Wednesday January 27, 2010
It is amazing how much has changed in one year, and yet how much has still remained the same.
The message that our elected officials in Washington and Annapolis should be hearing is that the American people do not appreciate being told by elected politicians that THEY know what’s better for us than WE know ourselves.
It strikes me as the arrogance of power that President Obama, Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi continue to ignore one public opinion poll after another advising that the vast majority of the American people do not want the mammoth, unreadable, non-understandable and ill-conceived Health Care Reform laws currently in the US House and Senate. We know stink when we smell it and don’t want to be told to trust them, they know what’s best for us, and we’ll come around to love it later. The special deals cut for Nebraska and Louisiana are shameful, unfair, and illegal.
The number one issue on every working or producing citizen’s mind is how to get our economy turned around, create jobs and get people working again. The true American knows we need to roll up our sleeves together, get back to true American virtues and principles, tighten our belts, make do with less, and work harder to make more for a better tomorrow. It is time for sound conservative fiscal policies. When you don’t have the money for something and it’s not a necessity, you do without, and don’t go into unpayable debt to just get over.
However, it appears to me that Governor O’Malley is making that same mistake over and over again. We were told that the unprecedented tax increases of the special session three years ago would solve our State’s budget shortage. Not only is that obviously not the case, they feigned incredulousness when higher taxes resulted in lower revenues, and blatant anti-business laws, regulations, and atmosphere caused Maryland businesses to move to other States or retract, causing a loss of jobs. It is basic Economics 101 but is apparently foreign to the majority of Maryland elected officials.
Governor O’Malley and Democrat leaders completely botched the BG&E sale and the implementation of slots as State revenue generators. Not only was the Slots Constitutional amendment illegal and ill-advised, it was way too little too late. We the people of Maryland have lost untold millions, if not billions, in aid to our State economy. Revenues that could have been directed to education and transportation, and we probably would not have another estimated two (2) billion dollar deficit.
As it is now, Governor O’Malley is too dependent on Federal Stimulus or bailout money to balance the budget. Tough decisions need to be made in running our government to bring our spending in line with our revenues so we can have, as required by law, a balanced budget. Being dependent on hand-outs, or on monies that have onerous strings attached, are no wiser for our State government than they are for our individual households.
The elections of Republicans to governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, and Senator Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts, should send a clear message to elected Democrats, or Monopoly Powercrats, in Washington and Annapolis that we the people have awakened and we will not allow them to take us any further on the course they have set. The Tea Parties are not a movement of any particular party; they have consisted of Republicans, Independents, and Moderate Democrats who are stepping up from the sidelines to say, in the true American patriotic spirit, “ENOUGH,” “You are not listening to us,” “We do not agree with what you are doing,” “We do not appreciate when you ignore us,” and “We are going to take back the power we entrusted to you.” I believe what we are seeing is a true grass-roots Populist movement that is prepared to send non-responsive incumbents home in November 2010.
Let me know what you think about it, and what you think we, together, with God’s help, should do about it.
God bless, protect, and guide us.
Rick Martel
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