Josh Mendel: Gen-Y for Ohio Treasurer

These nutty kids these days!  Josh Mandel (http://www.joshmandel.com/home) seems to be an aggressive conservative who represents a more liberal State House district around Cleveland. As Napolean Dynamite’s older brother says, “That’s what I’m talking about.”

There is no reason that Republicans need to cede traditional liberal ground by either not competing or by accepting a liberal premise and simply say “we’ll just do it less.”  Mandel proved that taking the message door-to-door, you can persuade people to support you in your cause.  There is such a strong stereotype of the bigoted heartless Republcian that we need candidates to tackle that directly and prove them wrong.  And we can’t just say something like “Well I have support affirmative action… I have black friends… Family values don’t end at the border…”  The argument is that Republicans don’t have black or hispanic messages because we view people as individuals and not as simply part of a group.

But I digress.  Republicans need to argue on conservative ground.  Highlight the differences bewteen the parties.  Don’t respond to an argument based on a faulty premise.  And stick with a clear and consistent message that people do better with a disciplined and limited government.

Return Florida Red

I’m so glad Senator Voinovich is retiring and that Rob Portman appears to be the nominee-apparent.  In Florida, the moderate Senator Mel Martinez is retiring and their nominee-apparent is the equally moderate George Hamilton-toned Charlie Crist http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/05/20/charlie-crist-raises-taxes-now-says-hed-vote-for-stimulus-%E2%80%94-just-like-specter/).  Look for a significant fight between the moderate establishment, led by the Sen. John Cornyn and the NRCC, and the conservative base.

The NRCC has not been well run these last few years.  Elizabeth Dole was an embarrasment during the 2006 campaign, droning on about whatnot in debates with Charlie Shumer.  Ensign had a bit of a better argument, but the 2008 Oba-mentum was very strong and maybe even Tom Coburn couldn’t have saved the likes of Norm Coleman.  The conventional look into 2010 is bleak: Larry Sabato -http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2009021201; Charlie Cook http://www.cookpolitical.com/ – of the six toss-ups, four are Republican).

We pray that 2010 will not be a year of conventional wisdom.  If there is a silent majority who are becoming no longer silent, then we need to embrace the message more than the messenger.  Crist may have name recognition, but former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio http://marcorubio.com/) has the passion, the fresh face, and the argument to be part of the next wave of a Republican resurgance.

I think in Ohio, conservatives as well as Republicans are happy with Portman and Kasich as the two heads of the statewide ticket.  I think we’re also comfortable running against Strickland and either Fisher or park-bench Brunner.  But for the Senate, Portman would only be a single vote and I’d much have a senator who may be a little to the left (but only a little) of Rubio and not well to the right of Crist.

The Ohio House Supports the 10th Ammendment Too

Just like catching the kid who throws the second punch, I missed the earlier HCR 11 which also “To claim sovereignty over certain powers pursuant to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, to serve notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates, and to insist that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed.” Representatives Kris Jordan (R-Delaware) and Jarrod Martin (R-Beavercreek) are the sponsors. Please contact them as well as your own Representative to voice your support.

52% Pro-Life? Math Happens!

Not to over-simplify this issue or to apply a type of Freakonomics principle, but generations of pro-choice individuals have been aborting their children while the pro-life crowd has been nurturing theirs. This shift was bound to happen – if only by attrition.

I’ve always thought that the arguments on abortion have focused primarily on the woman. If the argument is keeping the government out of the conversations between a woman and her doctor, then I’m on board. How could you argue against that, especially if you’re a small-government proponent?

But what if the focus were on the fetus as a child? What if the question were “Would you condone the aborting of a three-month old child?” I’ve heard the pro-choice crowd compare the fetus to a tadpole, and that’s an argument we can win because a human fetus is so much more than a simple tadpole.

The abortion of a three-month old child is actually an argument made by bioethicist Peter Singer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer).  His philosphy of protecting the animals but dismissing the fetus falls right in line with the hyperlogically amoral positions of the far left – the far left that includes Barack Obama in its ranks.

