From the Michigan GOP Principles:
I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.
Obviously, the citizens of Michigan decided that the Michigan Republican Establishment didn’t want them to keep more of the money they earn:
On Tuesday, as I reported, the voters in Michigan went to the polls to vote on a sales tax increase aimed in part – but only in part – at repairing the state’s disintegrating roads. The turnout was far larger than I expected. Something like one voter in four actually showed up – and the results were a sharp rebuke to Governor Rick Snyder and the Republican establishment in Michigan. Although the Republicans scheduled this vote at a time when only those guaranteed to profit from the measure were apt to be paying attention — and although the road-building lobby outspent the opposition by more than twelve-to-one — the voters rejected the initiative four-to-one. This was the most resounding defeat for a ballot initiative since the current Michigan constitution was adopted in 1963. If Snyder and his not-so-merry men were up for reelection tomorrow, they would be voted out in a landslide. That is what happens when a political party betrays its base.
Seemingly, they just haven’t learned from George H.W. Bush’s misadventure with taxes. As Glen Reynolds put it:
Yes, that’s a warning for people smart enough to see it. Which may not include the Republican establishment.
We did the same back in November with the State wide ballot. Given the heebe jeebees that the Democrat appointed NH Speaker of the House Jasper and the future machinations that the NH State Senate will be doing to keep the Medicaid Expansion alive later on this session, who know what will happen. A lot of angst is building up amongst the activists – I’m betting that the NH GOP Establishment is hoping that the First In The Nation is going to mask some of the “under the radar” stuff that ordinarily would send them ballistic.
