Wednesday
In response of Dale Amon's posts (Why I am voting for Republicans this year), I made the comment that if the Republican candidate for Governor was another Taft family person (or a friend of these statists - however good Robert Taft may have been before his death in 1953) then it would be better to vote Libertarian for Governor (even though it would let the tax-and-spend Democrats in) - in order to send the tax-and-spend Ohio Republican party a message.
I had not even bothered to check to see who the Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio was (in spite of being from Kettering England - the 'sister city' of Kettering Ohio).
The candidate is Ken Blackwell - an African American who has been a harsh critic, for many years, of the tax and spend policies that have turned Ohio into the third highest taxed State in the nation. Mr Blackwell favours tax reduction and strict control of government spending.
I would like to apologize for my ignorance.
Paul, if I was ever inclined to vote, I would do so back home, for Blackwell, just for you.
Posted by Jackie Danicki at September 27, 2006 08:09 PM
I wish I could head south to help you out Paul, but I'll have my hands busy kicking Jennifer Granholm out of Michigan.
Posted by Hank Scorpio at September 27, 2006 08:21 PM
I wish there were enough people to help get rid of Baldacci "Friend of Chavez" and his awful administration in Maine. He has managed to get Maine to 49th out of 50 states in positive business culture while keeping taxes almost highest in nation.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at September 27, 2006 09:28 PM
We're lucky to have economist Bill Peirce running in Ohio as a Libertarian. It's just a shame the media won't cover him fairly.
Posted by Greg Lishund at September 27, 2006 09:33 PM
Republicans have held the governorship for 16 years now. I don't see Blackwell winning. As an old boss stated after I left the state, Democrat or Republican only matters before you get into office. Because it is so damn expensive to run and win, the next four years are nothing but payback to those who got them there.
The people of Ohio have spoken. They want more services, ergo, it's going to cost money to provide those services. It's not a matter of who can provide the services for the better price, it's who got the election that can provide the services.
Posted by Bryan Price at September 28, 2006 01:41 AM
I'm an Ohio voter stuck with this lot. It's worse than the 2000 election, where I spent 4 months unable to decide whether I could stand Bush or Gore less. And who's in the governor's office matters quite a bit, sadly enough. It makes me want to vote for some looney write-in candidate.
(the primary campaign put me off Blackwell, almost certainly on a permanent basis, I'm afraid)
Posted by Sarah at September 28, 2006 02:47 AM
It's not a matter of who can provide the services for the better price, it's who got the election that can provide the services.
Bryan, indeed and it is that fallacy that only the state can provide the 'public' services people want at a price they can afford which is being pushed by professional politicians of both major parties, because only that view of reality always includes professional politicians (of whatever ilk) in the equation.
This is responsible for leading to largely indistinguishable political parties, in effect two factions for the Statists Party which actually runs things.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at September 28, 2006 10:08 AM
Excuse me, but wasn't Blackwell the Secretarty of State for Ohio during the 2004 election who sidetracked the recount, ensured inadequate numbers of voting machines in Democratic districts and otherwise did foul Republican deeds to help re-elect the "Decider"?
Posted by Michael Kerner at September 28, 2006 01:26 PM
What Jackie said was rather nice.
Good luck to the people fighting the good fight in Michigan and Maine - and, by the way, according to the Tax Foundation (founded 1937) Maine does not have "almost" the highest taxes in the nation (total State and local taxes as a percentage of income - not inculding Federal taxes) it has the HIGHEST State and local taxes in the nation.
This is useful counter example to use against those people who tend to blame nonwhites for the problems of the United States - nonwhites are not very common in Maine.
It is also a useful counter example to use against those people who blame big cities for the problems of the United States - there are no big cities in Maine.
Government is too big in Maine - period.
One person has written to me saying that the people of Ohio want more government "services" and so will be prepared to pay more taxes. If this is so the Democrats should say "vote for us and get even higher taxes" - and see how many votes they get.
