A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the NH House of Representatives – Part 3

Part 3 of a three part series of Guest Posts by the Honorable Paul Mirski, member of the NH House of Representatives (and one of the Fathers of Conservatism here in NH). He is seeking to be the Majority Leader in the NH House of Representatives.

  •  Part Three suggests five or six overriding legislative themes and then goes on to provide a basket of  choices for legislative action that are drawn directly from our current Republican Party Platform.  If members consider all of the media focus on Tea Party initiatives over the last 18 months, they will see that those Republicans who began rewriting our platform eight years ago were well ahead of the curve.We’re ready right this minute to create change. We don’t have to go searching for ideas.

Previous sections: Part 1,  Part 2

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PART 3

Proposed Republican Initiatives for the 2011 – 2012 Legislative Session:

The idea that all individuals ought to be able to seek and achieve their unique destinies is our core belief.

The Republican Party was founded by abolitionists to end slavery. We should be proud of our Party’s freedom legacy.  We must re-dedicate ourselves to our Party’s originating ideas and ideals if we’re to grow and thrive once again as a political force.
 
In conformance with the broad range of ideals, goals, and objectives outlined within our Republican Party Platform, here’s a presentation of numerous legislative initiatives that have been suggested by legislators, candidates and activists that could form the nucleus of a 2011-2012 Republican legislative agenda. The first six address money issues and were drawn from the expanded list below their listing. The first year of the coming session should focus primarily on spending and taxation.

Six Initiatives to get control of State spending:

  • Prioritize ALL functions of government and analyze costs accordingly.
  • Repeal all unwarranted increases in size and cost of government enacted during the 2007–2008 and 2009-2010 sessions.
  • Repeal all related tax and fee increases enacted during the 2007–2008 and 2009 2010 sessions.
  •  Initiate Sunset Review for all state agencies.
  • Reform New Hampshire’s State Employees’ Pension System
  • Return oversight and control over curriculum, administration, and funding of education to the smallest forms of political subdivision capable of educating New Hampshire’s children.

Education Reform:

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Palin Bashing

I stumbled across an open letter by (former?)’Young Democrat’ Douglas Lindner, a primary candidate for Manchester Ward 1 back in 2008.  Lindner narrowly lost the primary (his words).  Narrowly is 268 to 330,350 and 406 for three seats in Manchester Ward 1; I’m thinking he might not have been liberal enough.

But I believe he’s found a fix for that.

In his letter he first congratulates the Republicans on their victory (a very gracious set up), commends the Republicans for selecting the moderate train wreck John McCain in the past two presidential primaries, (even though it was the moderate/independents that swung those victories) and then proceeds to embark on a Palin bashing screed. 

I told you he was trying to up his cred.

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Governor Rapes School Funding To Hide Budget Shortfall

Again, we see the smoke clear over the wreckage of the Lynch budget.  In this mornings UL Tom Fahey reports on how the Legislative Fiscal Committee plans to pilfer half of the $41 million dollar federal educations stimulus meant to save teachers jobs and the minds of our future leaders. They voted for a plan … Read more

A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the NH House of Representatives – Part 2

Part 2 of a three part series of Guest Posts by the Honorable Paul Mirski, member of the NH House of Representatives (and one of the Fathers of Conservatism here in NH). He is seeking to be the Majority Leader in the NH House of Representatives.

  • Part Two discusses how  the Republican Caucus ought to be organized in order to use and enhance the array of skills represented within our caucus and in a way that will encourage each and every member to play a constructive and satisfying part.
  • Part Three suggests five or six overriding legislative themes and then goes on to provide a basket of  choices for legislative action that are drawn directly from our current Republican Party Platform.  If members consider all of the media focus on Tea Party initiatives over the last 18 months, they will see that those Republicans who began rewriting our platform eight years ago were well ahead of the curve.We’re ready right this minute to create change. We don’t have to go searching for ideas.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Part 1 is here.

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PART 2
 
Reforming The Republican Caucus in the N.H. House

To succeed in passing and implementing an agenda the 2011-2012 Republican Leadership must become focused.

If we want to restore New Hampshire as the preeminent state for economic growth, personal freedom, development of personal wealth and individual opportunity then our guide ought to be our Republican Party Platform.

Republican Caucus unity. 

We’re rich in bright, intuitive, imaginative, and dedicated members. Each member’s skills and abilities must be enlisted and applied to accomplish specific objectives if we’re to achieve our common goals. Unified, we can restore a vibrant entrepreneurial environment, preserve our treasured natural environment, create the best schools, produce the most able and well prepared graduates as well as encourage the growth of the most motivated and well rewarded workforce of all the states.

