Monthly Archives: February 2010

Feb 27 2010

THROUGH THE CONSERVATIVE PRISM: PETER MILLS EDITION

With the Red County Caucus off and running, it is time to take a look at each of these candidates. This column can only view a candidate through one prism; Conservatism. As the light of common sense begins to shine on these candidates, it will either reveal standards or distortions. We begin our analysis with Peter Mills.

Peter Mills wants to be Governor. Peter Mills wants the citizens of Maine to forget that he has a voting record. Peter Mills wants us all to smile and forgive him for voting for gay marriage, voting for a fraudulent tax law last year, and then mocking the concerned citizens who bravely fought these mistakes. Well Peter Mills, this columnist will try to be objective but under the scrutiny of Conservatism there isn’t much that can be found that is positive.

First of all, Peter Mills has voted conservatively against unfunded liabilities. He also has stood against Augusta’s propensity to borrow. These are positive things and should be written in Mr. Mills behalf. I applaud Senator Mills for voting correctly in these situations. Unfortunately for Senator Mills, the majority of his votes outweigh the minority and in a true democracy the majority rules.

Peter Mills has a weakness for Big Government. He has not been able to embrace the Reagan mantra that Government cannot solve problems because it is the problem. Senator Mills has consistently voted to increase the size of Government, frustrating his conservative counterparts in Augusta who have been tasked with the overwhelming responsibility of trying to keep spend thrifty Democrats in check.

This pattern of defection was on display this past year when Peter Mills voted to approve the bogus income tax “reduction” bill which proved to be a tax expansion. When the details of this bill came to light for the people, they were furious. Republicans had to work feverishly and were able to put together a Citizens Initiative to stop the Democrats and Peter Mills. A pattern of partnership has developed over the years that stands against Maine citizens; the Democrats and Peter Mills.

Then we have the gay marriage issue. This was one of the most egregious attacks against the citizens of Maine in recent history. Despite the fact that Mainers had repeatedly rejected a gay marriage law, Peter Mills was the lone Republican who thumbed his nose at the will of the people and voted with Democrats to pass another gay marriage law. Once again, the citizens of Maine were called upon to fix the mistakes of the Democrats and Peter Mills.

Senator Mills now wants to call on these same citizens he has insulted and ignored to now trust him to make Augusta accountable to the citizens again. This columnist had the opportunity to listen to Peter Mills address the citizens of the Red County Caucus in Dover-Foxcroft today. The disdain for him was palpable in the room. As he finished his speech, which seemed at times on the verge of testy, I heard murmurs around me from caucus goers. They were not positive. Terms like “arrogant politician” and “you can tell he went to Harvard” filtered past me. It seems as though the citizens have been burned one too many times and pay back is… well, it’s pay back.

The good Senator has promised the citizens of Maine that he understands the heavy tax burden they are under. He promises to lift that tax burden or some facsimile thereof. He is campaigning as a fiscal conservative, but he is also campaigning as a clean elections candidate. Something tells this columnist that Mr. Mills will have a hard time squaring with common sense Mainers how he can say he feels their tax pain yet is running for Governor on the backs of Maine tax payers through the tax funded Clean Elections system.

What many politicians still don’t understand is that citizens have had it up to the stratosphere with spin and politics. So, if you haven’t been a common sense Conservative right along and are trying now to spin into a Conservative Super Suit, the citizenry may just take a dim view of that. How did they put it in the Red County Caucus today…..Oh yes,… “arrogant politician”…ouch!

Feb 27 2010

The Red County Caucus

This is a story about promises that never create change, change that never happens, and what happens when a promise never changes.

There once was a party that stood by its principles and never wavered. They called for smaller Government, voted for smaller Government, and were proud of smaller Government. The people gave them their vote and their trust.

For a while this party fought against the waste of Government and the heavy tax burden on the citizens it represented. The engine of prosperity began to run smoothly in the nation. The hope of progress began to beat Red across the country. Americans were proud again of the prowess of its people. Unfettered by Government, the American citizens knew there was nothing they couldn’t accomplish.

Unfortunately, Fat Cat politicians began to maneuver within the Republican party. Soon the stench of corruption was pungent enough to expose the carcasses of greed that lay rotting within the Grand Old Party. The people were repulsed. They had been betrayed. Americans would not tolerate hypocrisy in a Party that touted itself as a true champion of truth.

So in 2006, the Republicans suffered significant defeats and lost power in the House and Senate. In 2008, the Presidency was lost to the Democrats. The nation was feeling Blue. The citizens betrayed by the Party of truth and responsibility turned to the Party of deceit and half truths.

The Democratic Party has never claimed to be moral or have ethics. It’s never even tried. They’ve winked to tell us that their ties to corrupt unions and fishy election results were just an “amazing” coincidence. We all knew the Democrats many “initiatives” for the less fortunate would “unfortunately” never reach the “less” but certainly fatten the trust funds of many elite Democrats. But at least, Americans thought, you knew what you were getting with the Democrats. A Party built on corruption, lies, and seedy agendas. Maybe with that knowledge, we could contain the stupidity.