Partick Henry Update

The Patrick Henry Caucus now has a website – http://www.thepatrickhenrycaucus.com/. (OK, I DVR the Glenn Beck show every day.)

The reaction by the left is predictable – “Have they lost their minds?” http://ohio15th.blogspot.com/2009/05/ohio-republicans-going-to-far-right.html. This all sounds too familiar: Republicans are bigots and hostile to the issues like education and unemployment. I remember when I began thinking about government actions and then the consequences of those actions. And then I looked at places like the cities where they have applied liberal policies for decades. When liberal policies fail, their response is that we need to do more. But it’s never enough – it can never be enough – the policies are simply wrong.

Some day, those who have been stuck in poverty for generations will work to become middle class. And then at some point, they’re going to ask “Why didn’t this happen before? What took so long?” The conclusion can only be that their government means well but is unable to lift people out of poverty – they must do it themselves.

Personal and Ecomonic Freedom Study: Ohio #38

An interesting study was posted on Powerline today (http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/05/023554.php) from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. They used various sets of data and applied a sort of “freedom index” to measure the degree of individual freedom. For instance, New York came in last in nearly every measure while New Hampshire was in the top third in each category and came out on top in the overall score.

Here is the text that accompanies Ohio:
Ohio (#32 economic, #46 personal, #38 overall) has much to improve. Adjusted government spending is over a standard deviation higher than average. Ohio is higher than average in every spending category except transportation. Gun control laws are relatively poor, though not in a class with Illinois, New Jersey, and others. Marijuana laws are liberal overall, but cultivation and sale sentencing could be reformed. Most gambling is illegal. Private and home school regulations are unreasonable, including teacher licensure and mandatory state approval of home school curricula. Asset forfeiture rules are appropriate. Eminent domain reform has not gone nearly far enough. Draconian smoking bans are in place.

While looking briefly at the study and the organization, I believe they take a justifiably libertarian bent to many issues. We probably remember that the smoking debate was between Issue 5 (Stop Smoking) and Issue 4 (Smoke Less). If Issue 4 had passed, that may have granted us an extra hundredth of a percent of freedom!

Nevertheless, these are all state issues and depend on a conservative governor and legislature to repair.

Ohio’s 10th Ammendment Crew

Ohio has joined other states (red states, of course) to make explicit the separation of federal powers from state powers.   State Senators Grendell and Faber have sponsored a concurrent resolution (SCR 13) to “claim sovereignty over certain powers pursuant to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, to notify Congress to limit and end certain mandates, and to insist that federal legislation contravening the Tenth Amendment be prohibited or repealed.”  Please write to them and thank them for standing up to an increasingly power-grabbing federal government.

http://ohiorepublic.blogspot.com/2009/05/state-sovereignty-resolution-to-be.html

Like many things that aren’t, this issue should be supported by bipartisan thinkers and activists.  When the federal government usurps such great control, it obviously splits the whole country into the winners who voted for the President and the losers who didn’t.  It gives incredible power and influence to a President who 40-50% of the country voter against.  The President was never supposed to have such power and influence.

Federally, the voters are supposed to be equally engaged with their Congressmen.  Senators were initially chosen by the state legislatures, which would naturally cause citizens to be more engaged with their State Governments.  Quick – do you know if either Senators Grendell and Faber represent you?  Go to Project VoteSmart -http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm – to find your representatives in the federal and state governments.  Make sure to have your full 9-digit zip code to get your exact results.

Like others, I need to make myself more involved with our state legislators and this resolution is certainly something worthy of advocacy.

Sorry Strickland. Ohioans Want Vouchers.

Barack Obama may never had intended to keep his promise of advocating for school vouchers, but he didn’t need to.  Despite the opposition of Governor Strickland, the teachers union, and Democrats in general, applications for school vouchers in Ohio went up 20% this year. http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/applications-for-ohio-school-voucher-program-rise-116550.html.

Vouchers can help students in the least successful districts to get itno a private school.  Some studies have shown the positive long-term academic success of students who have utilized voucher programs over those students who only experienced the public schools.  Those of us in favor of vouchers cannot understand how children could possibly benefit from being stuck in failing schools.

