Bernie's Law

I have to constantly harp on my children for failing to take care of basic hygienic needs. They are still very small and in that malleable age group where good, solid habits are taught by drawing a hard line and constantly repeating the basic, black letter law. “Get in there and brush your teeth. . . Wash your hands before dinner; ” etc., are still phrases that are part of the daily Zadrowski household lexicon, which one day will bear fruit in the form of repetition of good habits without any thought. So what does this have to do with taxes?

It makes sense to have to repeat this mantra to a 5 year old and a 7 year old, but what doesn’t make sense to me is why conservatives have to constantly remind their elected Republican legislators not to violate basic, black letter tenets of Republicanism. As a reminder, these “black letter” (read as: “not open for debate, or interpretation is well settled) rules include limited government, lower taxes, and fiscal responsibility.

These Republican values are elemental and really are not areas where Republicans ought to be searching for excuses to disagree. They should be ingrained into our Republican leadership, and should not need to be constantly urged and implored in a manner and fashion that one needs to remind children to brush their teeth.

There are some obvious corollaries to these Republican values, like the simple corollary that a Republican should not help Democrats trash the very Republican principles upon which fellow Republican voters used to help elect them in the first place (as I refer to it, the “dance with the one that brung ya” rule; if you doubt the veracity of this rule, show me a Republican that stated to his constituents: “Elect me and I will raise your taxes!”)

If pie-in-the-sky principled reasons, such as offering a little relief from the already heavy burden of taxes, or preserving the free market system, or preserving the “American Way” (as opposed to the “European Way” which is where we appear to be headed under Democratic leadership) are just too corny for Republican legislators, how about finding a legitimate reason for opposing taxes in the practical reality that they ran as Republicans?

Going along with Democratic tax hikes annihilates the branding of the GOP as the party that is for limited government, lower taxes, and minimal intrusion into the free markets.

It bears repeating that these are elemental principles, not fringe issues. They are a substantive part of every county, state, and national Republican platform. It’s kinda like brushing your teeth before you go to bed, or washing your hands before dinner. This is the “meat and potatoes” of membership. So with that in mind, why would one call themselves a Republican if these are not principles one is willing to adhere to during desperate times?

And the question that must follow, if we are to be true to our Republican ideals is, why should Republicans who do adhere to these principles continue to vote for those who call themselves Republicans, but do not subscribe to the very basic, elemental, “black letter” principles of Republicanism?

I am hopeful that our Clark County Nevada Republican Legislators know and understand this concept as they are called to stand for the citizens of their districts. So far this year, they have not been tested, but the time will come very soon, perhaps next week, when they will be, and we urge them to support the Republican brand, at the very least.

I would note with favor that one group of Republican legislators that have been tested, and mightily so, are our neighbors to our west in California. It has been widely reported over the last few weeks that the brave Republican minority is standing firm against a socialist Democratic majority and their tax-raising Republican governor ally. From a great blog that gives up to the minute updates I found this:

Day Five of the California Hostage Crisis grinds on with state legislators no closer to approving a $42 billion plan to close the state’s budget deficit with a mixture of spending trims and higher taxes.

The tax hikes have the support of every Democrat in the legislature, but three Republican votes in the Assembly and three in the Senate are needed to meet the requirement that the budget pass with a two-thirds vote. In the Senate, only two Republican votes have been secured. One of them is Dave Cogdill of Modesto, who was unceremoniously dumped late last night as his party’s leader. Republican senators were unhappy with Mr. Cogdill’s role in negotiating the tax hikes, and replaced him with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, a fierce opponent of higher taxes. Mr. Hollingsworth is likely to try to renegotiate the budget deal.

KUDOS to our California Republican brethren, who have not only stood strong, but have taken steps of supported strong conservative leadership.

We have strong Republican leadership in Carson City as well. Let’s continue to support Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert and the conservative members of the caucus in their fight for Republican principles. Our esteemed Republican Senators from Clark County, like Barbara Cegavske, who is fighting the fight in the Senate, need your support as well. I’m sure they would like to hear from you. Let them know you support them in their endeavors to keep strong the Republican brand.

In our effort to reinforce good Republican habits, we’ll keep urging that our Republican legislators do the right thing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.