Politics and Tea

Today cbsnews.com drew attention to the primary challenges that TX Rep Ron Paul is facing in this article. Much has been written recently about the fractures within the "tea party" movement and what is the true ideological split. This story clues us in on an important aspect of that divide when it describes how "Paul's challengers say he is too focused on national ambitions and that he has has not voted in support of federal aid for his district." These are supposed "tea party" people who are saying this. Obviously they don't know the first thing about limited government, and honestly, it is sickening. They like to spout rhetoric about wealth redistribution being socialism, until we are talking about the wealth being redistributed to them, in which case it is good politics. Helloooo, representing a district does not mean that it is your job to secure special funds for that district. This is an issue in Illinois as well as Paul's Texas. Local ...

When Saturday's News-Gazette detailed in this story how many Republican small town mayors have declared endorsement for Michael Frerich (State Senate 52nd District-D), it did not come as a big surprise. Patronage politics are powerful, and it is almost understandable that the leaders of these small towns would be so shortsightedly appreciative of the State perks brought back to the district by State Senator Frerichs. There have certainly been political goodies from Springfield to hand out. All those friendly handouts brought us into the worst budget deficit crisis of state history. For a good primer on pork out of Springfield, see this nifty little report by the Illinois Policy Institute. But other than looming financial collapse, what did those goodies do for us? When Danville mayor Republican Scott Eisenhauer justifies his endorsement of Frerichs by saying: “He has done extremely well for us”, he offers a clue to this mystery. Is he talking about those of “us”...