Archive for July 13th, 2006
The good news is that Tokasz won’t seek reelection, opening the door for some change that is desperately needed in the State Assembly. The bad news is that due to the timing, the public will have no choice in picking a democratic contender for the 143rd district. Today’s deadline for ballot petitions effectively precludes the voters from having any say on who is the party’s nominee. The politicians responsible for the tax and spend climate in NYS will pick a candidate to run in the fall. This is just another example of a lack of real choice in our current dysfunctional political system in New York State. Welcom to New York.
Edited to include this note - Jim Ostrowski has the same reaction.
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Today the Buffalo News enlightened us with an article on Brian Higgins’ propensity (gasp!) to side with Bush and the Republicans more than any other DEMOCRAT in New York State. Stupid statistics were thrown around, like the fact that Higgins sided with Bush 29% of the time, while Louise Slaughter only sided with Bush 14% of the time. The article goes on to describe Higgins as a DINO (democrat in name only). This article by the News was a total waste of time to write and even worse to read. It is the overly simplistic view that one must be either a Democrat or a Republican that results in the dysfunctional system of government we have now.
I am a registered democrat. I have voted many times for people of different political parties. What they stand for, and how they plan to accomplish things, is far more important. One of my favorite politicians is Representative Ron Paul, a congressman and republican from Texas. One of my least favorite politicians is President George W. Bush, a republican from Texas. That shows how ridiculous it is to categorize all politicians by the home state and political affiliation. The only people served, for the most part, by our 2 party system are the politicians themselves (and the politically connected) who spend most of their time cooking up schemes to consolidate power and take our money. Unfortunately, there are not enough Ron Pauls in this world.
Let’s go back to Higgins and see what the Buffalo News had to say. He supports the unconstitutional war in Iraq, favors a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, voted to interfere with the wishes of Terri Shiavo and her husband, and he wants a big fence in between us and Mexico. From those positions I conclude that Brian Higgins is an interventionist who doesn’t respect natural rights (freedom and liberty). Those were the positions that were deemed not to toe the line of the Democratic Party.
Now for the “victory” that has given Higgins the most accolades. I am talking about the Power Authority Deal. Higgins is praised to high heaven for getting money back from the Power Authority, to be used for the betterment of Buffalo and WNY. Personally I think the whole thing was a sham! Let’s analyze what really happened. Higgins extorted our money, which was fleeced from us to begin with, from the Power Authority. BUT, he didn’t give us back our money, which would have been the right thing to do. Instead, he shifted it to another layer of government to spend as they see fit. There is no reason the Power Authority should be controlling hundreds of millions of dollars of our money every year. There is no reason the NFTA should have title to OUR waterfront property. Get rid of those two injustices and the need for Higgins to redistribute our money to another unit of government would not exist. Higgins is praised because he played the shell game the best.
The voters need to stand up and vote this crazy, ever-expanding drain of wealth into oblivion. We would have had a nicely developed waterfront many years ago if the government and its agencies had not been involved. People need to realize that every time a government program is put into place we are losing money. Government programs add unnecessary overhead to any and all projects. The overhead is used to provide an above average wage for government workers and used to create the appearance of benevolence that is nothing more than a scam to buy votes. The purpose? RE-ELECTION!!!!