The Republican caucus must be made relevant.

Where, in the past, the “Republican Caucus” simply referred to the aggregate of elected Republicans in the House and where, in the past, Republicans were for the most part, only called together on infrequent days during session so that leadership could inform its members of the House on how to vote on session day, our new caucus must meet regularly and frequently so all members can help organize, develop and flesh out leadership goals and then help coordinate and achieve our unified, legislative objectives.

ORGANIZATION:

Our Republican Leadership Team must immediately organize a set of what it feels are generally achievable Goals and Objectives for Year One and Year Two of the forthcoming session that will in turn, generate legislation reflecting the ideas, goals and objectives articulated in the Republican Party Platform.

Republican Leadership must then organize a set of long and short term initiatives on the following suggested format.

FIRST YEAR – FIRST TIER BILLS:

Legislation having to do with the looming state budget deficit must take precedence over all other considerations, and would comprise the core of the first year – first tier legislative effort.

Legislation having to do with reorganizing government, promoting efficiency, and reducing waste that would help reduce the cost of government must be promoted within that first year – first tier initiative as well.

FIRST YEAR – SECOND TIER BILLS:

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Yeah Baby!

Liberal educators tell a kid he can’t have an American flag on his bike because he rides it to school and it stresses people out. (Stresses out the liberal educators, says I). Avalanche of public outrage crushes unsuspecting "smartest people in the room."  They backtrack on the flag ban. Real American’s show support for the … Read more

Frank Guinta In DC

Speaking at the AFP event, Congressman-elect Frank Guinta says a few words guaranteed to piss of Manchester democrats…which to be honest, is why I posted it.

Notable Quote – Fyodor Dostoevsky

On socialism: The socialists want to regenerate humans, to liberate them. They conclude that having forcibly changed the economic way humans live they will achieve their goals. But humans are transformed not from external reasons but only from moral changes…. Lacking any spiritual basis for human brotherhood, the socialists must resort to compulsion to establish … Read more

Guantanamo Blues

Twenty-two months after announcing that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility would be closed in twelve months, the Obama administration has announced that they will now be holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at that facility, indefinitely, without any trial at all.

We’re in the Best of Hands – the TSA’s, that is – literally!

"Homeland Security: We Get To Touch Your Junk"

(H/T:  Boing Boing)

I’ve been a long term frequent flier – over the years, I’ve racked up close to 500,000 miles in the air.  No, not as much as some, but WAY more than the vast majority of the folks that ever squeeze into that thin metal tube now called a flying cattle car.  I can remember when flying was still a bit elegant and when even Coach got a hot meal with real silverware. 

To be honest, I still miss going somewhere else on an occasional basis but given the outcry of the last few days over the "enhanced" security, I’ll stay planted on terra firma for as long as I can.   I’m QUITE sure that good old Ben was right:

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security

I remember what it was like, right after 9/11, to watch the crowd getting on the plane, the eyes staring at me as I got on the plane, and where my eyeballs were as everyone else was getting on.  And I still do.  Racial Profiling may well be the accusation hurled at me for doing so, but I had a reason – like most everyone else, they wanted to be able to go home and hug their families.  Still do.

I’ve endured a number of pre-board searches – certainly have had to go "oops, …

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Making The Sausage

One of my readers did me the honor of pointing out a grammatical error I had made in a post, not once, but four times. He politely explained the issue, while pointing out that he still appreciates my work. For my part I knew the rule, but sometimes it’s not quite that simple.

[Updated] Why You Should Contact Senator Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell[ UPDATED Senator McConnell has officially come out against earmarks:“Today, I am announcing that I will join the Republican leadership in the House in support of a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress,” he said].

NYT Link Here

Original post

Senator Mitch McConnell (R- KY) is said to be working to undermine an effort at banning earmarks in the US Senate.  This is not surprising.  Senators, as a rule, abuse the privilege more.  And while appropriations of this nature amount to a fraction of the total budget, it is an impressive fraction that rarely serves the interests of anyone more than the Seantor themselves.

Was it Carol Shea-Porter, 2012 congressional candidate in waiting who said that earmarks are necessary so that the state can get back it’s fair share of the federal taxes it’s residents pay?  Or was that Hodes?  Does it matter? Sure, congressman abuse them as well, even those who swear they have sworn them off.

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Nick Levasseur Won’t Like This..

