Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday October 13, 2010

    FactFinder 12: Goyle campaign ad. From KWCH Television: “FactFinder 12 found no evidence Sentry International directly outsourced manufacturing work, only that it partners with companies in China and many other countries to purchase foreign made products.” What’s not talked about in regard to this issue is that U.S. companies don’t manufacture products overseas just for the heck of it. Competitive pressures force them to.

    The energy future will look familiar. George Will takes a look at the future of energy in America. But a reminder of the past, in case you forgot: “In 1977, Jimmy Carter said mankind could ‘use up’ all the world’s proven [oil] reserves ‘by the end of the next decade.’ Since then, the world has consumed three times more oil than was in the proven reserves.”

    The truth about our jobs crisis. BankruptingAmerica.org has a short video illustrating the depth and magnitude of the crisis. “The jobs report released on Friday shows that unemployment persists at 9.6 percent. As high as this number is, it doesn’t tell the whole unemployment story.” Additional resources are available at the site.

    Sowell on government greed. “Those who are always accusing people in the private sector of “greed” almost never accuse government of greed, no matter what it does. Indeed, the question of whether the government is greedy almost never comes up, so most of us probably never think about it. … Perhaps one of the most unconscionable acts of greed by government is confiscating people’s homes, in order to turn this property over to other people, who are expected to build things that will pay more taxes.”

    Tweets from Communications Week. At Wichita State University I served on a panel on social media and political campaigns. Some tweets from the audience: “Denae Herrman: Bob Week’s advice for candidates on Twitter: Be more candid & informal. Loosen up! I agree. What makes SM fun is the interactivity.” … “Shae Blevins: @bob_weeks says Goyle, Brownback and Pompeo have failed at using social media for their campaigns in some way. UPDATE your stuff!” … “Lou Heldman: Brownback, Goyle, Pompeo campaigns criticized by @bobweeks on Elliott School panel for sometimes inept use of social media.” I’m sorry, campaigns … but it’s true.

    DCCC cuts back on Moore support. From The Atlantic: “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has pulled some funding from 10 districts, canceling their ad buys in six and reducing their buys in another four. … The committee has also continued cutting time in KS 03, where Stephene Moore (D) is running for her husband’s seat.”

    Liberal Billionaires Take On The Koch Brothers In California Energy Fight. Clare O’Connor in Forbes: “Much has been written about the oil and gas billionaire Koch brothers and their multimillion-dollar donations to right-wing causes. … However, in recent days a handful of liberal billionaires have decided to take on the Kochs in one of the most hotly contested battles this election season: Proposition 23, the California ballot that may well prove a bellwether for the future of energy legislation in the U.S.”

    Election dates to note: October 13 — advance ballots start to be mailed. October 18 — last day to register to vote or change party affiliation. October 29 — last day election office will mail advance voting ballots, so make sure your application arrives at your county election office before this date. November 2 — election day.

    Obama and the Politics of Outsourcing. William S. Cohen, writing in the Wall Street Journal: “For every job outsourced to Bangalore, nearly two jobs are created in Buffalo or other American cities.” … American popular opinion: “A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sept. 28 found that outsourcing was the top reason cited by Americans as the cause of the country’s economic problems — and that for the first time in years a majority (53%) of Americans say free-trade agreements have hurt the U.S.” This sentiment is unfounded. Continuing: “Most people treat outsourcing as a zero-sum game — one foreign worker replaces one American worker. But this is not how the dynamic global economy works. … [An analysis] found that when U.S. firms hired lower-cost labor at foreign subsidiaries overseas, their parent companies hired even more people in the U.S. to support expanded operations. … Those new U.S. jobs were higher-skilled and better-paying.” The politics of it: “During difficult economic periods, people are tempted to seek refuge in the false promise of protectionism. … Politicians are not above exploiting an issue by appealing to popular sentiment even when that sentiment is belied by economic reality.” Outsourcing of Kansas jobs is the major campaign theme — and attack ad hammer — of Kansas fourth district Congressional Democrat candidate Raj Goyle.

