Where have all the Reaganites gone?

(The views presented in this current posting do not necessarily represent the views of Karalee Merrill--although they should!)

Last week, my cousin Robert Boughan, who lives in Sierra Vista, invited Karalee and I to attend a meeting of the 1200 club. The 1200 club is a Republican organization that invites elected officials and candidates for public office to speak to club members about topics that the club chooses. We attended and were very pleased that Robert invited us, but alas, the 4 officials that represented the city, county, governor, and state senate, all bemoaned the huge loss of revenue that their respective governments are seeing due to the economic downturn. The county, and especially the city official, were the most upbeat about their affairs--inspite of the economy.

Nevertheless, not only did the state senator and governor's representative lament the poor economy, they went on to blame the democrat minority in the state senate, citizen-passed state referenda, and the former governor of Arizona--our own new DHS secretary, the radical leftist Janet Napolitano for the state's inability to meet the state's budget needs without raising sales tax. In short, like most politicians, nothing was really their fault.

As briefly as I can put it, I was rather frustrated that neither of these public officials offered any resolution to the budget shortfall--and debt--a la Ronald Reagan and supply side economics. So, here's the questions I would have asked these officials, if I gave myself the chance:

In response to their matter-of-fact statement that they don't want to cut government employee jobs but if they must, they want to do so equitably:

--Is the state government's purpose for employing simply to employ, or are these state employees, like teachers and other educrats, actually supposed to provide a service? (At this point I would have mentioned an article I read several months ago about the Postal Service attempting to lay off 40,000 employees--but the consumer wouldn't have to worry about that because said consumers would not distinguish a significant difference in service, if any difference at all. If this is so, why were the 40,000 employed in the first place?)

In response to their insistence that raising sales tax, albeit "temporarily," would go to benefitting conservative principles like education, public safety, etc.:

--How does the Arizona State Republican economic agenda differ from Barack Obama's, a plan that also calls for raising taxes? You, Mr. Republican Public Official, might insist that your tax raising proposals aren't even in the same ball park as Mr. Obama's, but how do you reconcile your excitement over the recent Tea parties with your tax raising agenda, even if the plan is temporary?

In short, I would ask them:

Where are the the Reagan Conservatives? How is the current Republican economic agenda not just a moderate version of the Democratic economic agenda? Where are the Republican proposals that are just as radical in their philosophy, yet completely opposite to Barack Obama's proposals? Do you think the lack of any such proposals could help explain why we call Barack Obama "President," and not John McCain?

To be fair, we do live in a Democrat run state--the Teacher's and other Unions, Environmentalist-Marxists, and a large state bureaucracy that endorses LBJ style welfare--hold significant sway in the state. This is not to mention that Janet Napolitano was the governor, tax-payer funded vouchers were declared unconstitutional a month ago, and that Proposition 200 was ruled unconstitutional a few years ago, to mention a few hurdles Republicans face and explain in part why the state is $1 billion short of a constitutionally-mandated balanced budget .

But haven't any of these officials seen what is going on in California and Michigan (both states are broke), and that many other states are headed in the same direction, primarily for the same reason (that high state and federal taxes choke private enterprise, thus decreasing the revenue of the state and country)? If these states are failing for much of the same reasons we're insisting on doing what we're proposing to do in Arizona now, perhaps another idea might prove more successful.

Anyway, Karalee thinks you might be bored of this particular post, if you've read up to this point at all. But I did mention in the first post that this blog would include commentary on politics, the Utah Jazz, BYU--anything, in addition to our daily and weekly goings-on, but not a lot went on this week in our lives aside from the 1200 club. So there it is, and admit that you've been warned. Besides, I identify myself considerably by my political leanings, so I welcome you into a window of my life and thinking as I divulge my thoughts on politics.

Have a nice day. And believe in Reagan!