Should it be hard to raise taxes? Yes!
September 15, 2011 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Political | 9 CommentsTags: Amendment, constitution, Democracy, Individual Rights, Majority Rule, Mark Dayton, Steve Drazkowski, Supermajority, taxes
A proposal to require a legislative supermajority in Minnesota is entirely appropriate.
Photo: John Overmyer, NewsArt
EXCERPT:
Opposition to raising the nation’s debt ceiling was characterized as “hostage-taking.” Refusing to bow to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s demand for tax increases was a kind of “terrorism.”
Entwined with such assaults, many have urged the need for government to “function” or “work” for the people.
The sum of these sentiments is the assertion that fiscal conservatives hold back a benign government from doing its job.
A recent example was the Star Tribune’s editorial opposing a proposal by Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, to amend the state Constitution (“Don’t raise bar for state tax increases,” Sept. 7).
It would require a 60 percent legislative supermajority to raise taxes. How could our state function under such a requirement? Perhaps we should first consider: What is government’s proper function?
Tea Party Confronts Gov. Dayton in Rochester
July 14, 2011 at 5:00 am | Posted in Political | Leave a commentTags: budget, democrat, DLF, gop, Mark Dayton, minnesota, North Star Tea Party Patriots, Protest, rally, republican, Rochester, Rochester Tea Party Patriots, shutdown, taxes
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ROCHESTER, Minnesota (July 14, 2011) – The Tea Party rallied dozens of protesters to an event attended by Governor Mark Dayton on Wednesday. The roundtable forum held at the Rochester Senior Center provided an opportunity for voters to confront the governor about the ongoing state government shutdown, now the longest of its kind in American history. Cindy Maves, coordinator of the Rochester Tea Party Patriots, indicated the group was eager to send a message to the governor. “We waited for him outside with our signs and shouted ‘sign the bills’ as he entered the building,” she said. Maves referenced several budget bills passed by the Republican controlled legislature and vetoed by the governor in favor of a shutdown. The roundtable was populated by the disabled and caretakers of the disabled. Each took turns bemoaning alleged budget cuts, in spite of the fact the budget vetoed by Dayton increased state spending by 12%. “The audience was largely populated by unions and the DFL,” Maves said. “[State] Representative Kim Norton [DFL-29B], who facilitated the meeting, kept trying to frame the discussion as ‘about health care for seniors and the disabled–not about taxes or the budget.’” “If only those topics were One day after House Republicans urged the governor to call a special session and finalize negotiations on six budget bills which would put state employees back to work and restore services to Minnesotans, Dayton claimed they were unwilling to meet with him. “It was pointed out that the legislature asked for a special session and a ‘lights on bill’ repeatedly–before the shutdown,” Maves reported. “Funny, he had no comment.”
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mutually exclusive,” commented Walter Hudson, chair of North Star Tea Party Patriots, the statewide coalition of which the Rochester group is a part. “The question is not whether health care is good, but good for whom and at whose expense.”Shutdown with a Vengeance
July 8, 2011 at 2:00 pm | Posted in Political | 3 CommentsTags: minnesota, taxes, Government, Mark Dayton, shutdown, Take Action Minnesota, Keith Downey
Remember that scene from Die Hard with a Vengeance where the bad guy forces John McClain to stand around in Harlem while wearing a racially provocative sign? That’s kind of how I felt as a declared Tea Party guy walking into a piping hot union meeting at the Edina Community Center on Thursday night. Take Action Minnesota, a coalition of leftist organizations, hosted a mini-rally attempting to shift blame to Republicans for Governor Dayton’s state shutdown. The event was one of three on the same day. The others were held in Eagan and St. Cloud.
I came to support State Representative Keith Downey who had been invited to take a verbal beating. It turns out Downey couldn’t make it (there is some question whether the attempt to book him was sincere). A poised legislative assistant stood in for him. After some brief remarks, she sat as a list of speakers called for a tax increase.
One of the first speakers, a Steven Phillips, rejected the comparison of government to a household. “If things got tough when I was growing up, Dad went out and got another job,” he said. “We didn’t throw grandma out of the house.” He said a family facing hard times might “raise revenue” by hitting up a “Rich Uncle Harry,” evoking a tax increase on Minnesota’s wealthy.