    Will Wichita have a government “bank” to fund downtown? The Wichita Eagle reports that the Wichita contingent visiting Louisville is being pitched the benefits of a government-run fund to spur downtown development. Two takeaways: “The fund, says JPMorgan banker Louis Straub II, doesn’t provide ‘free money’ to developers. ‘It’s a loan with much more favorable terms’ than developers would get through a traditional bank loan.” I would say that sounds like free money to me — as long as you consider paying interest on a loan a cost. Then, a real whopper: “Gary Schmitt, executive vice president at Intrust Bank, said the creation of such a fund in Wichita is possible. … there is precedent for Wichita-area banks getting together to help finance downtown projects. He said it was done in the case of the Hyatt Regency Wichita, for which local banks came together and created a participation loan to finance the hotel. ‘History has shown that the banks will come together for the betterment of the community,’ Schmitt said.” So wow did that work out? The Hyatt failed and is now owned by the city of Wichita, and can operate without concerns about profit. In 2001 the Eagle editorialized: “Having a marquee downtown hotel wholly owned by a city can’t be good for stimulating more private hotel development … Who’s going to be willing to finance, build and open a hotel in direct competition with one supported by public dollars?” As we’ve seen by recent action regarding the Broadview Hotel and Fairfield Inn, no one will — unless the government contributes millions in subsidy.

    Wichita Eagle opinion line. “The reason some people can’t find voter fraud in Kansas is the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday October 12, 2010

    Wichita Visioneers in Louisville. The Wichita Business Journal’s Emily Behlmann reports on a trip by Wichitans to Louisville to get ideas on transforming Wichita’s downtown. Hopefully they won’t get this idea, as reported yesterday by the Louisville Courier-Journal: “The heavily subsidized 4th Street Live entertainment district has come under criticism from locally owned businesses for receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks and government subsidies — including a controversial, $950,000 city loan that won’t necessarily have to be repaid.” According to Wichita planner Goody Clancy, heavy subsidy isn’t supposed to be necessary in Wichita. And, I hope all the planners read Jack Cashill’s take on Louisville’s planning: Good intentions, and planners, can sap a city’s soul.

    Lynn Jenkins: Don’t try to make Koch Industries a scapegoat. From today’s Wichita Eagle: “Koch management is dedicated to keeping the company growing. It reinvests 90 percent of company profits back into the businesses, allowing them to expand product lines and hire more employees. That is good for consumers and for workers. However, the company has come under fire because its owners support free-market principles inconsistent with the current Democrat leadership.”

    Should candidates bother to debate? Rasmussen finds that nearly half of likely voters have watched at least one debate, and about half find them informative.

    Costly approach to Kansas economic development — or defense. “Insiders were still not talking Wednesday about the potential cost of saving 6,000 aircraft workers’ jobs in Wichita. Outsiders say that some circumstances at their employer, Hawker Beechcraft, are so different from other companies Kansas has fought to keep that it may be impossible to gauge what it might cost to help prevent the 80-year-old Wichita firm from moving lock, stock and avionics to Baton Rouge, La., and cashing in on Louisiana incentive packages rumored to be worth as much as $400 million.” From Kansas Reporter.

    FiveThirtyEight. More about the political site FiveThirtyEight, which I took a look at on Sunday, especially its coverage of Kansas races. Here, James Taranto discusses FiveThirtyEight, concluding: “The recent acquisition of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com makes for a striking contrast with the paper’s uneven news reporting and dreadful op-ed columnists.”

    No Wichita city council today. It’s the League of Kansas Municipalities conference in Overland Park this week. LKM is a special interest group working in favor not of the citizens who live in Kansas towns and cities, but the politicians and bureaucrats that run them — and their cronies — who benefit from the LKM’s advocacy of things like TIF districts, STAR bonds, tax abatements, and eminent domain for economic development.

    County commissioner forum tonight. Tonight at 7:00 pm at Gloria dei Lutheran Church, 1101 N. River Blvd. Oletha Faust-Goudeau and Richard Ranzau will appear.

    Parkinson is moderate — he says again. Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson — yet again — engages in self-congratulation over “how Kansas has weathered the economic recession by setting politics aside and working together to find moderate, common-sense solutions.” He’s done this several times since the legislative session was over — so many times that I’ve lost count. Evidence of a guilty conscience, perhaps? Parkinson’s abandonment of the Kansas Democratic Party by not choosing to run for reelection has put that party at a tremendous disadvantage in this year’s elections.

