The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the 1960’s was an important movement towards the advancement of equality for all Americans. While artificial and fundamental hatreds will likely always exist between disparate people groups, the relative harmony that has been experienced in this country over the last forty years is likely unprecedented in the history of the world. To create equality of opportunity for all of a society’s individuals and to simultaneously provide an environment free of the expression of abusive power of one group of people over another is a seldom seen accomplishment. America has been a place where these goals are thought by many to actually be within reach.
Last week, the former President, Bill Clinton, made comments linking the Tea Party Movement to the worst act of domestic terror that has ever been experienced in our country’s history. The Oklahoma City bombing was a tragedy of massive proportion. Apparently, Mr. Clinton believes that the same ideological forces that motivated the bombers of the Federal Building are those that now motivate those that gather under the Tea Party banner. To consider this comment reckless and irresponsible is to understate its vitriolic intent. It is almost impossible to adequately underscore the complete disconnect between the former President’s “I feel your pain†tone with his real message. Farcical messages delivered with a level of alleged caring are amongst the most dangerous. It is reminiscent of the initial tempting of mankind in the Garden of Eden.
The reason the Civil Rights Movement emerged was that a people group was being treated unfairly and were being oppressed by a system that stood for a higher principle than was being observed. And there were those who at the time “stood up†and said that what was happening was both immoral and evil. Most people of conscious knew that this situation needed to be fixed, with the only differences of opinion coming in terms of the appropriate means to that agreed-upon end. We humans are endowed with a sense of justice that transcends both our group distinctions and our distorted modern media coverage. We know injustice when we see it. The only question is whether we “stand up†and voice our disaffection. Mr. Clinton must certainly understand this attribute of a liberal democracy such as ours, as he was a societal product of the 1960s.
The only difference between the Tea Party Movement and the Civil Rights Movement is the nature of the oppressor.  The driving force behind each of the movements is the same. In both cases a minority group is passionately expressing a very heartfelt concern that their individual liberties are being violated and that their freedoms are being abused by a tyrannical oppressor. In the 1960s the oppressor was a racial group. In 2010 the oppressor is the Federal Government and the Obama Administration. Both movements were asking for something quite simple: just treat us with fairness. To believe that one of the movements was racial and the other ideological, and that they are therefore different, is to miss the obvious common factor. It is a distinction without a difference.
Can the evils of an oppressive system cause certain rogue individuals to take actions that are legally inappropriate and even reprehensible? The answer is obviously yes. But that is not the point, and the former President knows it. The Civil Rights Movement created some very ugly scenes. For purposes of this discussion, let’s remember the situation in Detroit in the summer of 1967. Would Mr. Clinton ever think to link Civil Rights and Detroit? No. He does not cast himself in the role of oppressor in either situation. He rather sees himself as a liberator. And in his self-analysis is his error. Until the liberal left comes to see themselves as the real oppressors, we will continue to hear the same insulting and condescending rhetoric. Funny thing: Vladimir Lenin didn’t see himself as an oppressor either…he saw himself as a liberator.
Overall, this was probably the most entertaining political event that I have attended yet this year. Â Hats off to Iowans For Tax Relief (ITR) for putting on a great program!
The afternoon consisted of a speech by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (who is currently considered a likely candidate for President in 2012, but is being shy about the idea), and 8 minute speeches by each of the candidates for Governor (except for the Democrat) intended to be focused on the Iowans for Tax Relief Candidate Questionnaire. The actual answers provided by the candidates to the questionnaire will be at ITR’s web site on Monday. Dave Stanley, Chairman and Founder of ITR and Ed Failor, Jr, President of ITR, spoke at the beginning of the event (I don’t think the video below includes Dave’s remarks). Kathy Obradovich from the Des Moines Register was the MC during the Candidates portion of the program.
Governor Pawlenty gave a solid speech addressing some of the key problems with our government from a tax and spending standpoint, which was very appreciated by the crowd. Highlights included:
“Progressives are proposing solutions from Eastern Europe from a century ago.”
“Our leader’s are too small to do anything about our problems.”
“Wall Street gets a bailout, the poor (understandably) get a handout, and those of us in the middle get our wallets out.”
“Our rights are given to us by our creator, not by our congressmen/women.”
“We should have an economic bill of rights which includes: Balanced Budget … Line item veto … Super majority to raise increases or the debt ceiling limit in this country.”
