livid in Powdersville
After a day walking neighborhoods in Powdersville on Saturday, I found most people are frustrated in the Federal Government’s 700 billion blowout. Conservatives are very angry over pork barrel spending, especially for the pork in the “emergency” bill pass last week by Congress. “I’ll never vote for a Republican again except for Jim DeMint” is what I heard over and over. I was able to explain our consistent record of reform on the state level. I also stressed my support for Gov. Mark Sanford’s agenda, making the argument that my record is part of the solution, not the problem.Now, that we face a possible special session to deal with the budget shortfall, my colleagues will be hearing a lot of “told-you-so’s” from me! I look back at the many times I took the floor with amendment after amendment cutting wasteful spending knowing they’d get tabled.
I’ve equated our state’s government like a car stuck in first gear. It is terribly inefficient and moves very slow. You’ve got two choices: 1-keep filling up the tank with gas and drive the car 2-Get the car fixed so it runs better. In South Carolina there are two philosophies: 1-keep pouring more of your tax dollars into an inefficient government, or 2-Fix government and make it more responsive to you the tax payer. Since the beginning, I’ve subscribed to the second philosophy. I hope South Carolinians send true reformers to Columbia in November so we can get the support we need to pass some real reform.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
It is irresponsible for some Congressmen to attach some pork barrel spending to an emergency bill. And it is equally irresponsible not to support necessary reforms, designed to make the government function more efficiently.
However, it takes political courage to support an emergency bill for saving our financial market from a meltdown, even if it is politically unpopular. Our leaders simply need to explain in clearer term the necessity of such a rescue plan.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
The reason we need a bailout is because the policies of the Republican party, followed blindly and religiously during this administration, have bankrupted our society. Markets for financial products need regulation. They always have. IT’S NOT LIKE MAKING SOAP, people! Quit voting for people who do not support regulations to protect the people from predators. If you elect Republicans, they back the trucks up to the treasury, shovel the money out and order up a bailout for themselves and their friends paid for by you and me. THEY DO IT EVERY TIME. When will you people catch on?
October 7th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Tom Delay,
The financial crisis we are facing has been caused primarily by the housing bubble, created by banks lending mortgages to households who cannot afford them. This practice was encouraged and demanded by Democrats, while deregulations were valued by Republicans. Both the Clinton and Bush Administration contributed to this trend, while Congress remained sleep at the wheel.
Recovering from this financial chaos will require cooperation and political courage from both parties. The American dream of owning a home has to be based on responsible planning and adequate guidelines, before it turns to a nightmare.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:51 am
if people weren’t so greedy and irresponsible, we wouldn’t be in this mess! and the government buying them out of it wont help fix the problem!
btw tom,
Bush is a financial liberal. that’s the conclusion I’ve come to.