Courtesy of Hot Air–I confess that this is just cool.  It is a live concert (the band is live) at which a holographic Anime pop singer, performs for the crowd.  Whether or not you like the song, or Anime, the holographic technology is…to quote my teenage boys…sick. Check it out.  Then follow the link–there’s another … Read more

Frank Guinta – he’s in a good spot!

My, my, who do I spy?  I think that my new Congressman, Frank Guinta, is EXACTLY where I want him to be: From AFP: We were also joined by other great free market champions in Congress such as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman Mike Pence, Congressman Louie Gohmert, and Congressmen-elect Morgan Griffith, Frank Guinta, Bob Gibbs, … Read more

Now the media is reporting on the Speaker race – almost as much as we have!

Gene Chandler or Bill O’Brien: which should be the next Speaker?  Yes, I am discounting Susan Emerson (who sounds like compromise is her whole raison d’etre of running) and John Reagan (who has made very little splash in this pool).  Thus, only Chandler or O’Brien are in the klieg lights. We here at the ‘Grok … Read more

New Hampshire Exceptionalism – another take

Steve’s post on NH Exceptionalism posted up right after our GrokTALK! show this past Saturday – and I really liked it! To me, the money graph was this:

In a corner of America where co-dependence with government is the prescription of choice, the Granite state rejected it on an epic scale.

But it also got me thinking – is that all? Is that’s all that it is, a rejection of dependency on Government?  I think not.

Oh sure, there are some that believe that there is nothing to be called Exceptionalism, that it is merely a matter of luck and geography. Simply, we all were and are fortunate simply by birth and location – nothing less, but nothing more.  They see so much wrong in our history, their dislike the current state of society, and their outlook is so dim – they cannot fathom or stand that life is not completely "equitable" for all.  They realize not, in their striving for that "equality for all", that they have gone past ‘equality of the law’ but to "commonness in outcome".  In other words, they strive for the lowest common denominator.  In their headlong rush to provide their "freedom from" for the "oppressed", they don’t understand (or care) that in deliberately taking from some to give to others, they have become inured to the fact that they themselves have become the oppressors even as they see themselves as liberators and saviors.

Our Founders made much of idea of personal liberties and designed a system of governance that was designed to enhance those freedoms above the needs of the State.  After all, they had decided that the heavy hand of the English Monarchy was far to much to bear – in order to reap the rewards of that Liberty, the only alternative was less government overall and that each individual citizen would have more of a say of how such a new governance would work. They toiled over each word, the nuances that were built up by each phrase, all with the end result of constraining that Government that would result.  They surely understood that Government was a necessity; but in the histories that they read, they compared the best of each of those political systems in those historical accounts and tried to take the best of each AND provide checks and balances against even the best features.

Their crowning genius was not just determining that series of checks and balances that resulted in both the US and NH Constitutions, but in this one eternal fact:

Men will always be men.

Unlike the current crop of socialistic Progressives that believe that mankind can evolve to their standards if only channeled correctly and by the right people to a "higher plane", the Founders realized that those that would seek such control ARE the problem and tried to prevent that.  Over and over again, they bumped into historical examples of "Absolute power corrupts absolutely", and that while the times may change, while the situations may change, the innate fallen spirit of man, when confronted with the wielding of power, suffuses them with the call to acquire more power.

A most simple truth.  Most, once obtaining that desired power, will lust for more.  Not always in large amounts all at once, but as with many Administrative States, simply proceeding step by step ESPECIALLY if not confronted, admonished, and vanquished.   And that is exactly what has happened here in NH. But there was, as we have seen the last two years, that headlong rushes to "fundamentally change" society, the intermixing of Society and Government, the replacement of personal charity with governmental funding of services.  A limited government grown to Leviathan dimensions and that growth seemingly without end.

Steve adds these questions:

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A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the NH House of Representatives – Part 1

Part 1 of a three part series of Guest Posts by the Honorable Paul Mirski, member of the NH House of Representatives (and one of the Fathers of Conservatism here in NH).  He is seeking to be the Majority Leader in the NH House of Representatives.

  • Part One concerns our mission as Republican members of the House.
  • Part Two discusses how  the Republican Caucus ought to be organized in order to use and enhance the array of skills represented within our caucus and in a way that will encourage each and every member to play a constructive and satisfying part.
  • Part Three suggests five or six overriding legislative themes and then goes on to provide a basket of  choices for legislative action that are drawn directly from our current Republican Party Platform.  If members consider all of the media focus on Tea Party initiatives over the last 18 months, they will see that those Republicans who began rewriting our platform eight years ago were well ahead of the curve.We’re ready right this minute to create change. We don’t have to go searching for ideas.

