Much has already been written about Saturday morning’s Salisbury town hall meeting held by Del. Norm Conway (D-38B) and Del. Jim Mathias (D-38B).  Michael Swartz of Monoblogue provides a very factual, blow-by-blow account.  Julie Brewington of Right Coast Girl weighs in with a little more opinion.  My friend Joe Albero, uncharacteristically, is taking a “can’t we all get along” approach.

There are two things that almost everyone seems to agree on.  One is that we appreciate Conway and Mathias taking time to meet with constituents.  Yes, I know it’s an election year AND that it’s part of their job.  Yet, not every member of the legislature takes the time.  The second thing is that both Conway and Mathias are “good guys”.  I concur.  Wicomico County Exec Rick Pollitt is a “good guy”; so is Councilmen John Cannon and Dave MacLeod.  Councilwoman Sheree Sample-Hughes is a “good person”.  Hell, I’m sure there are even a few people who like Salisbury Councilwoman Louise Smith and Wicomico Councilman Bill McCain.  Regardless, taxpayers need to ask themselves if they can afford to continue supporting these “good guys”.

BIG GOVERNMENT CONSERVATIVES?

Mathias is widely considered to be the more conservative of the two delegates representing 38-B.  Both Mathias and Conway attempt to portray themselves as “common sense, conservative Democrats”.  However, closely listening to these two yields a different conclusion.  Mathias lamented the fact that Wicomico County had lost large employers such as Dresser, Campbell Soup, and Crown Cork & Seal.  Yet, according to Mathias, these private sector employers had been replaced by the growth of Salisbury University, Wor-Wic Community College, and PRMC.  What’s the difference?  For starters two of the three are GOVERNMENT and the third does not contribute to the local tax base.

Before anyone starts pointing fingers, I’m not bashing SU, et al.  Our local economy benefits greatly from these institutions.  Sadly, as SU and PRMC continue to expand their respective footprints, the impact on the local governments will be increasingly negative.  Why?  They don’t pay property taxes and their “payments in lieu of taxes” never keep up with the increasing demands being placed by these institutions on local infrastructure and services.  Yet, Mathias argues that replacing private sector employment with the public sector is somehow an even trade?

PROTECTORS OF THE FAMILY FARM?

What distressed me even more than Mathias’s belief that government can create wealth was the hypocritical rhetoric of both Conway and Mathias regarding our farmers.  Mathias and Conway both crowed that they were helping local poultry farmers to get needed permits for new poultry house construction.  This would be wonderful EXCEPT for the fact that Mathias, Conway, and their lefty pals in Annapolis are attempting to DESTROY DELMARVA’S POULTRY FARMERS.

While Conway and Mathias are "helping” poultry farmers in public, they are working with groups like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters to put these same constituents out of business.  While these groups are plotting with state officials and local politicians like Pollitt, Cannon, Sample-Hughes, and Wicomico councilmen Bill McCain and Dave MacLeod to strip farmers of their property rights (in the name of “preserving our agricultural heritage”) they are simultaneously working to put these same farmers out of business:

We know what causes these dead zones– unchecked pollution from large factory chicken farms and sprawling development. President Obama has given the EPA a chance to hold these polluters accountable.

Taking away the property rights of local farmers AND regulating them out of business is hardly the image Mathias and Conway want to convey to Wicomico and Worcester farmers.  Yet, they certainly aren’t standing up to protect those farmers.

WHERE IS MY LIMITED GOVERNMENT?

Both Mathias and Conway attempted to sell their assembled constituents that they were working hard to spend their money wisely AND lessen the burden of government regulation on businesses and individuals.

Really?  Where’s your evidence guys?  Both Conway and Mathias live off of the public trough.  Conway is a retired BOE employee.  Mathias’s wife is the town clerk of Ocean City.  Where have either of these two ever stood up to the waste, fraud, and abuse of state and local government?

Mathias and Conway argue that there are only 10 members of the House of Delegates from the Eastern Shore and it takes 71 votes to pass a bill.  That’s true.  However, the quid pro quo, back scratching approach that Mathias and Conway seem to take regarding state policy simply isn’t working.  Heaping praise on Gov. Martin O’Malley and sucking up to their profligate pals in Annapolis has simply yielded an environment where hard working, law abiding, private sector taxpayers are being held hostage to the deified leviathan of big government.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

According to both Mathias and Conway, not much.  The government is just going to continue taking an ever greater share of our economy.

I disagree.  While there are no quick fixes, voters simply need to ask themselves one question when they vote in November:

CAN WE AFFORD ANOTHER FOUR YEARS?

