Posted: 03/12/10 01:41, Edited: 03/12/10 01:49
by Dave Mindeman
The Republicans in Congress have had a curious 11th hour conversion to the anti-spending temperance union. Our Congressman Kline thinks he is leading the revival. Join me, he says... Come, oh ye Republican brethren. Let us stop the deluge of filthy lucre coming from the coffers of Washington. (Well, at least it won't be coming to the 2nd District.)
And, sure enough, they all come to the altar of no "special requests" and are born again via the waters of no earmarks.
Except that John Kline is just a modern day Elmer Gantry and his Republican co-horts are shills for a monetary facade.
Examine the evidence. The Republican Party criticizes the Democratic earmarks, yet the record number of earmarks (14,000) was set in 2005 and yes, the Republicans were in charge.
In addition. you, as a taxpayer, will save nothing from this moratorium. No, sir or madam, Elmer Gantry Kline is bearing false witness. He is not stopping any of your tax dollars from going to Washington. Not one single dollar bill is stopped. Your taxes continue to be paid and paid and paid again.
You, as one of John Kline's taxpaying constituents, may think this "stop the pork" crusade is helping you in some way, but it is doing just the opposite. It is taking your money and sending it somewhere else. It will fill somebody else's pothole. It will fix someone else's crumbling school. It will repair someone else's bridge. It will build someone else's levee.
I don't understand why this is so hard to understand. There is nothing....not one thing...that John Kline is doing that is stopping any of Washington's spending. The tax dollars are collected exactly the same way. The committees examine the requests that "other " Congresspersons put forth for their constituents and they will spend that money to meet the needs of someone else's constituents.
It is called representing your district. Our Elmer Gantry representative hasn't been representing us at all. He has just been racking up his collection plate accolades from people who have not yet figured out, or intentionally participate in, this scam.
The real problem is that John Kline refuses to see the difference between wasteful spending and necessary district requests. It is important to realize that they are two distinctly different things. Elmer Gantry Kline has intentionally blurred the issue. He wants you to just assume that all spending is wasteful. It certainly makes his job easier. He'll sponsor no spending and then tell everyone that he is a champion of "stopping the pork". Its easier than taking the time to discern between building a "bridge to nowhere" and repairing a bridge that might fall down.
Our district still needs things. We have roads that need Federal help. We have places that could use Federal incentives to allow businesses to expand in a tough credit market (like the Faribault window company did through our Democratic Senators). We have a BRT mass transit system on Cedar Ave that needs just a few more dollars to come to fruition. We have county and city projects that have been delayed or abandoned for lack of Federal matching funds.
John Kline will not help. He is too busy preaching. Preaching his scheme that he wants you to believe is pure and noble and in your best interest. Just like Elmer Gantry.
And also like Elmer Gantry, this false district promise can only go so far. The truth will come out for everyone to see.
At some point the con will be over....and Elmer Gantry will get run out of town.
Maybe November?
I trust that you are aware that Mr. Kline voted for Bush’s HR 5140 Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008 even though CBO said it would increase budget deficits by $152 billion in 2008. You remember that stimulus - complete with a $300 to $1200 rebate check - that did nothing to help the economy. Another aspect of Bush’s stimulus was the provisions that raised the loan limit (from $362,790 to $729,750) for the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) single-family program --- which no doubt eventually contributed to another piece of legislation that Kline supported. Yep, Kline voted FOR the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which is better known as TARP.
Oh, and Kline didn’t change his tune on DOD earmarks once Obama became president … DOD (with Obama’s concurrence) did not want any more F-22 jets since they have never been used in Iraq or Afghanistan. The House Republicans added it to the Defense Authorization bill … Kline defended it as “good jobs” … WHY is building jets that are not needed a good job but jobs involving infrastructure projects are not ? In case you were wondering about the F-22s, Obama threatened a veto and the Senate took it out.
Kline uses “earmarks” as a campaign tool … he has had no impact in changing funding … in fact, the Democrats have done a better job by eliminating the “black hole” in appropriations. Sad to say, but BigMouth Kline is all show.
I am a Fiscal Conservative and I know a Showman when I see one.