While Democrats promised that all of its policies were “for the children”, the future for our children grew bleaker and bleaker. That was to be expected, Democrats have never hid the fact that their power is derived by those enslaved in poverty. So they continue to enact legislation to keep the citizens impoverished and add more to their ranks.

Americans are now burdened with despair. The weight of an increased debt, the monumental size of Government, and the ever growing shadow of poverty is slowly grinding the gears of American opportunity to a halt. The nation is feeling Blue.

A year and half ago all across the birthplace of Freedom, the counties of New England were feeling Blue; except for, one county in Maine. One county in sea of pale Blue still had a heart that beat vibrant Red as it stood for truth and Conservatism. That county was Piscataquis county.

When the Republican party started crumbling with compromise, our county stood true to its conservative principles. When the rest of New England and the Country was caught up in Obama hysteria, we stood true to common sense and never wavered from Conservatism. You see, the Piscataquis Republican Party has never turned its back on a promise to the people. We’ve never had to change because we know the truth. Conservatism works!

This year a small caucus committee has been developed as an offshoot of the Piscataquis County Committee. It is the brainchild of Rep. Paul Davis and aptly named the Red County Caucus. Between now and the Republican Convention in Portland, the Committee will be interviewing and researching the Gubernatorial candidates. We will hold a debate at the Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft on May 1st, sponsored by the County Republican Women.

After enough information has been gathered, the Red County Caucus Committee will present its recommendation to Piscataquis county. The County delegates will vote at the Convention. Ultimately from the platform of the State Republican Convention, the Red County Caucus will endorse a candidate for Governor.

Pure symbolism, you say? I agree! There has never been a better time for a pure symbol in our State than now. Piscataquis county has been a lighthouse for truth amidst a storm of socialist Blue in this State. It is time for the State and Nation to acknowledge that Conservatism works!

Feb 5 2010

“PROFESSING TO BE WISE, THEY BECAME FOOLS”

The title of this column is a quote from the Bible. (Across the State of Maine liberals are fainting with horror. “There has been a disturbance in the Force,” they cry.) No, it’s just the Apostle Paul berating the Romans who abandoned the worship of God for the worship of man, birds, four footed animals, and creeping things. I’m sure none of us know any liberals that would do that, right? (sarcasm alert) Historians agree that the debauchery so prevalent in both secular and Christian Roman society, that Paul railed against, would be the single largest contributing factor to the decay and fall of the greatest empire the world has ever known.

We have been assured by elitists that a modern society such as ours is immune to such short sightedness. Recent speeches from noted Democrats would cause one to wonder. Remember, wisdom is the ability to view history, and learn from it’s mistakes. The glaring evidence points to the fact that Democrats’ only connection to history is the blind zealous desire to replicate its folly.

For years Democrats have touted their leftist environmental laws as necessary to protect the pristine natural beauty of Maine. We’ve been assured that if we except the menagerie of tax-funded environmental initiatives that, in return, we would see the preservation of Maine’s gorgeous landscape for generations to come. Environmentalists long have demanded that they alone be entrusted with the sacred duty of safeguarding Maine’s natural treasures from the erosive influence of the “human footprint”. Their self validated qualification for this responsibility is a possession of a keener understanding of the ways of nature.

Now, we are presented with the necessity of green energy. It is inevitable we are told. We have to keep up with new horizons. It is progress after all. So slowly but surely wind mills are popping up all over our “pristine” Maine landscape.

Naturalists want us all to breathe a sigh of relief that the regulatory restrictions they imposed to chase business out of Maine have liberated us from all those cumbersome jobs. In its place is …. wind energy, otherwise known as, liberals in debate. Governor Baldacci has promised it has the “potential” to produce jobs by 2030. I’m just thankful Mainers are patient enough to wait until 2030 for a job. (yeah, another sarcasm alert.)

It’s fitting that the Environmentalist answer to job creation and the protection of nature is a giant behemoth glaring white, slap you in the face brilliant white, did I say bright white, wind mill. Lots of them dotting the Maine landscape and coastline. We know all those Maine businesses were awful terrible job providing establishments, but at least they were at building structure height within town limits. What the environmentalists give us is so huge it needs blinking lights to keep small aircraft from flying into it. Try to blend that into the fall foliage. If environmentalist are one thing consistent, they are hypocrites. This is the environmental protection they promised for our tax dollars; a landscape covered with large “pristine” white windmills.

Let’s go a little farther south to where Governor Patrick is trying to stop the exodus of Massachusetts citizens by …. imposing new taxes. Can’t you hear the squeal of tires on I-93 north as families are turning around now that they can have a candy tax too? Or maybe it’s the cars accelerating.