Regardless of the office, if the GOP fails to offer a real alternative DON’T VOTE for that particular office.  Our elected officials must learn that the days of people working FOR the government are coming to an end.  When Marylanders take the same actions as former New Jersey residents and vote with their feet, people like Jim Mathias and Norm Conway will learn that a state populated by government employees and transfer payment recipients simply can’t function.  Only private enterprise can create wealth.

nemski at DelawareLiberal seems to think so but does Delaware really need  Vice President Joe Biden as the unofficial First State poster child?  Biden makes George W Bush look like the chairman of the Oxford Union.  While Gov. Jack Markell is governing far more responsibly than many of us thought he would, both Markell and Delaware have a ways to go to repair the damage done by previous administrations.

nemski is right about one thing – you really should read this article from the Wilmington News-Journal.  Then ask yourself if these supposed “men of the people” are really good for the image of the First State?

Here is a video of a FEMA official instructing police officers that Christians and our nation’s founders were TERRORISTS!

Thomas Jefferson never fired a shot in anger during the Revolutionary War.  George Washington never ordered the assassination of anyone.  YET, these people who preached LIBERTY and LIMITED GOVERNMENT are deemed TERRORISTS by some nameless, faceless government bureaucrat.

H/T:  SbyNEWS

My Red Maryland colleague Brian Griffiths has an excellent post which discusses just some of the pitfalls of the Mitt Romney health care plan now reeking havoc on the poor citizens of Massachusetts.  Reading it I was reminded of some statements made by then candidate, now Congressman Frank Kratovil (D-MD).

At a Big Labor forum in September, 2008 Kratovil openly endorsed the Taxachusetts plan.  Blue Dog Frank was particularly in love with individual mandates.  As Griffith’s post notes, these mandates are nothing more than a tax on middle class citizens who choose to carry coverage that isn’t quite as robust as bureaucrats would like.

Should we be surprised?  No!  While Blue Dog Frank ran around Maryland’s First District telling middle class white folk that he would be “INDEPENDENT”, Kratovil was pitching himself to the African-American community as:

PART OF BARACK OBAMA’S TEAM FOR CHANGE

At least he didn’t lie to ALL of the District’s voters.  PORKULUS.  Cap and Tax.  We’re all waiting to see how he can explain a vote for ObamaCare.

The big question will be – if Kratovil votes against ObamaCare … to save his seat … will all of that left wing money dry up?

When Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) held a meeting with constituents last Friday the meeting was civil.  Given the leftward leanings of Van Hollen’s district that should be expected.  One question posed by a bastion of the government class:

when medical industry lobbyists might be banned from trying to sink reform

Van Hollen diplomatically responded that there was a little thing called “free speech”:

"There are constitutional issues here," he said. "You can’t say people can’t advertise on TV."

Oh yes you can, at least if you are a statist like Van Hollen, Barack Obama, or their pal Frank Kratovil.  Why did the networks refuse to run the commercial below?  There certainly aren’t any fighting words in those 30 seconds.  You might want to argue over the facts (I think they’re spot on), but isn’t that what a civil debate is about?

Free speech exists.  If you adhere to the left wing orthodoxy of people like Chris Van Hollen.  if not, expect to be attacked … or silenced.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) seems to be regretting his decision to sell out his constituents in Virginia’s “Fighting Ninth”.  Like so many Democrats representing moderate / conservative districts, Boucher seems to be trying the old Frank Church / Birch Bayh bait and switch – vote like the lefty you are in DC while telling the folks back home that you are “fighting for their best interests”.  Boucher has actually been pretty successful at this trick ever since he was elected in 1982.

Unfortunately for Boucher, he voted for “cap and tax”.  That doesn’t play well in most places due to the prospect of rising energy costs.  Now imagine that coal mining is the leading industry in your district.

According to Boucher:

“I voted for it because I had to do that to be part of the process and to make the changes that have been made,” Boucher said of the bill that passed by a seven-vote margin in the House and is now being considered by the Senate…

Like his “Blue Dog” pal, Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD), Boucher must really believe that the folks back home are rubes of the first order.  This response is very similar to Kratovil’s reasoning for voting for PORKULUS – after her voted against it.

It works like this – Boucher has to vote against the best interests of his constituents so that he “can have a seat at the table”.  Given that this bill could well be the most important vote that Boucher ever has, or will, cast for the voters of Virginia’s 9th District, what is more important?  Maybe Boucher wants a road or building named after him and needs support in the House for that.

Whenever it is stated that ObamaCare is the road to socialized medicine, the left cries foul.  Why?  They realize that if Americans learned the truth about their plans for American health care (as well as our economy and our government), that would be the end of their return to power.

Fortunately, statists can’t help but brag when they are amongst themselves.  Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), a true Obama acolyte, just LOVES the Cuban health care system.  That’s her vision for America.

While her more intelligent cohorts will deny that this is their plan for America, it is becoming increasingly clear that a true People’s Republic is what they wish for – nationalized corporations, socialized medicine, destruction of property rights, …

Besides her love of the Cuban system, Watson provides another hint as to the left’s desire to walk the statist / fascist path.  According to Watson, if Obama fails, America fails.  No Ms. Watson.  America will survive.  America will flourish because our nation is far greater than one individual.  Our system of government is based on liberty.  Only in nations such as Communist Cuba, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Soviet Russia were governments based on a cult of personality and that bizarre amalgam of nationalism, socialism, and populism that yielded the totalitarianism which Watson and her ilk seem to long for.

