We just witnessed one of the biggest swings of political power in our nation’s history. In 2008, many people thought the Republican Party was done. Then again, they also thought the Republican Party was done in the 1976 too. Needless to say, in 1980 and 2010 the Republican Party has bounced back; and this time, we’re here to stay.
My previous post was about the elections and how the Tea Party and those who were supported by the Tea Party got there. The Tea Party movement should not be taken lightly. They are not a political party by any means. However, they can and have made an impact on the previous election(s), remember January 2010 and November 2010. Let me take this time to remind everyone that the Tea Party, the Republican Party, and Conservatives want to be fiscally responsible. The Republican Party wants to be fiscally responsible as of late because they have seen what the Tea Party movement can do during the election. Maybe the Democrats have noticed too? We shall see.
How does a country that is approximately $14 trillion in debt and in a recession become fiscally responsible? Good question. Obviously this cannot and will not happen over night or in the next two years. However, the incoming freshman class and now some top Republicans have joined together to try and solve this problem.
Newly elected Republicans, (that includes the newly elected Tea Partiers) won based on anti-Obamanomics. The majority of the country did not like the way the country was headed and they have bought into the notion of being fiscally responsible. For those of you that do not know who Congressman Paul Ryan is, I suggest you look into him. Congressman Ryan has a 5 point roadmap to recovery seen here. Due to the objective of this post, I will not go into detail of his plan, but I will say that I approve of it and wish high ranking Republicans in both the House and Senate would jump on this.
What newly elected Republicans would like to see is a stop in wasteful government spending. Now, wasteful spending has been going on for years. Will it ever stop? Probably not. One issue that gets the Tea Party and now Republicans upset is earmarks. Once again, earmarks will probably never cease to exist. Just recently, top Republicans have vowed to put a moratorium on earmarks. This is exactly what the American public wanted to hear. Hopefully, they will keep their promise.
I am totally for stopping earmarks. Unfortunately, I do not think this will stop them from being placed in legislation. Some people that get into a position of power realize they now can benefit from their position and will include pet projects in legislation. These pet projects could range from literally anything! Is this wasteful spending? You bet! Don’t get me wrong, Republicans, just like Democrats have had earmarks put in legislation. I for one, think this is totally unacceptable. Why should someone in New York pay for some bridge in Florida that they will never use? I thought states were supposed to regulate and appropriate funds for projects inside their own state? This is the reason why the federal government should not bail out California or New York! But that is another issue for another time.
To the more serious point to this post: I strongly believe there is someone in the Republican Party who is a closet Liberal. He is a closet Liberal because of his stance on earmarks. There are other issues that make him a closet Liberal too, but for the sake of this post, I am focusing on earmarks.
The award for closet Liberal goes to: Senator Mitch McConnell! Now I know some of you might be confused why I am making this claim. I will explain. Senator McConnell reminds me a lot of Senator John Kerry, Mr. Flip-Flop himself. Right after the elections two weeks ago, McConnell said that he does not think they should ban earmarks. Now, Mr. McConnell has done a 180 and decided that we should ban, or at least temporarily stop earmarks from happening. There is two possible answers to his change-of-mind: 1) He strongly believes that earmarks are wasteful, or 2) he realizes that he will get ousted if he continues to not work to be fiscally responsible and listen to the people. I’m going to go out on a limb and say answer number 2 is the right choice.
Still, this allegation of mine, that McConnell is a closet Liberal, may come to a surprise to most. For instance, McConnell has an American Conservative Union Lifetime rating of 89.66%. The reason why McConnell did not want to ban earmarks is because in the fiscal year 2008-2009 he has asked for 158 total earmarks. For instance, in 2009 he asked for $21,400,000 to build an elementary school and the University of Louisville Research Foundation got $5,709,000 from the tax payers. Check this out. Closet Liberal? I think so.
But why did McConnell change his mind so quickly? Probably because he did not want to be found out. Most of the earmarks he asked for were put under “military spending/funding” but had nothing to do with the military. Mr. McConnell most likely did not want to be challenged in the next election and/or challenged for the Senate Republican leadership position. So the easy way out is to follow party lines and this new wave of being fiscally responsible. I have no problem if someone has a strong conviction and truly believes that earmarks are completely acceptable. However, earmarks for the most part is wasteful spending. I do not think there is an argument there. If earmarks are not wasteful, please prove it to me. I stand on the position that I should not have to pay for some other states bridge, school, roads, etc. etc. just because some politician wants the federal government to pay for it.
Senator McConnell, you may have fooled the rest of the Republican Party, Conservatives, and Tea Partiers, but you have not fooled me. You, sir, are a flip-flopping closet liberal.
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