Ken Cuccinelli … On Liberty

While the nation’s “economic pie” can be grown through good economic policies, the “liberty pie” is a zero-sum game – it doesn’t grow or shrink – and there are only two slices:  government power and citizens’ liberty.  If the current notions of centralized health care are enacted, government’s raw power over citizens’ lives will increase, and their liberty will be reduced by the same amount.

So writes Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in this month’s issue of the American Spectator.  (sorry, the actual article won’t be available online until April)

Cuccinelli is fast becoming one of the leaders of the conservative movement.  While Cuccinelli has been using the power of his office to fight federal tyranny in the courts, he is also using the pen to make a reasoned argument for all that conservatives hold dear.

During the current resurgence of the conservative movement and the semi-conservative populism inherent among the tea parties, some may dismiss the need for the intellectual strength displayed by officials like Cuccinelli.  Don’t be fooled.  Without its intellectual underpinnings, the conservative movement never would have grown beyond the Bob Taft years.

As I have noted here in the past – Yes, it is important to believe the right things.  However, without a firm understanding of WHY we believe what we do, those beliefs will not survive the test of time.  This is precisely why we need elected officials like General Cuccinelli.

Yes, we all know that ObamaCare is bad policy.  We all know that it would be fiscally disastrous.  We all know that the world’s best health care system would be greatly diminished.  Yet, Cuccinelli has managed to succinctly explain why we should fight ObamaCare – even IF these things were not the case.  If we wish to forfeit our God given individual liberty for a promised blanket of economic security then America ceases to be that shining city.  Liberty forfeited is liberty lost forever.

Thanks Ken.

Sphere: Related Content

Steele Flunks the Test Again

MPPI Senior Fellow Marta Hummel Mossburg tags RNC chair Michael Steele for the rank hypocrisy of his book – "Right Now: A 12-step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda".  While Mossburg hits Steele on many of the right specifics, she should have expounded more on her “Ignatius Reilly” theory of the Michael Steele persona.

Steele’s problem is a simple one – he believes in nothing.  Michael Steele has shown himself willing to pander to almost any audience at the drop of a dime.  He’s conservative.  He’s cool.  He’ll use scarce RNC resources to back an unapologetic left-winger in the NY-23 race.  He’ll take credit for the victories in Virginia and New Jersey, when he had absolutely nothing to do with them (and the RNC’s contribution was an appreciated one of finance and a few bodies).

Michael Steele is the embodiment for why tea party activists, and the conservative movement in general, should look at the GOP as ONLY a means to an end and hold them off with a ten foot poll.  Sure, various state parties (such as RPV) should be looked on as allies.  Some state parties, such as MDGOP, should be viewed as irrelevant except for their easy access to the ballot.

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

Cuccinelli Redefining Role of Virginia AG?

Bob Holsworth at Virginia Tomorrow argues that Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli is redefining the office’s role, much like Jim Gilmore did during his term as AG.  Holsworth defines the new “Cuccinelli doctrine”:

It is the job of the Virginia Attorney General to identify and counter instances where the federal government may be unconstitutionally or illegally extending authority over the states.

Interesting.  While I question whether or not this redefinition will have the political legs of Gilmore’s move of making the AG “Virginia’s Top Cop”, Cuccinelli’s recent actions on behalf of the Commonwealth regarding states’ rights and federal mandates is more substantively important.  In a short period of time Cuccinelli is proving himself to be a conservative’s conservative.

Sphere: Related Content

Cuccinelli – Hurt Can Raise Money During Legislative Session

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has issued an opinion that Virginia Sen. Robert Hurt (R-Pittsylvania) can raise money for his congressional race during this year’s General Assembly session.  Virginia law prohibits members of the legislature from raising money while the legislature is in session.  Cuccinelli’s opinion states that this prohibition does not apply to federal races.  Hurt is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA).  According to Cuccinelli:

However, it is my further opinion that such prohibition does not restrict fundraising activity related to a campaign for federal office. Finally, it is my opinion that federal law pre-empts Virginia’s fundraising prohibition when a General Assembly member solicits or accepts contributions solely for a federal office.

This opinion is in line with the practice in other states – states with far more stringent campaign finance laws than those of the Commonwealth.  However, some of Hurt’s opponents for the GOP nod are not convinced:

"Although it may be legal, it certainly isn’t ethical," said Laurence Verga, a private real estate investor from Ivy and one of Hurt’s rivals in the June 8 primary. "The American people are tired of career politicians like Senator Hurt who put their personal aspirations above their ethical obligations."

Verga said the intent of the 1997 law that forbids Virginia lawmakers from accepting contributions was to "prevent lobbyists from buying votes."