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A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the New Hampshire House of Representatives

The 2010 elections have given New Hampshire Republicans a great gift.  That gift is the chance to start over. New Republicans must lead. We’ve not been elected to fine tune state government.  We’ve been elected to reform it.  New Republican leadership must compel the legislature to rise and fulfill the obligations and responsibilities given it by our State Constitution.  We now have strength of numbers.  We have the passion – and we now have a mandate to accomplish great things.

PART 1

OUR MISSION:

Voters have given Republicans one last chance to end expanding government, runaway spending and ever higher taxes.

Republicans been charged with responsibility for repairing the harm inflicted by recent Democrat rule. We’d better perform. Activists who worked on our campaigns have told us that if we do not reform government this coming session that they’ll never vote for a Republican again. They mean it. If we fail, we’re done.

We know intuitively that rules, laws, taxes and penalties that inhibit competition and individual expression are wrong.

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Message in a Speaker

This coming Thursday, Republican state representatives will send a clear message about their intentions for the next two years when they choose their candidate for Speaker of the House.  That is because the two major candidates, Gene Chandler and William O’Brien, represent two starkly different forms of conservatism.

Chandler is the quintessential same-but-less conservative.  That is, his idea of conservative governance is essentially conserving the status quo.  Maybe trimming a few programs here and there, likely not growing government as fast as the Democrats would, but definitely no major changes with a Speaker Chandler.  O’Brien, on the other hand, is an ideological conservative.  That is, his idea of conservative governance is a government that carries out certain essential functions competently and frugally, but otherwise stays out of our way.  Expect to see real spending cuts, meaningful reductions in the reach of government, and definitely no more business as usual under a Speaker O’Brien.
If Republicans don’t get that the voters are demanding the O’Brien version of conservatism then they are incurably myopic and tone deaf.

The voters made wholesale changes to the Statehouse because they want wholesale changes in state government.  True…

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Voice of Democracy – Fellowship Christian Academy: Meghan!

This is the final paper from the good students of Fellowship Christian Academy located in Methuen, MA.  We all met at Ovide Lamontagne’s "Return to Red" even held in Manchester the week before the election.  Although I had noticed that there were teens in the room, I really hadn’t paid much attention as I was, well, rather quite busy.  However, as the event wound down, three of the guys came over and said that they wanted me to interview them.  A bit puzzled (er, why GraniteGrok?), I said yes.  Well, afterward, they stood politely by as I did a couple of other interviews.  They were patient.

I then saw them, said it was time, and then they ALL descended upon me – Yikes!  Yes folks, I had been "had" – and it turned out to be GREAT!  During the interview, it came out that they were working on these papers and I asked if they would send them to me.  They agreed and I have kept my promise.

This last paper is by Meghan (preceded by Peter, Maggie, Laura, Kathryn, Grace & Tim, Catherine, Ben, Tyler, Jillian, Michael, Christie, Nate, and  Hannah!)

 (Picture credit: Alan Glassman; FCA students interview with GraniteGrok) 

Warning: This essay contains strong opinions on America’s future, listener discretion is advised. Those of us participating in this contest have been posed with the question, “How will my generation affect America’s future?” But my question is, how could we not?
         
Just as every generation before us, my generation faces the ever-mounting odds against American youth. With the issues of politics, economics, religion, and pop-culture threatening to overwhelm us the moment we reach adulthood, it would be understandable if we were shaking in our boots. As it has been with every generation since America’s inception, we stand at the door frame leading out into the future, faced with the choice to slam the door and retreat, or to venture out into the uncertainty that awaits us.         
 
You may think he too bold, or too pompous, but I know that my generation will decide if…

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Progressive Trade Rules

Being beholden to unions causes you to say and do stupid things.  Take Carol Shea-Porter for example.  She was against a trade deal with Panama because she claimed it would cost American jobs, when it would actually open up trade from us to them–they already had unfettered access; result?–it would have created American jobs. Provisions … Read more

This Week’s GrokTALK 11-13-2010

A mixture of politics, culture, current events, and well, politics, it is an Internet Radio show streaming live audio and video directly from GraniteGrok. Using a solidly Conservative and Rational Libertarian lens, we’ll take on almost any topic and have notables from the news, political figures, authors, and other opinionated folks for your edification and amusement.

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