This is a post about betrayal. There is no misunderstanding; the matter is not trivial. Much of the Republican Party’s leadership has directly betrayed Republican Party principles, and the party rank and file is furious.
Local Level
The PWC GOP has made its anger public (here). Here is an excerpt from a statement posted on the party’s web site.
It was shocking that Nohe actually seconded the motion to adopt the new 5% auto repair tax, despite Woodbridge auto dealerships’ clear warnings that the tax would send vital auto insurance repairs, as well as normal auto repairs, just a few miles south to Stafford County that is not subject to the tax.
Nohe had been instructed to raise the taxes by the Republican dominated Pr. Wm. Board of County Supervisors, with the lone dissenting vote of conservative John Stirrup. Nohe did as instructed and raised taxes $300 million dollars a year despite testimony describing:….
Please read the statement in its entirety. This excerpt does not begin to do its full fury justice.
Unfortunately, the betrayal does not stop at the local level.
State Level
This year the Virginia General Assembly passed a tax increase as its signature bill (HB3202). Republicans dominate the General Assembly. State revenues have doubled over the last ten years. Nonetheless, the Republican dominated General Assembly raised taxes and compounded their cupidity by passing an unconstitutional bill (see here). How does this square with the Virginia Republican Creed (from here)?
Virginia Republican Creed
We Believe . . .
- That the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and economic justice
- That all individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice, and opportunities and should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society
- That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government
- That the Federal Government must preserve individual liberty by observing constitutional limitations
- That peace is best preserved through a strong national defense
- That faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers, is essential to the moral fibre of the Nation
© Copyright 1975, 1997 by Republican Party of Virginia, Inc.
So what are Republican legislative candidates doing about their signature bill? They are wishing it would go away. Go to candidate websites and see what they say; they will say little or nothing about the bill that actually passed.
When Lt Gov Bill Bolling visited Prince William recently (here), he loyally defended his Republican colleagues. He said the General Assembly was at an impasse; the bill was the best they could do. Yet this bill was not something he would have done.
Federal Level
Recently, the President and many members of the Senate came together and attempted to pass an immigration “reform” bill. When the People found out what they were about, the People furiously complained, and they stopped this “reform”. Nevertheless, the Republican President and Republican Senate leaders contrived to pass this bill, and they stopped only in dread of the People. Since then, they still have not reacted to the People’s wishes. Instead, they have quietly let the matter drop.
The People want something done about illegal immigration; they want it stopped. Our President and our Congress have an obligation to protect our national sovereignty. When they fail to act, they fail to do their duty. Unfortunately, instead of listening to the people, our political leadership appears to be listening to those business interests profiting from the cheap labor of illegal immigrants.
What Can You Do?
Because we have neglected to understand how it is suppose to work, our government responds poorly to us. Each of us needs to go back and read the founding documents. Forget the stuff they taught us in school. Modern politicians run our schools, and they chose the content.
We must remember that the Founders had far different expectations of government. They knew they are some things the People must do for themselves, and there are some things the People must do through government. Until we know which is which, we will not have good government.
When we try to make the machine that is government do things it cannot really do, it performs poorly. The problem is comparable to driving a fancy sports car through a freshly plowed field. While you may initially make good progress, eventually you will come to a stop.
We need to reform the Republican Party. Otherwise we will be led by Democrats who like their supporters to “Vote early and vote often” (quote from Al Capone).
HA! Great article!
I’ve been ranting about this for so long. When are republicans/conservatives going to acknowledge that Bush ISN’T one of them? That the party hasn’t been doing ANYTHING to further their primary principles: individuals’ liberty, small federal government, fiscal responsibility, NO nation building, “rule of law,” etc., etc., etc.? William F. Buckley and others realized this some time ago. Too bad it wasn’t BEFORE the 2004 election.
Everything is relative. While it is correct to say that George W. Bush and perhaps most of the Republicans do not represent conservative values well, conservatives would have been nuts if they had voted for John Kerry or Al Gore.
Arguably, George W. Bush has done his best. Consider what we ask of government. It may be that no man is equal to the demands this nation makes of its leaders.
When we are stuck with certain choices, we have only one rational option; we choose the lesser evil. For the sake of future generations, we cannot give up. That is why we must educate ourselves and our fellow citizens. We must work for better choices in the future.
Much of the local Republican Party’s leadership has directly betrayed Republican Party principles, and the party rank and file should be furious.
It was not shocking that Nohe actually motioned, seconded and voted to adopt the new slate of taxes, that’s what he does.
Nohe had been instructed to raise the taxes by the Republican (a debatable premise) dominated Pr. Wm. Board of County Supervisors in an effort to avoid direct culpability for the additional tax burdens. This is what the PWC BOCS (and other NOVA BOCSs) get for jabbing a stick in Richmond’s eye for decades, they have reaped what they have sown. It has been easy for them to blame the GA for the “transportation crisis” from their own ivory towers and while the GA does bear a portion of the blame, the preponderance of that onus should placed directly on the NOVA boards.
It is overly simplistic (BTW an attribute of our esteemed appliance salesman) to blame NOVA’s congestion on the fractional return of the NOVA tax dollar. In truth, the “transportation crisis” is a direct result of the boards individual and collective failure to abide by statute and their own ordinances. A cursory review of the zoning ordinances for each jurisdiction will reveal that each is written in accordance with 15.2-2283 of the state code, a provision that mandates zoning practices that protect against “overcrowding of land” or “undue density of population in relation to the community facilities existing or available”. The key words are “existing or available”. It should be obvious that “planned”, “proposed”, “promised”. “proffered” or “considered likely by the melonhead from the Coles District” are not synonyms for “existing or available”.
It’s really very simple, for decades the BOCS has failed miserably in its most basic task. From that failure one can directly link congestion, overcrowded schools, increased real taxes, a decline in the quality/quantity of public services, etc., etc., etc.
So of course the Maytag repairman voted for new taxes, it allows him to safely adopt the intellectually dishonest position that the PWC BOCS has not raised taxes but rather, in a roundabout way, the GA did. Anybody who buys into their duplicitous crap deserves them as a supervisor, I just wish this had all occured several months ago as perhaps they wouldn’t now be running largely unopposed.
Pingback: HERE WE GO AGAIN « Citizen Tom
Pingback: HERE WE GO AGAIN « Bloggers 4 Bob Marshall 4 Speaker