The Democrats in Massachusetts are also planning to reintroduce a bill to give illegal immigrants free in state college tuition. Now that’s an inventive way to tap into the angst among the citizens. No wonder the population in Massachusetts has dwindled so much in the past 40 years that the State has lost four House seats.

Last but certainly not least, we have our President. In his mind numbing 70 minute State of Himself speech, the President rebuked the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the voting citizens for his inept lack of focus in the past year. He blamed all the problems of the country on George W. Bush and the lost decade. Wait!! What the.. What?!! He lost a decade, too!! President Obama, you have exponentially increased the federal deficit, caused unemployment to spiral out of control, given up on Middle East peace because it’s “too hard”, and now, on top of that, you’ve lost a decade to boot.

Mr. President, we can forgive a lot, but decades are pretty important to us. We demand you appoint a Decade Czar and find that poor little lost decade.

Feb 5 2010

Set Maine Free (The State of a Poor State)

Poverty has many faces; none of which are very pretty. It is certainly not “comfortable” as Governor Baldacci implies. Forty years of Democratic power in Augusta has coincided with an ever deepening economic downturn for our great State. Every year young families, who still doggedly live in Maine, weather another financially devastating winter. They toil feverishly through the short summer months in an effort to recover from the winter’s fiscal debilitation just in time to face a recurrence of its doom again. As leaf peepers crowd Maine’s roads in search of postcard like pictures of foliage, the vibrant deciduous colors only herald the coming yearly calamity to many a Maine resident’s family budget.

It is the sickening Maine cycle. Winter approaches again. The few affluent left in Maine batten down the hatches to the proverbial money tree and Maine’s young working future is left out in the cold shivering to survive. Governor Baldacci calls this our “comfortable past.” Excuse me, as I gag wretchedly with disgust.

The most glaring example of poverty was exemplified in the “State of the State” speech last week. In our Governor, we see the abject poverty of leadership.

For forty years the Democratic party has offered Maine nothing but weakness and lack of purpose with a complete disregard for the citizens of this State. Couple this with a stupefying arrogance that blinds these liberals to blatant dire consequences of the socialist policies they espouse. So we, the citizens, are stuck shielding ourselves from the cold winds of a perpetual fiscal winter. The Democrats are “comfortable” with this. We the people should not be.

Arthur Laffer in his “Rich States, Poor States” Economic Competiveness Index ranks Maine 47th of 50. Maine was listed as one of 10 “tax hells” by Money magazine. Mr. Laffer notes that socialism must necessarily have a “Berlin wall” to maintain enough citizens to support it. Maine does not have such a wall. Mainers have been voting their opinion of Maine’s tax policies in the form of a mass exodus of the State. A Party that once touted itself as the party of the worker is having a hard time explaining why workers are fleeing the effects of Democratic legislation in droves throughout the Northeast. It seems that only “trust fund” elites are “comfortable” with tax and spend Democrats.

The Governor “addressed” the need to utilize our natural resources to create jobs; in fact, he acknowledged a need for “burning urgency.” Mr. Baldacci warned that “we can not wait; too much is in the balance.” Then, with a straight face, he tells us that these new wind power initiatives will be online in 2020 and others in 2030. So much for “burning urgency.” We are assured that “in the birth of a new technology, it’s just a blink.” Governor, bill collectors don’t operate on “new technology” time. They won’t wait until 2030.

What, pray tell, was missing from the Baldacci Blarney on natural resources? Oh yes, natural gas in the Gulf of Maine. He wants us to wait until 2030 for new technology, with its effectiveness still in question (but its just a blink), while the Governor conveniently omits the one natural resource we know is there; natural gas. No, not the Governor’s speech. The natural resource out in the Gulf of Maine waiting for us to tap into and create jobs, revenue, stability…..Oh, OK…. Lets just wait for 2030.…..altogether now….Let’s blink.

Ah, and of course, he talked about education. He failed to mention that we spend per student in the top one-third of the country while we perform in the bottom one-third of the country. Oh great! The Governor’s answer?! Let’s spend more money!! How is that for fiscal sanity? Forthwith, the terms Democrat and sanity should not be used in the same sentence with the expectation of compatibility.

Sarcasm aside, fellow Mainers, we must acknowledge that our State has been under the binding rule of Democrats for forty years and have been left with nothing but the shackles of malaise and mediocrity. The only answer to this is for the citizens to arise, unify, and revolt by voting conservative Republicans into power into 2010.

I do stand in agreement with the Governor on these points. We as the citizenry need to “come together to say enough, to put our foot down, and put an end to the circumstances that have held our people and our economy hostage.” Furthermore, Governor, I can agree that “I am not sullen or deterred by the road ahead” for as I look at the road ahead I see a large exit sign with your name on it and, hopefully, your Party. Then the Conservatives can move ahead unfettered by your liberal misguidance and, once again, bring Maine back to financial stability.