The Moral Stakes of Dayton’s Shutdown
July 3, 2011 at 5:00 am | Posted in Political | 11 CommentsTags: Almanac, Communisim, Democrats, dfl, gop, Government Unions, Karl Marx, Ken Martin, Mark Dayton, Marxism, Michael Brodkrob, minnesota, Public Unions, Republicans, shutdown, Socialism, taxes
by Walter Hudson
Everything happens for a reason. In the wake of Minnesota’s state government shutdown, many reasons have been offered to explain the impasse between Governor Dayton and the Republican-led legislature. Most seem to center around the notion of compromise.
On Friday’s Almanac, DFL party chair Ken Martin sparred with MN-GOP vice chair Michael Brodkorb over which party was to blame. Each accused the other of refusing to compromise. While there is certainly an instructive argument to be had over which side has been more willing to negotiate, it defers the important moral consideration which will inform any deal.
Martin evoked that consideration on Friday. “I ask you… Why is it so important in this state to protect 7,700 millionaires at the expense of 99.9% of Minnesotans?” Almanac co-host Cathy Wurzer summarized the DFL talking point as “millionaires over Minnesotas,” as if earning a certain amount of money is a renunciation of one’s residency and citizenship.
Tea Party Puts Boehner on Notice: Shape Up or Ship Out
May 19, 2011 at 9:30 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 2 CommentsTags: Barack Obama, Debt Limit, John Boehner, NewsReal Blog, ObamaCare, politics, spending, taxes, tea party, White House
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog on May 18.
Leftists still don’t get the Tea Party, and neither does the Republican party establishment. Reuters recently reported on a private meeting which took place between several Tea Party activists and House Speaker John Boehner. The mood was less than cordial.
One of the 25 or so [Tea Party] leaders, all from Boehner’s district, asked him if Republicans would raise America’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.
According to half a dozen attendees interviewed by Reuters, the most powerful Republican in Washington said “yes(…)”
That answer incensed many of the Tea Party activists, for whom raising the debt limit is anathema.
Continue Reading Tea Party Puts Boehner on Notice: Shape Up or Ship Out…
Escape from New York: Young Taxpayers Flee Economic Ruin
May 17, 2011 at 8:45 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Divided Power, federalism, New York, NewsReal Blog, taxes, Vote with Your Feet
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog on May 16.
Young workers, the lifeblood of any economy, are set to flee New York in droves.
A new Marist College poll shows that 36% of New Yorkers under the age of 30 are planning to leave New York within the next five years – and more than a quarter of all adults are planning to bolt the Empire State.
The New York City suburbs, with their high property values and taxes, are leading the exodus, the poll found.
Of those preparing to leave, 62% cite economic reasons like cost of living, taxes – and a lack of jobs.
Continue Reading Escape from New York: Young Taxpayers Flee Economic Ruin…
The Audacity of Wealth: How Leftist Thugs Claim Your Money
May 10, 2011 at 6:00 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 1 CommentTags: Coercion, Deduction, Extortion, Lori Sturdevant, Mortgage Interest Deduction, NewsReal Blog, Ownership, Protection, rich, Socialism, Tax, Taxation, taxes, Tim Walz, Wealth Redistribution, wealthy, Yacht
by Walter Scott Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog on May 9, 2011
The first rule of extortion is, you don’t call it extortion. When thugs come around to collect, they don’t act like they’re taking your money, they act like they’re claiming theirs. They treat you as if you stole from them, and they’ve come to set things right. It’s a psychological assault employed by all tyrants. What’s yours is mine. You keep what I allow, and should thank me for the privilege.
That same thuggish sentiment underlies our government budget debates. The Left has skillfully established the premise that the state owns all wealth, and lets us have some of it. Acceptance of this notion enables the Left to sit in judgment of what individuals spend their money on, and whether that money would be better spent elsewhere.
Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Lori Sturdevant provides an effective example. Under the current federal tax code, yachts with certain amenities qualify as second-homes, making them eligible for the same mortgage interest deduction a taxpayer would receive for a house. Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN) has introduced a bill which would disallow that deduction. From Walz’s perspective, it’s a no-brainer. Continue Reading The Audacity of Wealth: How Leftist Thugs Claim Your Money…
Raise the Roof: Jacking Up the Debt Ceiling Is Ghetto Fabulous
April 25, 2011 at 12:05 pm | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 1 CommentTags: Barack Obama, Debt Ceiling, deficit, federal government, National Debt, NewsReal Blog, Paul Ryan, Revenue, spending, taxes, tea party
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
We’ve all known people who just couldn’t handle money. It slips right through their fingers. They’re not just living check-to-check, but check-to-scheme. They’re always in debt, and always in crisis. They constantly need another loan to cover the last. They play silly little tricks, like cashing a check with insufficient funds, gambling that it won’t bounce before they can make a deposit. It’s a way of life where, no matter how much money they have at any given time, they are predisposed toward broke.
It’s bad enough when a friend or family member is that way. Unfortunately, we’ve got a federal government just as ghetto.
The Huffington Post recently reported that “conservative strategists” are advising the GOP to soft-pedal resistance to raising the debt ceiling. They warn that the consequences of a protracted fight could be adverse.
If the markets get spooked, U.S. treasury bond yields will spike, driving up interest rates and increasing the price of borrowing money for everyone from the federal government to municipalities to consumers, [former Treasury and White House official in the Bush administration Tony] Fratto warned. The cascading effects on the economy would be severe and long-lasting.
You don’t understand. I have to take out another credit card. If I don’t, I won’t be able to make payments on the five I already have out. I won’t be able to pay my other bills either. I’ll have to sell my car, find a cheaper place to live, get another job…
Echoes of the Tea Party Louder Than Whining Over Ryan Budget
April 24, 2011 at 10:00 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: budget, David Weigel, Government Unions, Labor Unions, Madison Protest, Michael Barone, NewsReal Blog, Paul Ryan, Public Employee Unions, Public Unions, spending, taxes, tea party, Town Hall, unions, Wisconsin
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
In the wake of passing Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan, some members of Congress have hosted town hall meetings upon returning to their home districts. Slate’s David Weigel notes a curious lack of anger at these proceedings, particularly compared to the outrage over Obamacare which swept the nation during the August 2009 recess.
If the Ryan budget is so unpopular, where are the town-hall meltdowns?
The Washington Examiner’s Michael Barone takes a stab at the answer.
… One should note that there was some very loud—and violent and abusive—protest to Governor Scott Walker’s plans in Wisconsin. But organizing those protests was mostly the work of paid union staffers, not citizen volunteers, and the union folks were able to draw on street people/university town types who live in great numbers in Madison. The union folks, as Weigel notes, don’t seem to be sending people into town hall meetings.
If they were, it still wouldn’t impress as much as those angry constituents who were roused in droves to combat Obamacare. That’s because, as Barone points out, the ruckus at 2009 town halls was intrinsically motivated.
The New Abolitionist: Dragging the Left to a Moral Argument
April 20, 2011 at 10:00 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Abolition, Barack Obama, budget, huffington post, NewsReal Blog, slavery, Socialism, taxes, Wall Street Journal
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
Imagine an argument for the abolition of slavery based not upon natural law and fundamental human rights, but whether slavery is an effective means of production. Such an abolitionist might say, Slaves cannot be relied upon to produce all that the country requires. The subsequent debate would then center around the efficiency of slavery, rather than its morality.
That’s the character of our modern debate regarding taxation. The Wall Street Journal published an editorial on Monday demonstrating “the fiscal futility of raising rates on the top 2%, or even the top 5% or 10%, of taxpayers to close the deficit.” Confiscating all the taxable income of the top 10% of taxpayers will not close the deficit, they say. Taxes will therefore have to be raised on the middle class to maintain the entitlement state.
Jeffery Sachs counters from The Huffington Post. He claims that the “IRS data in fact prove exactly the opposite of what the Journal claims.”
I’ll leave it to the Journal to defend their math, not because their case lacks importance, but because it is entirely beside the point. While it may be prudent to highlight “the fiscal futility” of the Left’s tax-hiking impulse, the foremost argument against perpetuating the entitlement state is a moral one.
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