Posted on 09/18/2007 11:21:00 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan
"Everything is on the table," said Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday, when asked whether he would support a statewide sales tax, in this case, as part of a massive government intervention into health care in California. The Governor said that he could support placing a tax hike on the ballot on which Californians can vote. Presumably the Republican Governor, after negotiating such a "deal" for California taxpayers, would then advocate its passage as well.
Shame on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I don't know how to sugar coat this, so I will just say it like it is -- he lied. He lied to me, he lied to his supporters and he lied to all Californians. When he campaigned for re-election last year, he said he was "moderate on social issues, progressive on environmental issues, and conservative on fiscal issues."
I cannot remember a stump speech that the Governor delivered to Republican activists, and I heard quite a few as a grassroots supporter of his campaign, where he did not flat out state his opposition to raising taxes, period. There was no audible "asterisk" qualifying his opposition to new taxes. Schwarzenegger's firm opposition to increasing taxes, in contrast to billions in tax hikes being promoted by Democrat Phil Angelides, helped to keep the Republican base fired up for the Governor while he reached out to Democrat voters with his social and environmental views.
Along with all of my fellow Republicans, we have been trying to practice a terrible balancing act, perched precariously on the Governor's stool while it is has been balanced on just one leg -- solid opposition to new taxes. Well, the Governor has yanked that stool out from under us and we Republicans have now all fallen on the floor. I don't know if it is more embarrassing, frustrating, or upsetting. My Republican Governor has proposed taxes on hospitals, income taxes on medical professionals, and now he is "open" to supporting a statewide sales tax.
The mantra that the Governor has been spewing on healthcare is downright... liberal. He has wrapped himself around the banner of the notion of "hidden taxes" and articulating that there is a cost to all insurance-holding Californians to provide coverage to all of those who do not have health care insurance and that this justifies tax hikes. He is correct about insurance-holding Californians bearing the costs of the uninsured, though the experts at the Hoover Institute have released a study showing that this burden is much lower than has been articulated by the Governor. But the next step that Schwarzenegger takes is to say that we should, in essence, replace the so-called "hidden tax" with actual non-hidden, overt taxes. What the Governor proposes is no fiscally conservative solution. It is not even a moderate one. His proposals on health care "reform" are quite liberal, and are based around this left-wing straw man called "shared responsibility."
Shared responsibility is just another way to say government responsibility, and moves away from a bedrock American principle -- individual responsibility. There is a notion in America, unlike any other place in the world, that here you have freedom. Freedom to succeed, and freedom to fail. You have opportunity that is boundless, but that comes from the notion of a limited government, one that affords liberty to its citizenry. The price for this freedom and liberty is individual responsibility, and the Governor's direction on health care "reform" in California is counter to this philosophical approach towards the proper role of government in our society.
Today in the Wall Street Journal, former Presidential advisor Karl Rove has an outstanding opinion piece in which he articulates a broad number of market-oriented approaches that government can take to increasing the accessibility to and the quality of health care in America -- including leveling the tax playing field through tax deductions or credits, tax-free savings for health costs, increase competition by allowing insurance companies to offer policies across state lines, allow for greater pooling of risk by small companies, increase transparency of medical costs so that American consumers understand what they are paying for, and reigning in junk lawsuits that are driving costs up dramatically. These are just some areas where market principles can be applied to make our health care system in America better -- without attacking the core American principles of freedom and liberty.
Today there is a bold headline in the Los Angeles Times proclaiming "In Clinton Health Plan, Coverage Is Mandatory" -- referring to the latest "HillaryCare" proposal to massively increase the federal government's role in health care. I find it disturbing that both Hillary Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger have at the core of their respective proposals the notion that carrying health care insurance is no longer the responsibility of the individual, but is the role of the government. Both want to move us in the direction of European socialism, and this should be rejected from the outset.
ping
Sold out to the public sector unions. Sad, because I really thought this is a guy who is NOT a career politician, and would stand behind his principals.
But then the nurses and others went on strike to protest, and Ah-nold terminated his efforts. Now he is just another go-along to get-along pol.
but, but, but, he was more electable than Tom McClintock
No surprise here, and I always said Arnold was the only kind of Republican (RINO) that could win in Kalifornia.
