Tuesday, March 08, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing For March 8, 2011



1. Small government wins another election in Europe


2. Blame the Democrats for High Gas Prices



3. The Seed Corn Is What’s For Breakfast



4. The Return of the Balanced Budget Amendment


5. Bill Gates Weighs in on Wisconsin…Sort of.


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1. Small government wins another election in Europe


Forgive me for being a broken record on this, but the right has won yet another election in Europe, this time in Estonia. Last June, I wrote that Keynesianism is dead in Europe as a political force. This weekend, the Estonian right has won another election fought over government spending. The coalition of the right went from 44% of the vote in the last parliamentary election in 2007 to over 50% in this one. The New York Times made it very clear that the left’s attack on the government was that it cut too deeply.


Please click here for the rest of the post.



2. Blame the Democrats for High Gas Prices


In the Atlanta area, where I am, gas prices are up $0.77 from where they were a year ago. It is worth noting that Democrats have been politicizing and blocking expanded oil drilling for quite some time. Consider this:


“Critics (of Arctic drilling), including Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., say the drilling plan would violate the nation’s last remaining pristine wilderness. Moreover, they charge, the oil would consist of a 6-month supply for the nation, and would not be ready for use by consumers for up to 10 years.”


That newspaper article was written April 2, 2001. For those of you in Rio Linda, that would be ten years ago.


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3. The Seed Corn Is What’s For Breakfast


In the recent two years, oil has gotten progressively more expensive and as a result, gasoline prices have followed a similar trajectory. That was until two weeks ago, when both of these commodities blasted to the moon in response to the uprising-cum-civil war in Libya. This leaves our current Presidential Administration with two sets of choices of how to handle the resulting public suffering from expensive gasoline.


The choice the administration makes depends upon what they interpret the problem to actually be.


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4. The Return of the Balanced Budget Amendment


“The balanced budget amendment has good aspects, but it is simply not good enough in dealing with fundamental constitutional change for our country.” And thus with that 23-word statement in 1997, Democrat Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey sunk conservative spirits. No longer did the U.S. Senate have the two-thirds it needed to enshrine a fundamental principle of governing into the highest law of the land: that politicians should pay for what they spend.


Controversial, I know. Pfft.


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5. Bill Gates Weighs in on Wisconsin…Sort of.


Bill Gates, not exactly known for partisan politics, is sounding the alarm on states’ unfunded pensions and health care costs that are wreaking havoc on state budgets (now and in the foreseeable future). Gates does not mention Wisconsin by name, nor does he cite the unionized public-sector. However, with Wisconsin in the limelight right now, Gates’ warning should be heeded by all Americans (union and non-union alike).


Please click here for the rest of the post.




Sincerely yours,


Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

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