While Delmarva Dealings has not been a supporter of Hurt’s campaign, Cuccinelli’s opinion was the right call.

Sphere: Related Content

Bill Bolling Is Point Man on McDonnell Jobs Package

When Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was elected governor last November, and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling was re-elected, McDonnell stated that Bolling would be in charge of McDonnell’s plan to bring more jobs to the Commonwealth.  In order to finance the plan, McDonnell’s administration has put forward a $50 million plan to finance more economic development in Virginia.  Bolling will now also be in charge of shepherding McDonnell’s plan through the legislature.

Sphere: Related Content

Bob McDonnell – Expressing America’s TRUE Values

On Wednesday Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the GOP response to Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address.  You can view the speech here:

McDonnell’s message will prove important because he expressed the ideas upon which this great nation were founded and those ideas which have made our nation the greatest on earth.  While Obama wishes to continue throwing hard earned tax dollars (and even more money borrowed from the likes of Communist China) at problems, McDonnell’s message was one of self-reliance, self-sacrifice, liberty, and innovation:

Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create new jobs.  We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world.  What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.  It was Thomas Jefferson who called for “A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ….and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…” He was right.

Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.

While most Democrats and far too many Republicans seek enhanced personal and corporate power through the overreaching hand of government, McDonnell’s message was one reminiscent of Ronald Reagan:

Read more

Sphere: Related Content

Is It Time to Re-Tread Virgil Goode?

Bearing Drift has an interesting internal debate going.  Agricola makes an excellent pitch for resurrecting the political corpse of former VA-5 Rep. Virgil Goode.  Brian Kirwin, who I’m usually in agreement with, makes an obtuse argument against it (based on term limits?).

Let’s face it, Virginia Sen. Robert Hurt (R-19) hardly possesses the most conservative voting record.  As Agricola notes:

His votes for HB 3202 in 2007, the massive 2004 Chichester tax hike, and his support for benefits for same-sex partners are decidedly to the left of the incumbent. Read that again… even Perriello, a former executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, doesn’t go so far either in his positions on fiscal policy or social liberalism.  Attempts to paint himself as something he’s not will simply fail.  Conservatives don’t trust Hurt, liberty-minded voters don’t like Hurt, Tea Party activists see Hurt as the establishment, and VA-05 activists are vehemently opposed to Hurt.  Simply raising the GOP banner and saying “vote Bad over Worse” simply doesn’t fly anymore.

I disagree that Hurt CAN’T beat Rep. Tom Perriello (D-5).  However, there is no question that Hurt is the “establishment candidate”.  House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s support is excellent evidence.  Cantor, once a genuine conservative, has sold his philosophy for the opportunity to sit at the head of the table.  Hurt appears to be struck from the same mold.  The bottom line is that we need FEWER members of Congress like Cantor, not more.

I’m not an idealist.  I’ll leave that to the Paulistinians.  We can’t implement a conservative agenda unless we win races.  However, we can’t implement that agenda by electing candidates like Hurt either.  While never a huge Goode fan, he can be expected to be more consistently conservative than Hurt.

Perhaps it is time for Goode to emerge from the wilderness.

Sphere: Related Content

Rexrode To Be New RPV Executive Director

David Rexrode, who served as governor-elect Bob McDonnell’s deputy campaign manager has been selected to become the new Executive Director of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Sphere: Related Content

McDonnell Proposes End to Term Limit

Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell has proposed amending the Virginia constitution to allow a governor to succeed him (or her) self).  Currently, Virginia is the only state that prohibits a governor from serving two (or more) consecutive terms.

While I whole heartedly support McDonnell and his proposals to change the Commonwealth’s budget calendar and his request to the US Department of Interior to allow oil and gas exploration off of Virginia’s coast, this proposal needs to move to the FAR back burner.

Virginia’s practice goes back to the time of Mr. Jefferson.  There is no evidence that enacting such a change would better serve the citizens of the commonwealth.  We then must ask the questions, “Why?”.

Will the citizens be better served by our new governor expending political capital on a proposal that is doubtful to yield meaningful results?

Sphere: Related Content

McDonnell – Drill Here, Drill Now

Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell does not want the federal government to further delay the granting of leases off the Virginia coast.

"It is time to develop our offshore energy resources to create new jobs and provide necessary new revenue for schools, roads, public safety and alternative energy research and development in Virginia," McDonnell wrote to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Gov. Tim Kaine has been less than supportive of exploration off of Virginia’s coast.  In February, he asked the Dept. of the Interior to postpone the process of awarding exploration leases.

Here is a link to the text of McDonnell’s letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Sphere: Related Content

Next Page »