    Bureaucracy vs. Bureaucracy? “Andrew Gray, Libertarian Candidate for Kansas Governor, says that simplifying or repealing unnecessary statutes and regulations is a key part of his administration’s plan to empower the private sector to create jobs and prosperity in Kansas. He also says he’s pleased that Senator Brownback is at least talking about similar actions. However, Gray finds it ridiculous that Senator Brownback is actually planning to create more bureaucracy in order to cut bureaucracy.” I think he’s got a point. But anything that is necessary to reduce the size of government is what we need to do.

    The impossibility of an informed electorate. D.W. MacKenzie writing for Mises Daily, reacting to a John Stossel suggestion that uninformed people have a duty not to vote: “The problem with voting in modern America is that we have a politicized society, and modern society is extraordinarily complex. Stossel suggests that only people who follow politics should vote. However, even those who follow politics very closely do not understand the implications of changes in public policy. The lesson here is that efforts to incrementally reform government policies and programs through the democratic process are futile. To the extent that we vote at all, rational people should vote to depoliticize the economy. … What this means is that we need to reintroduce the price system as the primary method of economic communication, and the profit-and-loss sorting mechanism as the primary method of social reform.”

    Gallup: Americans negative towards federal government. “More than 7 in 10 Americans use a word or phrase that is clearly negative when providing a top-of-mind reaction to the federal government.” Details here: Americans’ Image of “Federal Government” Mostly Negative.

    A minority opinion, or a delusion? Paul Krugman in the New York Times: “Here’s the narrative you hear everywhere: President Obama has presided over a huge expansion of government, but unemployment has remained high. And this proves that government spending can’t create jobs. Here’s what you need to know: The whole story is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. In fact, that has been the key problem with economic policy in the Obama years: we never had the kind of fiscal expansion that might have created the millions of jobs we need.”

  • U.S. business under attack by its own government

    Who would have thought that President Barack Obama would take a page — maybe an entire chapter — from the Richard Nixon political playbook?

    A Review & Outlook piece in the Wall Street Journal explains the connection. The subject is campaign fund disclosure: “Democrats claim only to favor ‘disclosure’ of donors, but their legal intimidation attempts are the best argument against disclosure. Liberals want the names of business donors made public so they can become targets of vilification with the goal of intimidating them into silence. A CEO or corporate board is likely to think twice about contributing to a campaign fund if the IRS or prosecutors might come calling.”

    The war on business that’s being conducted by liberals is puzzling and misplaced. Who do they think creates income and wealth that generates taxes to fund Obama’s expanding government?

    Regarding Wichita-based Koch Industries and an Obama administration official’s potentially improper disclosure of information, the Journal says it’s glad to hear that this example won’t be used again. But the Journal is skeptical: “… pardon our skepticism given the ferocity of this White House-led campaign against businesses that donate to political campaigns. Faced with electoral repudiation as the public turns against their agenda, Democrats are unleashing government power to silence their political opponents. Instead of piling on, the press corps ought to blow the whistle on this attempt to stifle political speech. This is one more liberal abuse of power that voters should consider as they head to the polls.”

    Shutting Up Business

    Democrats unleash the IRS and Justice on donors to their political opponents.

    If at first you don’t succeed, get some friends in high places to shut your opponents up. That’s the latest Washington power play, as Democrats and liberals attack the Chamber of Commerce and independent spending groups in an attempt to stop businesses from participating in politics.

    Since the Supreme Court’s January decision in Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats in Congress have been trying to pass legislation to repeal the First Amendment for business, though not for unions. Having failed on that score, they’re now turning to legal and political threats. Funny how all of this outrage never surfaced when the likes of Peter Lewis of Progressive insurance and George Soros helped to make Democrats financially dominant in 2006 and 2008.

    Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday October 11, 2010

    Moran at Wichita Pachyderm: This Friday’s speaker at the Wichita Pachyderm Club is current United States Representative and Republican Party Senate nominee Jerry Moran. As a large audience is expected, please arrive by 11:45 to get your buffet lunch in time for the noon start (the larger meeting room will be used). Cost is $10, which includes lunch.

    Wichita, get control of incentives: Rhonda Holman’s lead editorial in yesterday’s Wichita Eagle urged caution and restraint in Wichita’s use of tax incentives — a welcome message not expected from the Eagle. One conservative wrote to me: “I am stunned to find myself to be largely in agreement with today’s editorial by Rhonda Holman. Wow.” The editorial was critical of past city policy and practice, with Holman referring to special taxing districts as “tax tricks.” On the need for public investment in downtown, she wrote “the city must ensure its use of special taxing districts is strategic, fair, farsighted and defensible.” Whether our present political and bureaucratic leadership can accomplish this is, in my opinion, unlikely.

