Summary: GraniteGrok is asking that our ‘Grok friends in the Legislature, including the Freedom Caucus, to vote yes for the budget. And no, I’ve not lost my mind. I do expect, however, that this will tick a number of folks off.
There is no upside for us in this: What I am doing is putting the Consistency of GraniteGrok that you have all seen for years on the line. Castigate me if you wish for this but the last thing you can’t do is call us sell-outs as we take no money from anyone so as to influence us and any influence/Power we have is only derived from our readers – we do seek such. Any such Power ascribed to us is only by each of you – we can’t grant that to ourselves. Thus, there is no “coin in the political realm” for us in this ask as an upside. Downside? Sure can be.
Take just the Budget for a moment. From the little I’ve read of this ever-changing beast, it’s a decent budget. Not as Conservative as the one that Bill O’Brien carved out given the existential threat of having to install broad-based taxes after the Democrat trifecta (House, Senate, Guv) left that $700 million hole (perhaps even more). He had the political will and courage to tell them “Up Yours – hold mah beer” and got the job done.
That was a home run. (And thus, Sherm Packard is wrong when he says this was the most conservative one in 50 years.)
No such existential threat exists today right now with regard to that. The only threat to the Republican budget is Republicans themselves. No home run is needed. Instead, this budget is a whole bunch of singles and doubles – you know, the kinds of hits that actually win games.
String them together often enough and close enough in time, you get that “W”. Too few times have I seen Republicans take this approach (the Democrats are Masters at this incremental game otherwise known as the camel’s nose under the tent); it’s nice to see more than just a few highly concerted efforts attempted but having to walk away with little to show for because the home runs went foul (like having the Majority a couple of times when a couple of tax cuts were the only effective result).
And because they went foul ball scenario, there was the expected result. Your base, once again, threw their hands up into the air in disgust – “we gave you what you asked for and you SQUANDERED it once again!” is what I heard, especially back when the TEA Party movement here in NH shoved the Dems out of the way and Repub butts into those seats (and what happened after that but that’s another story).
Can’t do that this time. No, no home runs but some serious setting up for “glide path” victories for more Freedom / Liberty for New Hampshirites because of those singles & doubles (and perhaps an actual triple overall if not a home run?).
And if the actual budget was the only thing under discussion – Huzzah! I’d be done. Actually, I wouldn’t have written this post. But about the threats in the post title…
Discerning Immediate vs Long Term Existential Threats: Its the non-budgetary items, in the trailer bill, that are the threats. Make no mistake, all four ARE threats:
- Emergency Orders / State of Emergency (Not reigning in the Executive Branch so as to cut off the Power seeking Unity Governorship assuming ALL Powers of the State instead of the Compartmentalization required by our Constitution).
- Paid Family Medical Leave (why is the Government going outside of the Proper Role of Government and trying to co-opt the Private Sector?).
- Abortion (finally starting to reign in absolute denigration and dismissal of the humanity of an unborn child).
- Critical Race Theory (stopping the wrong of implementing discrimination to prevent discrimination).
Now, a bit of a side note: many of you will laugh at the idea that I really am an introvert. Really, I am – I just hide it. For being the in the public eye as the Co-Founder of GraniteGrok, I would rather just isolate myself and pound out code without interruption (or blog posts, nowadays). However, long ago I realized I had to force myself to do more than just do heads-down stuff and took positions that forced me out of my comfort zone(s).
Thus, being an introvert (that morphs into an extrovert only when needed), I can say in all honesty that I suck at personal networking. Unlike others, I don’t do a lot of calling or emailing around. Again, heads-down, hyper-focus on what needs to be accomplished and then go to the next thing. The problem was, this past week, I knew I needed to call some of those same Legislature ‘Grok friends and get input to what they were seeing, hearing, thinking, and believing (MORE DATA!!!). So I did and I thank all that helped me come to my conclusion (summary above).
Immediate vs Long Term – and add Probabilities.
As I said, all four items above are threats in one way or another but I’m asking our Legislative friends to NOT view them as all the same thing – just equal threats because they aren’t.
- #3, Abortion, IS an existential threat to the life of a baby and it is an IMMEDIATE one. The Probability is almost 100% that abortions will be done and done soon; thus, it is urgent to address it now. Never should we allow the pro-abortion cadre the “luxury” of hiding behind Latin words that simply describe one thing – the development of a child-to-be. Passed fertilization of the egg by the sperm, it is never a gamete, blastosphere, embryo, or fetus – those are just labels used to describe the nurturing state by a Mother with her child, her baby which MUST continue after birth in order for that child to be viable. While the Left emphasizes “a mass of tissue”, it isn’t. That’s yet only another euphemism to make it sound easier to kill that baby. The other constrictions on the abortion industry, while not as stringent as I would like, are still a “single” where the declaration against late-term abortion after 24 weeks of gestation is a triple.
