children and grandchildren to pay for this out of control spending? Here’s just one result of the democrats’ ballyhooed “stimulus” spending. The city of Los Angeles just reported spending $111 million of our tax dollars to create or save “only 55 jobs”. That’s $2 million for each job!

That is beyond ridiculous. It is obscene.

This November, the American People must join the Taxpayers’ Revolt and send a loud and clear message to the Washington elites. As the ad says, “Can you hear us now?”.

• Tweet