    Rasmussen key polls from last week: California Senate moves from “leans Democrat” to “toss-up” … Most Americans feel Nobel prizes are political … Harry Reid’s son trails in race for Nevada governor … Cyber bullying seen equally dangerous as physical bullying.

    Kansas initiative and referendum: The Wichita Eagle takes a look at initiative and referendum. A focus of the article is Secretary of State candidates Chris Biggs and Kris Kobach, which is a little misplaced, as they don’t have a say in whether Kansas has I&R, although they would administer the process and Kobach has made it a campaign issue. Key takeaways: “States with initiatives spend and tax less than states without them.” Politicians of both stripes hate I&R, with Kansas Senate President Steve Morris — a big-spending, big-taxing, liberal Republican — hating the idea, according to the article. Same for Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives Mike O’Neil, a conservative. Not reported in the article is one of the first things the people may do in states that have I&R: impose term limits on their elected officials, an idea most of the political class hates.

    China Emerges as a Scapegoat in Campaign Ads: The New York Times reports: “With many Americans seized by anxiety about the country’s economic decline, candidates from both political parties have suddenly found a new villain to run against: China. … Democrats and Republicans are blaming one another for allowing the export of jobs to its economic rival.” Kansas fourth district Congressional hopeful Democrat Raj Goyle is mentioned as one of 29 candidates using China as a foil in campaign ads, just in case you thought Goyle’s attacks were novel. But the issue is murky, as the Times notes: “Never mind that there is hardly any consensus as to what exactly constitutes outsourcing and how many of the new overseas jobs would have stayed in American hands.”

    Regulation — Baptists and Bootleggers: “Here is the essence of the theory: durable social regulation evolves when it is demanded by both of two distinctly different groups. ‘Baptists’ point to the moral high ground and give vital and vocal endorsement of laudable public benefits promised by a desired regulation. Baptists flourish when their moral message forms a visible foundation for political action. ‘Bootleggers’ are much less visible but no less vital. Bootleggers, who expect to profit from the very regulatory restrictions desired by Baptists, grease the political machinery with some of their expected proceeds. They are simply in it for the money. The theory’s name draws on colorful tales of states’ efforts to regulate alcoholic beverages by banning Sunday sales at legal outlets. Baptists fervently endorsed such actions on moral grounds. Bootleggers tolerated the actions gleefully because their effect was to limit competition.” From Bruce Yandle, Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect. A podcast on the topic is Bruce Yandle on Bootleggers and Baptists.

    Obama fails education: From Three Reasons Obama’s Education Vision Fails at Reason: “While he brags constantly about his Race to the Top initiative, in which states competed for $4 billion to fund innovative programs, he’s spent more than $80 billion in no-strings-attached stimulus funds to maintain the educational status quo.” Obama also killed a school choice program in Washington, and has snuggled up to the teachers unions with a stimulus bill to preserve and add union teacher jobs “despite the fact that there are already more teachers per student than ever.” The status quo describes outgoing Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson and his education “vision.” Not that presumptive incoming governor Sam Brownback is a radical on school reform, however. His education plans are quite tepid and not likely to produce the results Kansas schoolchildren need.

    Wichita Eagle Opinion Line: “If Kansans want lower taxes and less government, why are there so many homeowners’ associations here?” I guess the distinction between government and voluntary action escapes this person.

  • In Kansas fourth, Pompeo ups lead over Goyle

    A new KWCH Television and SurveyUSA poll of candidates for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas shows Republican Mike Pompeo increasing his lead over his primary challenger, Democrat Raj Goyle.

    The new poll shows Pompeo increasing his share of the vote from 50 percent to 53 percent, compared to the previous poll by the same organization 22 days earlier. Goyle’s share remains unchanged at 40 percent.

    Only three percent of the voters are undecided.

    Other results from the poll include Reform party candidate Susan Ducey with two percent, and Libertarian Shawn Smith checking in with two percent as well. Smith replaced David Moffett on the Libertarian Party ticket.

