Part 1 here
Well, I’m still trying to get caught up here – and there is a fair amount of material to use. BTW, I’ve decided to file this series under the category of "Rebuilding the GOP". That decision has been made because I think that the local Republican Party (county, state) is a good mirror of what has to change within the Party in order to be successful. As in steelmaking, there is a lot of dross to be excised before the material is deemed of sufficient quality – in other words, lots of heat to be applied.
It is clear that in many scenarios, the local Republican elected officials have overseen the defenestration of the Party Platform. As with the French Vichy government during World War II whose utterances were for the country of France but their loyalty lay with their German conquorers, so are these words are to be compared with their actions.
Oh, to be sure, there are some that have said all of the words that have rung true. In fact, Frank Tilton (current Chair of the Belknap County Republicans) gave one of the best speeches I ever heard during a visit to one of the Gilford Town Republican Committee meeting (note: I decided to resign my position of Gilford Chair). It was great! All the right words in all of the right places!
Unfortunately, such stirring words sometimes mask the actions. For instance, let’s talk about the County Commissioners – Buddy Daignault, Chris Boothby, and Richard Long.
Side note: Mr. Long was quite clever in how he decided to get re-elected. Being such a staunch Republican, he had, for whatever reason, decided to change his registration to independent. Then, when he went to file his re-election papers as a Republican, he was denied. Yup, you guessed it, forgot to change his affiliation back to being a Republican. Quite nice and quite the attention to detail.
So, here’s a case of great words, when Christopher Boothby talked about county government:
…what is the proper and legal role of the county.
"The decisions we’re making on outside agencies are not reflective of need or performance," said Boothby, but rather part of an overall discussion about the future of Belknap County government. "We want to be sure outside agencies match with our core goals."
With an overall yearly budget of $26.61 million, the outside agencies (aka, professional social services organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), or charities) had a budget of $876K. However, with deteriorating economic conditions and many people (and companies) "pulling in their belts", I know that the Commissioners’ question of "what is the proper and legal role" of the county was the right question to be asking. Just as companies are reexamining what it is they do, what is their core area of expertise are, and getting back to basics, why shouldn’t government be doing the same thing?
I thought that this was a GREAT thing to say for one simple reason: why should government be immune to economic downturns? Why is it that the taxpayers (citizens and companies) must suffer the economic downturns and those that are supposed to serve us, should not?
I believe in a limited and less intrusive government, and believe in lesser spending that results in lower taxes; I believe that no governmental entity should feel entitled to the taxpayer money. While all of these outside organizations that may well be doing good works, that does not mean that they should be receiving taxpayer money. Not at the local (town) level or the county level; perhaps at the State or Federal levels, but certainly not at all levels as some of them have been doing.
Speaking of which, restricting where the money is doled out is one good way for auditing by the ordinary citizen – how many amongst us have the skill or the time to ferret out all of the taxpayer funded governmental teats that an organization can take advantage of? Does that aid in efficient government, where one level may not know where the other one is giving – or taking?
Anyways, I digress, but notice it is always about first principles. Period. So, we have Commissioners all saying the right words at the right time, as money budgeted is principle enacted.
What happened? Were principles upheld?
