Let's Build A Fire...

The legislature is a mess. Our Governor is working the best he can to balance the budget through line item veto power and has vowed to do so regardless of the political fallout. It is my belief that he likely won’t be seeking a third term as governor and that fact makes his ability to slash spending by line item easier if he does not have to consider the political ramifications.

Where do we go from this point onward? Campaign season will be upon us again soon and we will put forth candidates hoping to gain a bit of ground in the legislature. Do we have a viable platform locally? Do we have a good candidate to offer the people of this district for the State Senate seat? Do we have someone willing to work to better our district and the state by demanding that spending be controlled, taxes lowered, and the rights of the individual taxpayers are protected through fiscal responsibility?

The homestead credit has nearly vanished, property taxes are soaring, a state income tax was dodged this session only thanks to the Governor, and businesses are moving out of our great state instead of being given incentive to relocate here and provide jobs. We as a district and as a state need to be in a better place with the future we are providing for our next generation.

I am fearful that our party has become complacent. We spend so much time pointing out the wrongdoing of our political opposites and fail to offer a better idea or plan. It’s simple to point out the misguided ways of our local legislators, we do it quite well on this blog and let’s face it, Representative Kalin and Senator Olseen make it pretty easy.

But I would challenge the great minds that participate in this blog to challenge themselves, use this forum to open dialog about the current mess we are in and encourage participation to spark discussion as to our future direction and how we are going to address this calamity we have we call State Government. Major changes are necessary at the state level, spending cannot continue to outpace the rate of growth, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.

The spending on social programs has to be gotten under control and it’s not going to be easy, spending on these programs has become a runaway train. It’s a difficult thing to even suggest that someone should not have a child (or another child), but the simple fact is that children cost money. If you’re dependent on our state social welfare system to provide food for your children, you may not be in the best position to have another child. We are in a quagmire of generations that don’t know anything different, the welfare system provided for their parents and it now provides for them and will likely continue on until something is done. I realize that this is not a popular subject and most people either run away from the subject as fast as they can or they take the position that we should shut down the welfare system and everyone should get jobs and provide for themselves.

We need to talk this out, figure out viable ways to help those in need and flush the system of anyone and everyone taking advantage of the system We as a society have enabled many of the folks on assistance and we now need to figure out a way to guide them to a means of providing for themselves and their families.

I think that it is a worthwhile investment to provide assistance to those in need, daycare assistance, healthcare, training where necessary, even some sort of income assistance as needed to help out where needed. But if we are truly going to get out district, our state and our country back on track for the long term and for the better, we need to address some of the basic core issues that have created the socio-economic conundrum such as our social assistance programs.

While my rant may seem targeted towards a specific issue, it was not intended to single out a particular problem. There are a multitude of issues that need our attention and this issue is only one. I’m sure that at this point I may have already lost your interest and I will bring my rant to this end.

Let us build a fire under our party in this district, let us feed that fire with guidance and ideas that are productive and realistic. We need to flush out viable candidates who will carry this fire to the capitol and work for us as our citizen legislators.

The same old same we cannot afford, I have been complacent since the election, life is busy, times are tough and it’s easy to stand in the background and hope for the best. Some of you have been diligent and watchful of the current legislators and for that I commend your attention.

This legislative session has proven that we need to take an active part in our government and participate more. We need new ideas, fresh perspective and we need to move this state in the direction we can be proud of. Let’s get this forum burning with fresh ideas and perspectives and start a fire we can carry to the capitol.