Blog
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The Taxpayer Protection Pledge – What Could Be More Important?
The first time I ran for state office, I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Americans for Tax Reform offers all the candidates the opportunity to go on record of opposing any and all tax increases. It was as easy as being asked if I love my children. The answer is an enthusiastic “Yes!”Although the Lieutenant Governor doesn’t file bills, as Lieutenant Governor, I can debate bills and break tie votes when they occur in the Senate.
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Veto Session
Is the Democrat Governor More Constitutional than the Republican Legislature?
“Excuse me Mr. Speaker, but did you know the legislators are doing something unconstitutional?” Before a bill becomes law, the governor has an
opportunity to stop or veto it. Before the bill is completely dead, a vote can be taken in each chamber—the House and the Senate. If 2/3rds of the members of each chamber agree, they can override the Governor. This is a valuable check and balance. In the middle of this month, members of the General Assembly reconvened for the purpose of considering whether they would override any of the Governor’s vetoes.The first year I was in the House, the Republican majority overrode a Democrat governor’s veto on three bills. After that year, no other bills were overridden while I was in office. Part of this is because Missouri had a Republican House, Senate and Governor, so everyone was motivated to make the party look good. Now that there is a Democrat governor, the opportunities are greater to showcase their differences, although they are still very few. History of vetoed bills:
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September is Marriage Month
What Can You Do to Strengthen Marriage?
I asked my husband what he wanted to do to celebrate our “32nd Anniversary”. He said our marriage has been longer than 30 seconds! If you don’t happen to recognize me or Bernie in the photo, it’s because a lot has happened in 32 years—just ask our seven children.
As we look at the condition of marriage in our entire country today, we can see a decline—not just as reflected in the divorce rate, but also in those who fail to marry at all, yet bear children as if they were married. Some women agree to this arrangement, yet the numbers show that the women have the most to lose—so do the children.
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How To Identify “The Good Ones”
Do Christians Effect Elections?
This is a picture someone took of me with some friends in front of a church. Not all pastors or churches allow candidates to share their hearts and souls with their congregations. Some pastors are afraid to do so because they don’t want members of their congregations to be offended. I am grateful and applaud the pastors who are brave enough to engage candidates, allow the candidates to be questioned and are interested in the intersection between our faith and our public lives.
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Eagle Forum
We Like Eagles and We Like Forums
Last week I was invited to take a morning off the campaign to fill Phyllis Schlafly’s shoes as the “Guest Host” on Eagle Forum Live.
Also in the news, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article about the Lt. Gov. race.Curiously, the reporter called me social conservative, but the term “constitutional conservative” would be more accurate. Some office holders use government to promote social programs. Instead, I am in favor of limiting government to the proper functions related to its existence as described in our Constitution.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
Also running is Constitution Party candidate Cynthia Davis, who is not shying from Kinder’s personal controversies, saying, “The values voters know I’m their champion.”Davis, 52, of O’Fallon, could siphon votes that would traditionally go to the Republican candidate, with her ties to religious-right groups that advocate social conservative causes.
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Free Speech
The end of the caucus story
A few months ago, “State Talk” discussed the caucus meeting resulting in the arrest of a central committeeman.
St. Charles garnered national attention for the way citizens were treated when 30 police officers were called in to force people to leave. Although the public was invited to this meeting and anyone could claim to be a Republican, shortly after the meeting adjourned, the police arrested one of the central committee members, Brent Stafford, for trespassing.
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I Won ! You Will See My Name on your November Ballot
I am so excited, energized and ready to start the next chapter in this Lt. Governor race!!! Yesterday the voters spoke. Most of them didn’t want either of the alternatives. For those of you who’s candidates lost, I offer my heartfelt sympathy. But it’s not over—I now stand up to offer a choice for our values—life, liberty and being constitutional!!!In case you didn’t see my name on the ballot, that’s okay because I won the primary election and now will move onto the November ballot. Although I didn’t have much in the way of opposition, it is one more landmark behind us. Now onto the General Election!
The purpose of the primary was for each political party to determine who would be the best challenger to put up against me for the general election. The candidates will do their best to try to convince the voters of why they have the best haircuts and why all the others are low-life scum, but at the end of the day on November 6th, the taxpayers will be paying for a binding poll between me and the others.
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Bureaucracy – The Saga of the License Bureau
You would think that with government growing bigger than ever before, governmental representatives would be nicer, more efficient and exude a tone of gratitude to the taxpayers. Not so.Several weeks ago, my son went to the license bureau to get his driver license renewed. They told him another young man, born on the same date with a similar name, was convicted in San Diego for driving under the influence. As a result, they refused to renew my son’s driver license.
I learned quite a bit about just how “big brother” can end up being “big bully”. A federal law requires all states to import information into a national database where Missouri is required to check before renewing licenses. However, California includes a bare amount of information to incriminate a wide group of people, but is not specific enough to vindicate the innocent. They use no photo, finger prints, no middle name, a Social Security number or a driver license number. All that goes onto this list is the first four characters of the first and last name with a birth date.
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Prayer on the Ballot – Is It Necessary?
The question will be on your ballot August 7th. Some of my constituents are asking me why we would need to insert into the Missouri Constitution such explicit language allowing prayer when we already have “Freedom of Religion” guaranteed for everyone in the entire country. It’s hard to believe we have come to this.The answer is found in the exact wording of the first Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” With all the legal gyrations manifesting by all levels of government, our Congress is prohibited from encroaching on us, but our state and local governments are not.
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Obamacare – The Power To Tax Is the Power to Destroy
Deep down in our souls, with the exception of the most hard-hearted, most of us know that all people should be able to receive life-saving medical care. If people cannot afford basic services, their help should come from charity. If we were allowed to keep more of our income, we would have more money available to donate to charities. Insurance mandates and other bad public policies have driven up the price of medical care to a point where these expenses escalated disproportionately beyond the rate of inflation.
Your feelings about Obamacare have to do with your answer to three questions:
