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Word on the street is that Democrat Diamond Jim Doyle will retire to lead the Peace Corps with President Obama’s blessing after bankrupting Wisconsin with all of his new taxes and irresponsible spending.
Thoughts? Surprised?
UPDATE: As much fun as it is to dream that Doyle will leave Wisconsin, it appears it may not be true if one is to believe the Journal Sentinel. They sure dug in fast on that one, I suppose they would be unhappy if Doyle left.
Tags: Doyle, Obama, Peace Corp
It has become a thing in D.C. for certain communities or interests to declare a particular date that group’s “Day in D.C.” One thinks, for instance, of MMAC’s “Milwaukee Night in D.C.” In the same vein, one might call this past Wednesday “Bradley Day in D.C.”
And what a day it was. It began with a symposium on the state of conservatism, sponsored by the Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Civic Renewal. Wisconsin’s own Rep. Paul Ryan led off with an address expounding on the moral case for capitalism.
Whenever Republicans lose an election, a factional dispute arises about “economic issues” versus “moral or social issues.” “Traditionalists” and “libertarians” blame each other, each claiming Republicans would do better without the other. … Why anyone would think a minority party can grow into a majority by splitting itself in half is a political and a mathematical mystery to me.
Thanks to the work of Michael Novak and the good folks at the Acton Institute (often building on JP2), there is a significant recent literature making the moral/Biblical case for democratic capitalism. I hope in the future we also see focus on the importance of traditional social structures to a successful economy. First, well functioning families and communities lead to a better work force, instilling the values of hard work and honesty in the rising generation of workers. Second, well functioning families and communities reduce social pathologies that would otherwise require tax-funded government services.
After Rep. Ryan, we heard from Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Yuval Levin of EPPC, and Rich Lowry from National Review, on a panel capably moderated by Arthur Brooks from AEI. Gov. Daniels gets credit for the line of the day: he quoted Chesterton’s famous phrase that conservative’s respect for tradition leads us to “a democracy of the dead” – but in Indiana, all the dead vote for Democrats!
That evening, many of the same characters convened again for the Bradley Foundation’s sixth annual Bradley Prizes celebration, held at the Kennedy Center. Many of the conservative movement’s leading luminaries (Charles Krauthammer, Karl Rove, George Will) and several friendly faces from Wisconsin (Rep. Paul Ryan, Speaker Jensen, Dean Kearney) gathered for a wonderful evening of entertainment, speeches, and finger food! The four Bradley Prizes this year were conferred upon Bill Kristol from the Weekly Standard, historian Sir Martin Gilbert, economist Prof. Arnold Harberger, and the founders and leaders of The Federalist Society (the good people who employ me!).
Herb London from the Hudson Institute, writing recently in the Washington Times, highlights the importance of these prizes:
The recipients understand and appreciate that there is much reason to rejoice in our national past and that the past can serve as a guide to our future. The land of the free and home of the brave can only remain so if we recognize those scholars who put into words and deeds what this nation stands for. In conferring the Bradley Prizes, this foundation in Milwaukee has performed a national service that all Americans should admire.
As the day drew to a close, I was reminded again how blessed we are that one of the nation’s most important philanthropies makes its home in, and focuses its investments in, Wisconsin. Thank you, Bradley Foundation!
Wisconsinites celebrating their Second Amendmend Rights.
“Open Carry Picnic Facts
213 people signed in. 99 people carried holstered firearms. 100 burgers, 100 brats and 50 hot dogs were served. $830.85 was raised by participants for Wisconsin Badger Camp.”
HT: Boots and Sabers
Tags: 2nd amendment, guns, Wisconsin
You guessed it, the ridiculous partisan lefty Democrat of the day award goes to Sentor Russ Feingold (D) WI.
“Republicans are trying to pass legislation in the next few weeks to kick off the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, and the only hurdle appears to be Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who is refusing to let the Senate vote on the bill.”
Tags: democrats, Ronald Reagan, Russ Feingold
While reading through my latest Google Reader items, a post over on 538 caught my eye (shared by a friend) titled “Why Spending Cuts Aren’t the Answer“. It is a well written piece about how we shouldn’t be cutting government programs because, as Mr.Frank states:
“Each of these programs was delivering good value for the money.”
Boiled down to business terms, the author and many of my friends, believe the government should be run on ROI or Return on Investment. Many people who were pulling for Obama’s ridiculous bailout said we could actually earn money by bailing businesses like Chrysler (who has recently gone out of business and taken our billions of dollars with it… oops) because they treated it like an investment and these businesses or programs that we now had stock in could go up/succeed and earn us money.
I appreciate anyone considering the possibility of economic gain but, ROI can mean different things for different people. Value for me may not be value for you so, the return on investment for me may be nothing while it’s alot for you, despite the fact that you are using taxpayer money on the investment and many taxpayers are getting no return. In addition, the government has a long history of being a poor investor with taxpayer dollars, spending more and providing less of a return than private industry.
Here is my proposal: think not only about ROI but, about SGDI or Should Government Do It? We live in a country that is lead by Democrats (House, Senate and Obama) who never even consider what the government should or shouldn’t do. To them the answer to every SGDI answer is YES! More government! More programs! Millions of new government jobs!
As conservatives, we believe we should take a step back and think. More often then not, we consider SGDI and come to the conclusion that even if a small, short-term ROI can be gained by government interaction, private industry and charities are by far the most efficient way to gain ROI over the long term. As conservatives, our SGDI analysis is more often than not, no. This is because we believe America will be a better place with a smaller government. Our government is not what makes us great, it is our people and the businesses and charities they run.
Of course, if we had asked “Should government do it?” more often, we wouldn’t have to cut programs because they would have been left in the hands of private industry and charities from the beginning.
Tags: big government, democrats, ROI
With the resignation of Justice David Souter and the party switch of Senator Arlen Specter, there has been great wailing and gnashing of teeth on the op-ed pages about the end of “Yankee Republicans.” Yet as a colleague points out, the 2010 polling data do not support the conclusion:
Pennsylvania Senate: Specter (D)(I), 41 – Ridge (R), 48
New Jersey Governor: Corzine (D)(I), 36 – Christie (R), 47
New York Governor: Paterson (D)(I), 32 – Guiliani (R), 53
Connecticut Senate: Dodd (D)(I), 42 – Simmons (R), 43
Delaware Senate: Biden (D), 34 – Castle (R), 55
New Hampshire Senate: Hodes (D), 41 – Sununu (R), 46
Connecticut Governor: Bysiewicz (D), 32 – Rell (R)(I), 53
Although there’s no head-to-head for 2010 yet, we can also look at Massachusetts Governor through the question: “Who did a better job as Governor—Deval Patrick or Mitt Romney?” Patrick (D)(I), 32 – Romney (R), 49. There’s also no head-to-head data for Vermont yet, but incumbent Republican Jim Douglas is currently favored by analysts.
So in other words, if the November 2010 election were held today, Republicans would hold the Senate seat in New Hampshire, and pick up seats in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware. We’d hold the governorships of Vermont and Connecticut, and pick up New York, New Jersey, and maybe Massachusetts.









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