The ongoing mess that is the state of the budget here in New Hampshire continues apace. After Governor Lynch proposed his budget short on belt-tightening, and long on new fees and altered long-term revenue-sharing agreements, some locales—especially cities— found themselves in a veritable crisis before they even started their annual budgeting.
Governor Lynch—between a rock and a hard place—given his no broad-based taxes pledge and his loyalty to recipients of state budget funds up and down the food chain, is undoubtedly at the end of the line for the free ride he’s thus far been given. A person can only have his cake and eat it too for so long before there’s no more cake. As long as the economy hummed, politicians like Governor Lynch, the majority Democrats in the Legislature, the big spenders at the local levels, and the bureaucracies they all support could be everything to everybody. There was enough dough coming in from all directions that they funded everything their heart’s desired with a little from here, there, and everywhere. Governor Lynch could practice moderation, “blue-dog” style, and his comrades to the left of him could advance their loony agenda, albeit piecemeal, in order to provide Lynch with enough cover. Thus, a happy medium took place, with neither end of the Democratic spectrum looking to out the other.
Is this an uneasy bargain that, like all things, in due time must pass? To me, the coming crack up is apparent. Lynch knows that the majority of Granite Staters, while not necessarily all hard-core right wingers, are not too far to the extreme left, either. Why else would Lynch’s campaign promise track record include the aforementioned anti-tax pledge, a promised veto of any death penalty changes, and opposition to gay marriage? Because without those specifically stated for the electorate –still wary of Democrats at the time– he might not have won. Here in the present, Lynch finds himself having to put his money where his mouth is unless the Senate acts against their House counterparts. In bold shifts away from long-held social traditions, the liberal majority has handed him a number of hot-button issues he must either allow to become law, or use the veto pen –dashing the hopes of many members of the various special-interest groups that comprise his own party.
I’m sure he knows that when the full measure of what the Democrat-led majority in Concord has wrought is known, the proverbial gig will be up. Sadly, due to a virulent anti-Republican backlash (some of it deserved, I must say), voters didn’t take care to wonder about such matters when it came to electing their state representatives in the past two cycles. Out with the old—in with CHANGE! And, when you look at the record, there is nothing to dispute… it’s change we’ve gotten.
Let’s review. In the last couple of years, we’ve found ourselves with a boating speed limit, new smoking laws (and higher taxes), mandatory seat belt laws—the draconian “primary offense” type, civil unions (“Oh no, this isn’t a first step to full gay marriage,” they said at the time.), same sex marriage, repealing capital punishment for cop killers, crippling health insurer competition to keep premiums high, underwriting and offering “free” health insurance benefits to those that can already afford it, and bringing higher energy costs for all. And of course, the grand-daddy of them all: the so-called “bathroom bill” or, as I would call it, the pervert protection act (Hold on—I’m simply implying this bill, should it pass, would give cover for the occasional bathroom sex-offenders that we all know exist). Indeed. As the economy of the state fizzles, and red ink flows by the barrel, these are the things that the Democratic majority is working on down in Concord. As Lynch walks the minefield with budgetary matters, his fellow Democratic comrades in the Legislature are bringing home the bacon for every outlandish group and cause that helped them attain power. It’s payback time, and they’re not going to like it if Governor Lynch blocks their way. The left know their moment is at hand.
“But how can this be?” you ask? “How could so many people have not realized this would happen?”