Another person wrote to me and tried to smear Mr Blackwell for "stealing" the 2004 election for President of United States (supposedly Mr Blackwell hates "minorities" - which is odd considering he is black). I had heard that the left (helped by some very odd libertarians) were trying to spread the legend that President Bush stole Ohio - I do not support the wild spending policies of President Bush, but to claim that Ohio was stolen in 2004 is bullshit.
It reminds me of the "stole Florida" legend from 2000. In the end after all the investigations (often done by people hostile to President Bush) it was found that George Walker Bush DID win Florida - but hardly anyone in the media is interested in this.
As for Ohio in 2004, the margin of victory was wider (much wider) than it had been in Florida in 2000 - but still the bullshit about Bush "stealing" the election gets spread.
If people want to investigate fraud perhaps they should look at some of the things that were done in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2004 - accept the media is not interested because these things were done by Democrats.
Posted by Paul Marks at September 28, 2006 07:54 PM
and, by the way, according to the Tax Foundation (founded 1937) Maine does not have "almost" the highest taxes in the nation (total State and local taxes as a percentage of income - not inculding Federal taxes) it has the HIGHEST State and local taxes in the nation.
This same list has Massachussetts in 28th place? Can this be right?
Posted by Joshua at September 28, 2006 09:35 PM
Oddly enough, in State and local taxes, it is (although taxes in Massachuesetts are still very high compared to the level of taxes Americans used to pay). The "dirty little secret" of Massachusetts is the proposition of 1980 (which limited property taxes) this set off a movement to limit taxes and government spending.
Indeed the libertarians in Massachuesetts got close to abolishing the State income tax (although the proposition was defeated).
"Taxachesetts" is certainly not a free market place - but it is not exactly as its reputation makes it.
Although, of course, as Massachuessetts is a high income State FEDERAL taxes make it much higher than 28th place in total taxation.
Posted by Paul Marks at September 28, 2006 10:46 PM
Paul Marks wrote:
If people want to investigate fraud perhaps they should look at some of the things that were done in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2004 - accept the media is not interested because these things were done by Democrats.
They should look at the election for Governor in Washington state, where the Democrats kept recounting King County (ie. Seattle) over and over until their candidate "won" by 100-odd votes. (They ended up in King County with 1800 ballots more than voters checked off the list as having voted.)
It still burns me to think that the idiotic national Libertarians decided to spend resources trying to contest the results in Ohio and not in Washington.
Or, to put it another way, when Silvio Berlusconi lost the Italian election by about 25,000 votes out of 30 million cast, he was pilloried for not giving up and declaring defeat. When the Democrats lost Ohio by 120,000 votes out of less than six million cast, it was proof that the Republicans cheated.
Posted by Ted Schuerzinger at September 29, 2006 03:44 PM
I will be truly impressed when, having won, Kenny Blackwell refrains from showering da brothas in undeserved largesse, at the expense of the general public. That'll be a first for a black public welfare/warfare statist plunderer.
Posted by Troika at September 29, 2006 04:18 PM
Actually black Republicans tend to have a better record than white Republicans (not that this is wildly difficult - considering the high spending ways of some Republicans).
Certainly there are some black Democrats who spend a lot of taxpayers money - but that is because they are Democrats, not because they are black.
By the way, although I am as un P.C. as one can be, I do not think using language like "da brothas" achieves anything. What is being claimed here? That Mr Blackwell can not speak English (clearly not true), or that his spelling is as bad as mine? I would be surprised if that were true.
The assumption that all black people can not spell, or that all black people speak with an "hood" accent, is just silly.
To turn to a better comment.
I apologize to Ted S. for not mentioning Washington State - yes it was blatent fraud by the Democrats. Sadly the media have worked overtime since the election to improve the Governor's image.
As for the Libertarian yelps about Ohio in 2004 - well I have been a libertarian all my adult life, but I have to admit that these antics were not good. As for spending money on a legal campaign there........ well there is nothing polite I can say about that.
Posted by Paul Marks at September 29, 2006 05:21 PM
Hi,
Paul, if I was ever inclined to vote. I wish I could head south to help you out Paul. And i am happy to help you. Thank You.
Posted by stanley at August 8, 2008 06:44 PM