Perhaps that is why Watson loved the fellow travelling (if not traitorous) Ted Kennedy so much.

H/T – Worcester Right

One of the problems with “progressive” ideas is that liberals believe that they are smart enough to predict every economic impact of a piece of legislation.  The latest case is the Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunkers” program.

I’m sure you’ve seen or heard ads from various charities asking you to donate your junk car.  The IRS only allows you to take a deduction for the fair market value of the vehicle.  So, if your car is worth $1,000, you get to deduct that off of your ordinary income.  You could save a maximum of $350 (in theory).  Your savings would really be less, because if you’re paying the top marginal rate, you are almost certainly in AMT territory.

With “Cash for Clunkers” you get $4,500 off of the price of a new car.  Let’s see … $350 or $4,500.  Which is more?  Are you more likely to donate the car to a charity or use it to buy a new car?

Besides the impact on charities, there has been another unintended consequence of the program – the used auto parts market.  Because the engine has to be made inoperable (and the car shredded) as part of the program, used parts dealers (we used to call them “junk yards”) are facing a shortage of parts for their inventory.  We can also expect to see an impact on the steel market because of an increased supply of mild steel (due to shredding these cars).  Used car dealers will be impacted.  Auto auctions will be impacted.

Consumers who cannot afford a new car will be impacted.  As the number of available used cars declines, the price will rise (Econ 101 guys).

Even new car dealers are being negatively impacted.  Sure, they’re seeing increased sales.  However, when the car leaves the lot, their floor plan agreements (how dealers finance their inventory) typically require that payment be made for that car.  There’s one problem.  The government is reimbursing dealers in the “Cash for Clunkers” program slower than they reimburse doctors for Medicaid (which is even worse than Medicare).

I wish Democrats would just stop, take a deep breath, and read Hayek’s Constitution of Liberty.  There is no way for any group, no matter how smart they think they are, or how liberal they are, to predict every impact of an action on the market.  That’s one of the reasons government should be limited.

H/T – Moe Lane @ RedState

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) is supposed to represent New York’s 29th district.  A freshman Democrat, like my own Frank Kratovil (D-MD), Massa was elected from a moderate / conservative district west of Binghamton.

Want to know what he really thinks of the people who elected him?  All you need to do is get him out of town and with a group of his own.  At last week’s NutRoots convention, listen to what Massa had to say:

“I am in one of the most right wing Republican districts in the country.” (which really isn’t true)

MASSA: I will vote for the single payer bill.

PARTICIPANT: Even if it meant you were being voted out of office?

MASSA: I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.

(inaudible participants’ comments regarding the “interests” of the district statement from Mr. Massa)

Massa: I will vote against their opinion if I actually believe it will help them.

This is how liberals talk about their constituents when they’re not at home.

H/T – RedState

Rep. Frank Kratovil loves to say over … and over … and over again that he’s a “Blue Dog”.  “Blue Dog Frank” loves to claim that he’s fiscally conservative and that he’s trying to protect us, the taxpayers.  Is there much truth to that claim?

For starters, the “Blue Dogs” aren’t very conservative with our tax dollars.  On sixteen crucial bills, the “Blue Dogs” have overwhelmingly supported the Nancy Pelosi / Steny Hoyer / Barack Obama party line.  How about our own “Blue Dog Frank”?

HR 1 – the great Obama PORKULUS bill.  Frank voted for it AFTER he voted against it.

HR 2 – SCHIP,  the beginnings of ObamaCare.  Frank loved this one too.  I guess it was “for the children”.  I just didn’t know that children could be 25 years old.

HR 384 – more money for TARP.  At least Frank was honest on this one.  I remember him saying that he would have supported the original TARP legislation.  I still think he needs to explain why a chunk of that TARP money went to bonus for executives who obviously weren’t doing a very good job (if they were, they wouldn’t need a government bailout, would they Frank). (Voice Vote)

HR 1105 – the Omnibus Appropriations bill   8500 earmarks and still counting.  What’s conservative about that one Frank?

HR 3081 – State – Foreign Operations Appropriations bill  This appropriations bill saw the highest percentage increase over FY2009.  It’s not for national defense.  Frank can’t claim any pork for the home folk.  What’s the deal Frank?

HR 1913 – Hate Crimes Prosecution  Can’t prosecute illegal aliens, but Frank thinks that it’s OK to prosecute someone for what they think.  Is Frank Kratovil a poster child for an Orwellian future?

Kratovil made a lot of promises during his campaign.  He said that he wouldn’t be a lap dog for Nancy Pelosi.  Visit him at one of his “Town Halls” and let him know how your feel.  Remember, “Blue Dog Frank” is looking for any excuse to socialize your health care next.