Posted on 10/24/2006 1:52:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
As the California election nears, candidates ramp up accusations that opponents have huge hypocrisy gaps between what they say and what they do. But, until recently, the candidate who clearly wins any hypocrisy comparison has been largely overlooked
That is State Senator Tom McClintock, running for Lieutenant Governor against Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi. In a long public life, he has remained consistent to the limited defensible role for government in our society, and hasnt sold out that vision to buy votes from others to get some goodies he wants from Sacramento. He may be the only one there with the consistent strength of his convictions to refuse to abandon them (and Californians), who truly represents those disenchanted with the ballooning size and scope of government.
McClintock has often been characterized as irrelevant by those in the mainstream, including those in his own party, for failing to go along to get along or look the other way at poorly thought out proposals and policies. Yet what better qualification is there for a state office-holder charged with benefiting all of us, rather than some of us at others expense?
He is also not anti-government, as some have alleged. He simply knows that, in a great many areas, both logic and evidence imply that better government requires far less government.
A fan of the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, he echoes their underlying principle that government must be strictly limited to policies that clearly advance the general welfare. Instead of fostering wasteful bureaucracies and boondoggles that erode individual rights and incentives, governments role is to establish and enforce property rights, equally applied, so all citizens can increase their welfare through voluntary exchanges. In that world, lobbyists could not use government to pick citizens pockets, and incomes would have to be earned by actually creating something worth more than it costs to others.
McClintock, perhaps alone among those plying their trade in Sacramento, recognizes and opposes the central danger of government: Its power will be captured by organized special interests and used to advance narrow objectives by imposing costs on others. And it is impossible for all citizens to gain from this, as those that cannot compete as effectively in the political arena of special interest must lose from the government transfer game.
McClintock is best defined by what he would not do. He has steadfastly opposed government subsidies and beggar-thy-neighbor policies, despite strong pressures to do so from those who would benefit. He would not support government policies that, while depriving taxpayers of income and restricting citizen choices, do not achieve their intended results. He does not support government redistribution of wealth, as it forces involuntary, harmful trades on citizens without their consent. He doesn=t want to soak the rich, as he recognizes that the way for sellers of goods and services to get wealthier in a market economy is to make others better off, and therefore willing to voluntarily buy from them (a characteristic not shared by government interventions).
Essentially, McClintock wants to treat Californians as adults, rather than as children constantly begging their parents to give them what they want. He believes in freedom from taxes that fund wasteful and ineffective programs and freedom from a government powerful and intrusive enough to routinely override individual choices, when those choices do not infringe on the rights of others.
Tom McClintock is the only candidate running for any office in California who has demonstrated what so many of us say we want--the consistent commitment to give up access to their slice of the government pork barrel in order to abolish that pork barrel altogether. He has resisted the explosion in state power and intrusion at every turn. As the candidate with the clearest commitment to Californians general welfare, he is a clear choice for Lieutenant Governor, not to mention the states best hope for Governor in 2010.
BTTT
..yeah, he's our guy too...
I love Tom's closing statement in his Chronicle debate with Garamendi,
where he passionately affirms that CA is only an election away from restoring the beautiful state that can be.
I love how he says that only GOVERNMENT can cause such a migration from CA to the deserts of Arizona and Nevada where they do nuclear testing ~ away from our beautiful state. Only government can make good folks move away.
He's much more eloquent, of course.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1724726/posts
In other words, if there ever was an honest politician, Tom McClintock is him.
Well...McClintock is an honest person. Finally someone has pointed it out ! The only bad thing I've personally ever heard about the CA state senator is his eyes were partly cross-eyed. Go figure!
Oh, there's more. He has stood in the way of passing new taxes and increasing spending! The horrors!
Watch the video in the link I posted in #5 ~
McClintock's eyes look just FINE, despite the cameraman's effort to zoom in close up.
The debate was filmed in favor of Garamendi, but no matter what camera tricks they tried, Tom's straightforward responses make him SHINE.
Just found the exact excerpt I so clumsily paraphrased!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1724726/posts?page=30#30
This one?
. . . I think that this debate has brought into sharp focus the difference between our approaches to these basic fundamental questions of how much we are putting into Government and how little we are getting back from it. I believe that government is taxing too much and is spending what it taxes unwisely. I also believe we could be producing the California that once was if we make these basic and fundamental changes in the way the state is doing business. . . .To all, link to debate:A generation ago, this really was the land of opportunity; the golden state where families could come looking for a better future. What has changed is a massive increase in spending, bureaucracy and regulations that has choked off our economy and is now producing for the second time in the state's history a net out-migration of Californians. The population continues to grow, but that is all either indigenous population growth or foreign immigration growth, most of that illegal. More Californians are leaving California than are coming in and they are finding better futures out in the middle of the Nevada and Arizona deserts than they found here in this beautiful garden of our continent. Now, I can conceive of no act of god possible that could wreak such havoc upon California to make it less desirable than the middle of the Nevada nuclear test range. Only acts of government could do that and we have. The good news is, that's something we can fix. We are always one election away from being able to change those policies. I believe that this is that election. . . .
Lt. Governor candidates: Tom McClintock (R) and John Garamendi (D). October 23, 2006 (Archived Video)
Yes ~ thank you. Wonderful.
There is no sharper contrast than these two in our election.
Attorney General candidates: Chuck Poochigian, Jerry Brown. October 5, 2006 (Archived Video)
Exactly so.
Thank you for the link.
I can't tell if Garamendi's slimy quotes are put there to expose him, or endorse him.
Seeing him actually SAY those words, I can only remember his smarmy tone and vain demeanor.
The fact that they ended the piece with Tom's vision for the office, is encouraging. Maybe. Unless they don't like his comparison to life in the 50's.
When the SF Chronicle has a flat out, unequivocal endorsement of Tom,
then I'll be impressed. When the shock wears off!
ROFL. Me too!
That's it in a nutshell. Kick tuchus, Tom.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/25/EDGD9LUMOT1.DTL
EDITORIAL
THE CHRONICLE RECOMMENDS
Top lieutenant
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
THE OFFICE of lieutenant governor carries relatively light day-to-day duties. It's no surprise that Democrat John Garamendi and Republican Tom McClintock, the major-party nominees for the post, frequently invoke the term "bully pulpit" when talking about how they would write their job descriptions, if elected.
But it's important to note that the lieutenant governor does possess a few significant responsibilities that make it critical for the job to be held by someone with a respect for the environment and the laws that protect it, an appreciation of the role of higher education in producing opportunity and economic wealth, a dedication to scientific advancement and an ability to reach beyond ideological and partisan divides to get things done.
(snip)
Garamendi sometimes wears his ambition on his sleeve, but there is no doubt about his knowledge of the issues and commitment to the values of education and environmental protection. Those are critical attributes for a lieutenant governor, who will be serving on the UC Board of Regents, CSU board of trustees and the State Lands Commission.
McClintock has tried to characterize himself as a teammate of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but those coattails won't stick. As Garamendi pointed out in their debate before The Chronicle editorial board, McClintock opposed many of Schwarzenegger's most important legislative achievements: on trying to curb global warming, on raising the minimum wage, on creating prescription-drug discounts for the uninsured and on investing in transportation, education and housing in a bipartisan-crafted bond package.
Garamendi gets our endorsement.
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