Most anti-voucher rhetoric includes the social network of public education, or that vouchers “pick out the winners” for private schools leaving more challenging students behind.  Well by preventing the “picking out of winners,” canceling the voucher program will certainly force the all students to share in the failure of public schools.

I know teachers who know other teachers who would love to start a private school using voucher money.  With a fraction of the money it costs to educate a student in a city school, these teachers would have greater control and ownership of their students education.  People who understand how competition breeds excellence across the board, also see how the public system has become fat, lazy, and worse of all, apathetic to teaching the next generation.

Candidate Obama has given these families hope that their children can get a better education with vouchers, lets hope that Governor Strickland and President Obama simply get out of their way.

Is There a Mike DeWine Comeback in 2010?

in 2006, Mike DeWine was one of of six incumbent Senate Republicans to be defeated in the year where both houses of Congress switched parties. A rose-colored look at the election could yield one to conclude that Jack Abramoff and George Allen’s “Macaca” shared the blame for the switch, and surely they did have its effect. Conrad Burns in Montana barely lost his re-election and was touched by the Abramoff scandal, and the “macaca” clip played into the stereotype that Republicans are bigoted racists at their core. On the House side, the scandals included Ohio’s Bob Ney, California’s Duke Cunningham, and Florida’s favorite text-messenger Mark Foley.

But Mike DeWine’s loss was due to the larger matter – the fact that Republicans were spending like Democrats, giving away the farm with Medicare Part D, unable to pass drilling in ANWAR, unable to confirm people like John Bolton, and listened more to the Gang of 12 than they did their conservative constituents. Sherrod Brown tried to run like a moderate (don’t they all?), and DeWine made a good point about the two of them compromising by “moving to the left.” Nevertheless, DeWine lost to Brown 56-44 as the apathy of the right yielded its first round of casualties.

In 2009, conservatives have found new avenues for their voice. It could be Glenn Beck with his promotion of the Thomas Paine tributes or spearheading the 912 Project (http://www.912project.com/). It certainly was found on April 15 when a hundred or two thousand people across the country got together for tea parties in their community. And I think for 2010, we need have candidates to carry that momentum, that energy, and that philosophy of freedom.

David Yost has just declared his candidacy for Attorney General of Ohio. His Tea Party speech is here – http://www.daveyost.com/blog/2009/04/16/the-speech-i-intended-to-give-at-the-columbus-tea-party-until-my-note-cards-blew-away-in-the-wind/. Also, there is a rumor that if Mike DeWine were to make a statewide comeback, it may be for this post. Moving from Senator to part of the Governor’s cabinet is not a lateral move for him, and I think it’s a backward move for conservatism. His conservative rating in the Senate was about 70-75% from what I’ve seen through the years, which is barely passable. On a flip side, you’d be hard-pressed to find many Democrats as high as 25%, and those Democrats would be considered “conservative.”

The argument will be that we need the moderate Republican to attract the vast independent middle. Well, the moderates have been dropping like flies – DeWine & Chafee, McCain, and now Specter – along with the conservatives like Santorum and Blackwell. Whether the moderates like it or not, the “tea party” message is the only one out there trying to put a stop to a new American Socialism. Like Specter discovered with his Pat Toomey primary challenge, the compromise of a half-socialist America will no longer be acceptable to the conservative voter.

The Patrick Henry Caucus

Glenn Beck had this featured on TV show and I think it’s an excellent response to the over-active federal government. The Commerce Clause (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_clause) has allowed Congress to regulate many many products in this country, and guns and ammunition in particular. If a gun and its ammo are made in a single state, then what is the federal responsibility?

This State Representative in Utah has chosen this argument to alleviate the legitimate fears people have about this federal administration restricting an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. By making explicit the separation between commerce that is under jurisdiction of the state and the federal governments, Utah-made guns and Utah-made ammo would not be subject to any federal taxes or control.

I’m not which one of our State Senators or Representatives would be of the same mind, or if enough of out citizens feel a need to take such a step. I think once the deep red states of Utah and Oklahoma prove that they don’t have to be unduly burdened by Washington DC, the argument will commence and I look forward to it.