    A recent discussion with a veteran Kansas political reporter reminded me of how unreliable polls can be. About three weeks before the August primary election, this same polling organization showed Goyle slightly trailing his opponent. Goyle won the primary with 80 percent of the vote, with a poll shortly before the election showing Goyle leading 63 percent to 19 percent.

    Kansas fourth district Congressional pollKansas fourth district Congressional poll

  • Liberal politics: The paranoid style

    This month Andrew Ferguson, media critic for Commentary, provides a critical look at the left-wing hysteria over the New Yorker “exposé” of Charles Koch, David Koch, and Koch Industries.

    Ferguson is quite critical — justifiably — of the New Yorker article: “The only support in Mayer’s article for this extravagant charge comes from second-hand assertions, usually in quotes from the brothers’ critics. Many are anonymous. Others are incompletely identified. Conservative think tanks and activists are carefully pinned with the ideological tag; liberal think tanks and left-wing activists are, well, just think tanks and activists.”

    Other targets of Ferguson’s include MSNBC talk-show host Rachel Maddow: “When Maddow speaks, the White House listens, and by August, the president himself was at a Texas fundraiser warning an audience that had paid at least $5,000 a person about the dangers that rich people posed to politics.”

    PRESS MAN: The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics

    By Andrew Ferguson

    Over the past 30 years, Charles and David Koch, owners of a Kansas-based family business called Koch Industries, have given hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations that advance their political views. Those views can be described as unevenly conservative and generally libertarian (pro-gay marriage, anti-ObamaCare). The donations are readily observable in foundation tax records posted on the Internet, as all such transactions are, and the brothers themselves have made many public appearances on behalf of the think tanks and magazines they fund, given speeches and media interviews, issued statements of support, sat on boards—even, in David’s case, made a hopeless and expensive run for the vice presidency on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980.

    Oddly, it took a while for the Inspector Clouseaus of the American left to smell a rat. And in fairness, it should be said that hiding in plain sight can often be the most sinister form of disguise for billionaires like the Kochs, the tricky bastards. About a year ago, the alarming rise of the Tea Parties inspired researchers at a website called ThinkProgress to start Googling. Among their discoveries, breathlessly reported, was the news that one of the Kochs’ foundations had funded Americans for Prosperity, a group instrumental in the Tea Party movement.

    Continue reading at Commentary Magazine

  • More left-wing hatred, less facts

    Reason points out how New York Times columnist Frank Rich simply does not understand the issues he’s trying to cover. Either that, or he simply lies to make his left-wing, anti-capitalist political points.

    Matt Welch shows how Rich’s attempt to create an interesting conspiracy theory ignores all available facts.

    Frank Rich’s Connect-the-dots Errors

    By Matt Welch

    New York Times conspiracist Frank Rich had a column over the weekend positioning the Christine O’Donnells of the world as “useful idiots” providing “populist cover” for shadowy billionaires, especially the Koch family, who are cashing in on anti-government sentiment they themselves don’t believe in, in order to stage a political “coup.”

    Continue reading at Reason

  • Republican House candidates to speak

    This Friday October 8, 2010, at the Wichita Pachyderm Club, South Central Kansas Republican Candidates for the Kansas House of Representatives will speak. The invited candidates are:

    Benny Boman, District 95
    James Woomack, District 92
    Dan Heflin, District 84
    Jim Howell, District 82

    All are welcome to attend Wichita Pachyderm Club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive fifteen minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

    The Wichita Petroleum Club is on the ninth floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway) in Wichita, Kansas (click for a map and directions). You may park in the garage (enter west side of Broadway between Douglas and First Streets) and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. The Petroleum Club will stamp your parking ticket and the fee will be $1.00. Or, there is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Socialism embraced in Washington today

    I’m not one to throw around charges of socialism lightly. For one thing, the term has devolved to have several meanings, and it’s not always clear which of the several meanings the speaker or writer intends.

    It’s also a highly charged term that usually overstates the case when it is used. Cathy Young explained in Reason Magazine: “To those who remember the murderous horror that was the USSR, this flippant use of Communist and Soviet analogies should be deeply offensive, indeed obscene — the right-wing equivalent of the leftist habit of flinging Nazi metaphors at conservatives.”

    But at today’s rally in Washington, Americans for Prosperity found many examples of people reveling in socialism.