With Republicans like this….who needs Dems?

The official ‘Grok motto:

"Spank’em when they’re wrong and thank’em when they’re right!"

It goes without saying that we are equal opportunity go-afters: our Standard is traditional culture, Judeo-Christian beliefs, and a rock-ribbed adherence to Conservative social / fiscal / political principles.  Everything is judged against that.  Thus, when we see Republicans acting counter to that, especially RINOs, we’ll discuss! So, when I saw this in the Concord (NH) Monitor of COURSE I just giggled with glee!

Hager loses after 13 terms in Legislature
Team of newcomers takes GOP primary

After 13 terms in the State House, Republican incumbent legislator Elizabeth Hager was ousted by four newcomers who banded together during the campaign.

Say goodbye, one of the biggest RINOs in NH.  Good for them.  My feeling is that with Republicans like Liz Hager, who needs Democrats?  Our platform is for lower taxes – she wants an income tax (here in NH, we have neither an income tax nor a sales tax) to better fund a larger government (again, our platform is for less government, not more).  She also helped to lead the charge to repeal the Parental Notification bill that was to make it mandatory that Parents be told if their minor female child was to undergo an abortion (so much for upholding basic family values and less intrusive government – again, basic Republican values).

My thought – if you really want to voluntarily associate with a particular group, you should assent to that philosophy they espouse.  If not, find another group.  Yes, I do agree that someone should "be with you" the majority of the time.As she has been lately on these major issues – but with the Democrats!

This makes it hard to say "hey, I belong to the Republican party – here’s why".  And the person I’m talking to says "Oh yeah, what about her actions".  What’s to say? And yes, you can see that the words "accountability" and "discipline" seem to be AWOL from leadership in these situations, IMHO.

Hager said she sees the loss as a victory by the more conservative wing of the Republican Party over moderates.

Dr. Obvious type observation! However, I see it not as a "moderate", but Liberal – Big L!  Drifting that far to the Left takes you out of the mainstream (did I just say that?) Republicanism.

But, she said, she does not envision the primary winners prevailing in the general election.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.  Again, the obvious – the ELECTORATE decided to bounce her – not the conservative Republicans running against her! Thus, the voters have already indicated a more conservative bent and decided "nope, not any more for Liz and her policies".  Republicans can forgive much, but there is a limit – she reached that line and crossed it.

"Clearly, the people who are now in control of the Republican Party don’t want people like me in it," Hager said. "They worked very hard, so I congratulate them for doing that. I just wonder where it gets them in the long run."

Again, for the first part, she’s blaming the voters for not agreeing with her?  Is this a "smarter than thou" moment?

Let’s see:

• They did it one good way – they "primary’d" your butt out of a spot where you could do more damage – basically a self-correction by the electorate that said "enough"
• Recognition that the party platform is not just a jumble of words
• Knowing that these words mean certain, specific things that tie members together philosophically
• That people who truly believe in more limited government and maximum individual liberties, when voluntarily banding together for a single focused purpose, can do what they set out to do. 

There’s more!

 

Of 1,668 votes cast in Merrimack County’s District 12, which includes Concord’s Wards 5, 6 and 7, Hager received 297. Among her opponents, John Kalb earned 395 votes, Pamela Ean 351, Garrett Ean 313 and Travis Ingram 312.

Kalb, 27, is executive director of New England Citizens for Right to Work, an advocacy group that describes its mission as protecting workers from being forced to join a union. Pamela Ean, 55, and Garrett Ean, 19, are a mother-and-son team. Pamela Ean is a teacher at Merrimack Valley High School, a former police officer and chairwoman of the Concord City Republicans. Garrett Ean is studying criminology at the University of South Florida. (If elected, he plans to return for legislative sessions.) Ingram, 19, studies accounting at NHTI. Although they have all volunteered on campaigns, none has ever held elected office.

The four victors all campaigned together. Kalb, who organized the effort, paid for literature that supported the four candidates and opposed Hager. Kalb said the major difference between the four winners and Hager was their platforms against new taxes and in favor of lower spending. The four of them, he said, oppose new broad-based taxes and large spending increases. "We all oppose an income tax. Liz Hager sponsored an income tax," Kalb said.

Congratulations to you all!  Young (at least, in heart!), determined, and liberty minded as well (as when one is forced to pay higher taxes, the State is then limiting your choices fiscally and more likely more intrusive as well).  And hard workers:

Pamela Ean said the group would meet at her house on weekends, then go door-to-door together and do literature drops. Between the four of them, "we literally got to every single Republican household in the three wards," she said. "We’re very likeminded in our views. . . . It was just banding together and getting out there."

Hager describes herself as a moderate who is "proudly pro-choice, proudly pro-government." She sponsored a bill in 1999 that would have established an income tax to pay for education. She says her major interest was in "good government and efficient, well-run state government."

Moderate?  Hardly.  Once an income tax or other broadbased tax is enacted, local control will be diminished.  Money, and thus power, is then centralized in the state capital and then doled out only by those wielding the power of the purse.  Local control is eroded, as the carrot is used to "buy" buy-in.  And once that local control is eroded and the "rate" is set, it can be raised, over and over again.  As opposed to local control of educational finances, I would not be able to "just go" to the School Board and vote on their budget for being too high (we can do that here in NH every year).

Addin the fact that study after study has shown that money is not THE factor in good education outcomes – it is motivated teachers, teaching the basics with proven methodologies, backed up by concerned parents watching over the kids.  Otherwise, you might as well throw dollar bills into the Atlantic.

More money = Good Government? HAH!  Rather, the opposite is true – when money is the constraint, people (elected officials) have to think harder, longer, and smarter to come up with effective solutions.  While there are times that money does have to be thrown at a problem (think the Manhattan Project during WW II to get to the "Bomb" first or beating the Soviets to the Moon during the Cold War to develop superior technology"), everyday education is not one of them.  Or government, for that matter.

 

Hager said she’s saddened by the low turnout, with the winner getting 395 votes. "I think a lot of people that have been associated with the Republican Party for years are no longer Republicans," she said.

 

No, the problem is a sense of apathy towards politics (mostly engendered by the MSM as "dirty" – consensus is valued above all and when "partisanship" is raised, it is framed as petty fighting instead of debating and fighting for core values) and politicians.  Not the fact that Republicans didn’t vote for her.

When only 10-15% of the electorate shows up to vote, there is a fundamental problem that is going unaddressed.

 

Hager said that for now, she plans to focus on her full-time job with United Way. She has not decided whether she will return to public service in the future.

"I just was barely making it in the general myself with all the years working at it," she said. "I don’t think they have a chance." The four winners will face Democrats Jessie Osborne, Harold Rice, Mary Jane Wallner and Rick Watrous.

 

This remains to be seen how this plays out in November.  I do not know Concord politics to even hazard a guess.  However, one phrase keeps popping out:

"Why vote for a Democrat Lite when you can vote for a real one?"

It will be interesting to see how the electorate votes when given a clear choice between the Dems that keep trying to move NH to a more socialistic Nanny State or the Liberty leaning Republicans trying to minimize it (I’m betting on the latter!).