Your state has made Finestein and Boxer Senators for Life, remember? Its not like you have a viable block of conservatives living there.
No offense, but it is what it is.
Arnold lied...tax cuts died!
Unfortunately, it won't even be remembered by the CA primary on Feb. 5th. People will still vote for well delivered sweet nothings that made their panties damp.
It is spelled California, jerk.
And you are wrong. California has gone through wild political swings, most of it relating to turn out. Until 1992 California was the most reliably Republican presidential state for the preceding fifty years. In 1994 Republicans won all statewide offices but one, and captured control of the Assembly. From 1982 through 1998 California enjoyed 16 years of Republican governors. Arnold WON the Recall running as a conservative Republican. If you add up the votes cast for both Arnold and McClintock in the recall, over 60% of Californians voted for candidates running to reduce the size of government and cut taxes.
McClintock has come within a whisker of winning statewide office three times despite the fact hat the RINO establishment has done everything they can to underfund and thwart his candidacy. The problem is not conservative candidates it is liberal Republicans who undermine them. Its not like you have a viable block of conservatives living there.
What would you know? California gave the Republican nominee 5.5 million votes in the last presidential election. How many did your state kick in?
Unfortunately, the voters faced a choice between Ah-nold and I believe it was Angelides at the time.
A RINO vs. an avowed lefty. Tough call. Hopefully we all won’t have to choose between Julie Annie and The Beast Next year. God help us....
Yep. He lied--and it was quite obvious. He's been raising taxes since the day he came in office!
First it was borrowing $15 billion to pay for operational expenses. Then diverting responsibilities to counties and cities without the corresponding revenue, causing local tax increases. Then increasing fees for anything in sight. Now ArnoldCare.
Glad to see Fleishman isn't providing cover anymore.
Well, in Ohio, that state would have given Bush a majority in the General Election, unlike California. Because the effort to suppress the democratic vote was successful in Ohio. ;-)
No surprise here, and I always said Arnold was the only kind of Republican (RINO) that could win in Kalifornia.
It is spelled California, jerk.
Now, now, I note the obvious, and you call me a jerk?
Whining about Kalifornia being...well, Kalifornia. You gave us Boxer and Feinstein, you gave us governor Moonbeam, you gave us Hollywood, and you wonder why the rest of the nation shakes its collective head? And get testy about it?
Lighten up. You have a viable option. You could move. Cause it will not get any better, only worse.
Don’t shoot the messenger, ElkGroveDan. Some of us feel sorry for those of you trapped in leftcoast ‘utopia’.
And for the record, if I were there I would have rather had McClintock as well, but thats a pipe dream given the voting demographics you face in your state.
But you probably know that.
(chuckle)
If you spent one month here you’d never leave. I’ve been to Ohio.
I hope Californians try harder this time. You know, engage in phone jamming the night before elections, put up phony signs to the polling areas in known democratic strongholds, get to the executives at Diebold Corp. to get them to rig the machines, drop trees on key routes to polling places, etc. The Dems may have move.on.org Soros money, but we have CHAIN SAWS.
‘If you spent one month here you’d never leave. I’ve been to Ohio.’
Sorry, having spent far more time than one month, nope.
There is something terribly wrong about picking experimental oranges at San Luis Obispo’s college on Christmas day....(chuckle)
I was stationed in SD years ago, have been to LA and SF countless times since.
I like the four seasons, its a personal choice for me.
If you lived here, where I’m at in Ohio, you might think differently....but then again, the Ohio GOP is totally corrupt here, so we might mirror what your dealing with today in another decade.
I’ve always wondered how Diebold managed to screen out potential employees belonging to the Democratic Party....
I feel your pain Dan, but Cali or Kali is becoming the butt of many jokes, no matter how you spell it.
Take it in good cheer and change things before it turns to outright scorn.
Florida went through a 6 year nationwide castigation for NOT electing Gore but we bore the outright lies and slander because we prevailed.
Turn things around and praises will shower on you.
If not, then no.
bump
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