Finally, NH will treat that child with more compassion by eliminating the barbaric action of allowing abortion upon demand up to the point just before crowning and ripping that child to pieces by any means necessary. While it would have been better to have this in a separate bill, it isn’t. This MUST be passed if for no other reason than it’s Moral. As Doug once said to someone who was against the death penalty for criminals, I’d be happy to trade that for the life of that innocent young baby. It is worth passing the budget for this item!
- #4, Critical Race Theory, IS an existential threat to a whole host of traditional American values and our children; it is an IMMEDIATE threat. The Probability of it happening IS 100% and GraniteGrok been listing examples of it in our classroom already (wait, there’s more coming on this!); thus, it is urgent to address it now.. Loss of Free speech, imposition of coerced speech, creation and application of guilt and shame simply by dint of a person’s immutable attribute (skin color), the complete repudiation of Due Process and the Judicial Pillar of Innocence before Guilt. And as bad, the idea of collective guilt as a member of a Democratic Political Identity Group involuntarily applied to you rendering you liable for all of the sins and crimes back through history immemorable and for which there is no penance/salvation possible.
To stop the teaching of this segregationist, pitting one race against the other, forever telling one set of children they are guilty of oppression of another set, forever telling that other set of children that they are oppressed and thus, are of “lesser” capability and that only The State can “help them” should be repugnant to everyone. It is worth passing the budget for this item!
- #2, Paid Family Medical Leave is an existential threat to the Private Sector on Cost and to the rest of us by creating another Moral Hazard / Dependency trap but it isn’t an immediate threat nor is it urgent. Again, what is the insistence of Progressives and RINOS that Government needs to go outside of its Proper Role of Government “lane” and do what the Private Sector can do except to further dependency on the Government? Certainly, former NH GOP Chair and NH GOP RNC Committeeman Steve Duprey made it well known that he provided this for his employees voluntarily (and, like the hack he is, also made it well known that he’d love to have Government take this burden from him) The Democrat Socialists, on the other hand, just want to make sure that the Private Sector CAN’T offer it and be viable against a Government price level that can’t be beaten and they get their end game in having Government be the end all and be all of everything).
It doesn’t kick in for a couple of years – it can be dealt with in the fall (hopefully killed off). Sure, the Republican Senate swooned all over this and did their Master Baby Huey’s bidding as a lead-in for his Senate Run. Are the House Republicans sufficiently strong-willed to either denude this in the fall or do what was done to the HB544/CRT and Abortion bill defenestration – if only for jollies (I shouldn’t use the word “retribution” here – or should I?).
Sidenote: as a poison pill trap of a type?
I hate the entire idea but if you loved Jeb Bradley’s Medicaid Expansion, you’re gonna love this EVEN MORE! (/sarc). And yes, it’s worth a “strike” but not rising to an out.
And finally:
- Emergency Orders / State of Emergency is an EXISTENTIAL THREAT but not an Immediate one in the near future. And for this, that’s the key – it’s not an Immediate Threat. I don’t know how many time I can say that
Too –what is the Probability that there is a need for another State of Emergency to be invoked next week? Next month? Mid future? Close to 0% right now. Again, you KNOW what GraniteGrok has been writing; we understand the issue and have been advocating for cessation for these all but unlimited Emergency Powers especially in the hands of someone who felt he was above Constitutional limitations. So much so that I’m thinking that he no longer wishes to see our faces anymore given how we have written about his poor, POOR Executive choices under the rubric of “Public Health trumps EVERYTHING”. No, it doesn’t – never has and never should have.
Should have been in a separate bill and done right. I acknowledge that the verbiage surrounding this is awful – it changes nothing about what a Governor can do. Andrew Manuse outlines this well and IF this was a single bill singularly focused on it, I’d be standing right there with him (actually, we have right along).
I have axes to grind – and right now, they’re all about down to the wooden handles already on this item. And yes, it’s worth two “strikes” leading to an out – but not a “side out”. The inning isn’t over. Just the batter.
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Conclusion: I’ve laid out my thoughts and once again, I’ve gone WAY long. Again, I’m asking our Legislative Friends to just not think about these threats but also add in the Immediacy (or lack thereof) of the Threats into your political calculations. What are the probabilities that we need ALL FOUR to be dealt with right away? Thursday, Friday? Abortion is NOW, Critical Race Theory is NOW – the other two aren’t. Please – vote for the budget and get these IMMEDIATE Threats dealt with. Off their current death bed status and get them walking out of the ICU where they are now and at least back to a “normal” ward. Next fall, get them out the door. Take these two singles, now.
Don’t let the Democrats do a bunt play and strand them on the diamond.
Then deal with the other two next inning.
