In a previous commentary, I went into a lot of detail about unprecedented growth that we have seen in the size and scope of the federal government SINCE Republicans recaptured control of Congress in 1994 — SINCE we replaced Bill Clinton with George W. Bush. The article I have chosen to highlight as the main link on today’s issue of the FlashReport is from the San Francisco Chronicle, and it is titled, "GOP is in a ‘deep funk’ over Bush spending" – and the article is definitely worth a read. A lot of times, I toss away articles from the main stream media (MSM) that try to tell a story of Republicans upset with Republicans, taking it as yet another opportunity for those in the media to divide Republicans. But this article is on point.
I know that Republicans are upset and frustrated about ‘comfort’ and ‘enthusiasm’ that our GOP leaders seem to have in presiding over the growth and governance of a bloated federal bureaucracy. How do I know? First and foremost — that sentiment is felt by… ME! I’ve talked about it on this page before, but the GOP is quickly being hijacked by those who no longer want our party to be about limiting the size of government, and being the party of personal responsibility and the idea of federalism (the idea decisions should be made at a local level – the individual, then the family, then friends and community, and then local, state and eventually the national government). These days, the message seems to be "we will solve your problems" and then a relative comfort in using tax dollars to do it.
This kind of message coming out of Washington, D.C., on top of the recent scandals surrounding former Congressman-now-convict Duke Cunningham, and uber-Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are having an unfortunate and chilling effect on GOP enthusiasm and excitement. I have received so many e-mails from Republicans around the Golden State frustrated with the state of affairs, pining for the return of a Ronald Reagan who will champion the limited-government message of our party.
Enter into this debate the current negotiations in Sacramento over infrastructure investment…
**There is more – click the link**
March 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Why hasn’t anybody seriously suggested private enterprise and private ownership of some of these so-called critical nfrastructure? Privately owned toll roads are successful (and better maintained) as are schools and water conveyences. Naturally there would have to be meaningful performance standards (but nothave ‘prevailing wage’ requirements.) Now that approach might garner conservative support.