Expectations Of Your Legislature
Recently, the St. Louis Post Dispatch did an editorial lamenting the diminishing quantity of content available for their news articles now that Brian Nieves, Jane Cunningham and I are leaving public office. It’s amazing that I could be out of office for three years and they still take time to express their gratitude for my contributions as a gold mine for their political reference materials.
We expect our elected officials to be more knowledgeable than most average citizens. However, many of them are not. They are just people like us who were able to win an election. A few of the newsletters I received this week were so philosophically conflicted, I knew these legislators were merely repeating the dictates of their political party instead of actually thinking through their comments.
Here are some examples:
1.) Anyone who claims to be a conservative needs to also support limited government. People who are “progressive” support growing government. How can someone run as a conservative and then vote for a larger budget?
When I was first elected to the state legislature, the budget was around 18 billion, but we blamed much of that on the Democrats for being such spendthrifts. The year I was elected to the House, the leadership also changed from being run by Democrats to being run by Republicans. When I left office, eight years later, the budget had grown to over 24 billion. This year the news is that the budget is getting closer to 27 billion.
2.) Anyone who claims to be against Obamacare needs to realize that Obamacare is a package of requirements forced on insurance companies by the iron fist of government. Therefore, to be against Obamacare is the same as being against insurance mandates. Additionally, all insurance mandates increase the cost of healthcare. That’s why insurance premiums increased for most people. Every time I faced a vote on an insurance mandate while in office, the proponents acknowledged that it would increase the premiums, but always said it will “not be that much”.
Although the majority of Republicans claim to be against Obamacare, this “Anti-Obamacare Controlled Legislature” just passed another insurance mandate this session. You may have heard jokes about people needing to turn in their “man-card”. Those who vote for any insurance mandate need to turn in their “conservative-card” and quit claiming to stand against big government.
Only six Representatives out of 163 voted against increasing insurance costs and are to be commended for their bravery. The number of actual conservative legislators in all states is similar…a minuscule number. I have been in their shoes and know how hard it is to do the right thing even when it appears that the tide is sweeping the legislature the wrong way. If you are represented by any of these six, please compliment them for being principled because they have proven they understand the proper role of government:
| 573-751-0136 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
| 573-751-9774 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
| 573-751-5568 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
| 573-751-6593 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
| 573-751-4077 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
| 573-751-2264 | |
| E-Mail: |
|---|
What You Can Do:
1.) Find out if your legislators send out newsletters and get on their e-mail lists. You don’t have to read them all, but one never knows when something interesting will emerge. Learn to read beyond the hype and use their newsletters to become more informed about them before they ask you for your vote. Even if they don’t send out a regular communication, it will help them do a better job if they know that some of their constituents want to know what they are doing.
2.) Help us spread the facts to others who need to hear. Any contribution will be used to help further our research to inform others. You can mail a check to Cynthia Davis, 1008 Highway K, O’Fallon, MO 63366.
Home Front This Week:
| Carl Bearden, former State Representative and Chair of the House Budget Committee, now from United For Missouri, shares with us some insights on the state legislature and governmental budgets.On this program we discuss fiscal issues and the philosophy behind how lawmakers arrive at their decisions on what to support.Join us to learn some little known insights on the process and priorities of your government.
www.blogtalkradio.com/missourigrassrootsradio/2014/04/01/home-front-with-carl-bearden |
Listen to Home Front On-Demand, Anytime-Anywhere
www.cynthiadavis.net/category/home-front-podcast/
Home Front is also part of the Missouri Grassroots Radio lineup of pod-casts and can be heard live most Tuesday evenings at 8:00 pm Central Time, at www.blogtalkradio.com/missourigrassrootsradio
A Little Bit of Humor…