“People spend money differently when at least some of it is their money.”
“For the United States of America to be safe, needs to be strong.”
“If freedom was easy, everybody in the world would be free. If prosperity was easy, everybody would be prosperous. If security was easy, everybody would be secure.”
After his speech, Pawlenty took questions.  This is a link to the audio for the Q&A. I apologize for the noise at the beginning. Mike Glover from Associated Press asks the first couple of questions, followed by Craig Robinson from The Iowa Republican, then myself, and then one or two others.
Candidates for Governor
All of the Republican candidates for Governor gave their typical positions on taxes and spending, and did a great job.  Since I continue to stay neutral regarding the Primary, I will not address that further. But the video above covers it, and each speech being 8 minutes it’s not very long to watch. All of the Republican candidates were very positively received.
Also speaking was the Independent Candidate, Jonathan Narcisse. I have interviewed Jonathan a couple of times and he has a very dramatic plan for Iowa. I’m convinced that Jonathan is more conservative than he realizes, and his determination to reduce the role of government to its bare minimum. I have challenged him in the past regarding a few details that seem like yet too much government in controlling even voluntarily financed programs, but he did not really get into that on Saturday. Jonathan speaks to even property tax reforms to limit tax assessments to purchase price on property, and dropping the state sales tax to 3% over 4 years. He continued with a number of others ideas, all of which culminated in a dream of a highly prosperous Iowa.
We also got to hear from the Libertarian candidate, Eric Cooper. He has no illusions about becoming governor, but is focused on raising enough votes to cause people to pay attention to what the party has to say, establishing an effective dialogue. His message, and dramatically and humorously presented, was that government should be doing nothing but those tasks that require the force of government. Security from external enemies, crime, infrastructure. He highlighted the fact that people came to Iowa and America was because we did excessively tax people, and let people do what they wanted as long as it didn’t limit the freedoms of others. He used the Iowa state motto, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain”, as an effective reminder of the importance of importance we have always placed in our freedoms.
Both Jonathan and Eric probably experienced the greatest opportunity for conservative activists to hear their message and discover how well those candidates’ positions align with theirs. I was very disappointed with WHO-TV for ignoring the non-Republican candidates, and with KCCI-TV for ignoring the candidates for governor altogether on their broadcasts that evening.
The crowd was a veritable who’s who of Iowa Conservatives, and we were told that there were 558 people, possibly more by the time we got done. I was very impressed overall with the event preparation, and the quality of the event. Not only was the access to the candidates for Governor valuable, but the well focused oratory from a group of very thoughtful conservative minds was engaging and highly useful for the activists in the room who are not just deciding who to vote for, but how to better articulate their own positions on these issues. Katie Koberg, Vice-President of ITR, made a huge effort to communicate effectively both before and during the event, and the whole staff kept everything running smoothly.
One more thing. Ed Failor Jr took a swipe at Governor Culver because he did not respond to the invitation. It was justified to an extent, although I cannot imagine there being anything that the Governor could say that would be received well or believed by this crowd. But I think it shows a real lack of leadership that he is unable to come before a group like this and make his case for the current state of affairs.
I’ll be tweeting from the Iowan’s For Tax Relief (ITR) “2010 Iowa Taxpayers’ Day” event at the Northwest Holiday Inn in Des Moines. All of the candidates for Governor (except for Governor Culver) will be grilled here today, and we’ve already got a number of press and bloggers present.
Even Steve Deace is here, standing 3 feet away explaining that he tries to get to these kind of events ONCE in a while so people don’t think he’s just a disembodied voice like the namesake of “Charlie’s Angels”.
Just had a nice chat with Dawn Pettengill (Republican State Representative from District 39, Benton County), who in 2007 switched from Democrat to Republican. I asked her how it’s been being a Republican, and she said that she’s found that being a Republican aligns so much more closely to her positions and that of her constituents. I also asked her if she has been pressed to vote against her own position, and she said she has never been asked to vote a certain way. It seems like being a Republican, at least in the Iowa House, is a team effort. I’ve heard from other Republicans there that the past few sessions the Republican caucus has really been very strongly aligned on most issues.
Other people here include Linda Upmeyer, Kraig Paulsen, Craig Robinson, O. Kay Henderson, Kevin Hall, Tim Albrecht, Erik Helland, and a full room and many others I haven’t identified yet.
Of all the weeks on the calendar, this may be the week Iowa taxpayers look forward to the least.
On one hand, this week marks the deadline for filing federal tax returns. Many Iowans will likely write bigger checks to both the federal and state government this year.
On the other hand, this is also the week where every school district in the state must certify their budget for the upcoming school year. Normally, this might not seem like a particularly noteworthy annual occurrence to everyday Iowans. But due to the recent actions by Governor Culver and legislative Democrats, property tax increases are on the way.
Last fall, when Governor Culver made his 10 percent across-the-board reduction after three years of unsustainable spending and irresponsible budgeting, hundreds of millions of dollars were slashed from Iowa’s schools. This left a gaping divide between the money schools had to spend and the budget they had been following.
This forced school districts to further trim their expenses, raid their cash reserves (if they had any to begin with) and increase property taxes.
Fast forward a few months and the same problems still persist.
Even though Governor Culver and legislative Democrats spent the second highest amount of money in Iowa history this legislative session, they underfunded the K-12 per-pupil education formula by $162 million dollars.
Though most school districts have made drastic cuts to adjust to the decrease in funding from the state, many school districts have had to dip into their cash reserves and in most cases, substantially increase property taxes. Conservative estimates show that Governor Culver’s property tax increase this year will be in the neighborhood of $182 million dollars when all of the other non-school funding related increases are also added in. It could possibly end up larger.
It’s hard to miss the headlines popping up all over the state this week reminding Iowans of the higher property taxes headed their way. (Special Request: How big was your property tax increase this year? Please e-mail me at [email protected])
Iowa already has some of the highest property taxes in the nation. At a time when we should be encouraging entrepreneurs, employers and small businesses to invest and expand in Iowa to help grow our economy and create jobs, this property tax increase will sting badly. The simple truth is that property tax increases badly hurt job growth and business development.
Unfortunately, it was all avoidable.
Every year, our schools receive over four billion dollars. Of that, half a billion dollars comes with a whole series of strings and unfunded mandates attached. In order to assist our schools and shield the taxpayers from the governor’s property tax increases, Senate Republicans offered a bold plan this past session to suspend these mandates and remove these strings to allow greater flexibility and local control.
Normally, these dollars cannot be used for a school’s general fund. However, our common sense plan would allow schools the flexibility to use that money to pay for any expense.
Instead of having to abide by mandates created by lawmakers and bureaucrats in Des Moines, Senate Republicans believed it would be better to give local school boards and administrators the flexibility and local control to spend that money as they see fit.
Regrettably, it was defeated with all Senate Democrats voting to raise property taxes and all Senate Republicans voting to give our schools more local flexibility and more protection for the taxpayer.
Governor Culver and legislative Democrats instead chose to mandate school districts drain their cash reserves. When our school districts replenish their cash reserves in the future, that money will again come directly out of the pockets of Iowa’s property taxpayers.
Is there any wonder why tea parties are popping up all over the state, demanding an end to the policies of the last four years here in Iowa? Iowans know we cannot afford to have the same out-of-control agenda continue to be repeated year after year.
In the coming weeks and months, Senate Republicans will continue to advocate for property tax relief, private sector job creation and responsible and sustainable budgets. We believe that is the recipe for a smarter, healthier and more abundant future for Iowans.
As always, I welcome hearing from you and can be reached by phone at 515-281-3560 or by e-mail at [email protected]
DES MOINES – Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn issued the following statement on today’s passage of health insurance legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Instead of working for bipartisan reforms that most Iowans could support, Iowa’s congressional Democrats chose a partisan approach that amounts to a staggering, half-a-trillion dollar cost to the American taxpayer while giving the federal government an unprecedented amount of control over personal health care decisions.
“The blatant disregard shown for the opinions of everyday Iowans who oppose this partisan bill is offensive enough, but it is unconscionable for Congressmen Boswell, Braley and Loebsack to force another $562 billion in debt on our children and grandchildren.â€
The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the 1960’s was an important movement towards the advancement of equality for all Americans. While artificial and fundamental hatreds will likely always exist between disparate people groups, the relative harmony that has been experienced in this country over the last forty years is likely unprecedented in the history of the world. To create equality of opportunity for all of a society’s individuals and to simultaneously provide an environment free of the expression of abusive power of one group of people over another is a seldom seen accomplishment. America has been a place where these goals are thought by many to actually be within reach.
