Gambling Hypocrisy

It has been fascinating to watch the various casino proposals come and go that have been tied to the funding of a stadium for the Colts. The biggest kick has been what Abdul Hakim-Shabazz refers to as 'The Unholy Alliance' of opposition to expanded gambling in Central Indiana- those who oppose gambling on moral grounds, together with those with existing gambling interests around the periphery of the state.

Rookie State Senator Brent Waltz (R-Greenwood) submitted an interesting letter to the Indy Star, opposing expanded gambling on the basis of 'social consequences'. Here's the paragraph that almost made me choke on my Diet Coke:

It has been long rumored that some in the legislature seek to legalize these machines, essentially making every liquor license holder a mini-casino. In the two counties I represent, Marion and Johnson, citizens would be confronted with up to 961 mini-casinos. They would be located near churches, schools and libraries, and access to them would be as easy as buying a lottery ticket. Such a measure would be the greatest single expansion of gambling in Indiana history.

Actually, Senator, the greatest single expansion of gambling in Indiana history was the creation of the Hoosier Lottery, the state controlled gambling monopoly. That lottery ticket you mention is precisely for convenience stores what you fear of bars- they are all mini-casinos situated near churches, schools, and libraries. Will Senator Waltz therefore be calling for the dissolution of the Hoosier Lottery? I strongly doubt it. In 2004, the Lottery transferred $200 million to the Legislature for spending.

At the same time, Waltz deserves credit for this paragraph in the same letter:

It is critical that Indiana does nothing less with its budget than what we expect every family in our state to do -- live within its financial means. The tens of thousands of families harmed by layoffs and job loss do not have the option of building a mini-casino to pay their bills. Neither should the state of Indiana.

Imagine... Indiana living within its' means! He's right about that, and about something he doesn't see. If citizens can't create legal businesses offering and controlling gambling, neither should the state. And, if he is opposed to gambling on moral grounds, fight the existing legal gambling you help manage. End the Hoosier Lottery, Senator Waltz!

A Banner Edition of The Ledger

Today's Noblesville Ledger included my letter that sums up a lot of my postings here in recent weeks and months. Simply put, the Republicans in Hamilton County are more of the Keynesian, Richard Nixon mold than of the Ronald Reagan mold. Here's the letter:

Letter to the editor: County GOP schemes show need for 3rd party

To the editor:
Hamilton County is quickly being overrun by liberal Republicans who seem bent on showing how unnecessary liberal Democrats are by concocting new schemes for expanding the size and scope of government so quickly it can barely be charted. They are showing how necessary Libertarians are. To
wit:

Republican leaders from across the county have endorsed an $800 million light-rail boondoggle that would decrease traffic on Interstate 69 by a mere 4 percent on its best day.

County and Fishers town officials are gearing up to remove a perfectly good, popular airport in a useful location in order to build one from scratch.

Noblesville is expanding City Hall, which doesn't expand unless government is growing. The city is risking chasing a prominent retailer away over so crucial an issue as the size of a sign.

Carmel has floated bonds for everything from road projects that fail to significantly expand capacity to a $55 million park and an $80 million concert hall.

Carmel and Westfield are engaged in an annexation war that offers the residents virtually nothing except the promise of municipal taxes.

State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, has taken the lead in the legislature to craft a bill for socialized football that would tax service industries in Marion County -- for now. Critics within Marion County point out that the residents of the region, including Hamilton County, enjoy the Indianapolis Colts team and therefore should share the bill. A compromise that imposes taxes on services provided in Hamilton County does not seem too far fetched, especially since Kenley is open to the idea.

It's hard to draw any conclusion other than the fiscal conservative is a constituent the GOP is no longer interested in.

One of the most common things I hear from people who believe in limited government goes like this: I didn't leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me. These people are joining the Libertarian Party.

Mike Kole
Fishers

The inclusion of the letter would have been nice enough, but there were two other gems that made it all the better.

The first is an article on the $800 million light rail boondoggle I mentioned in my letter. It includes the wonderful headline, "County not ready for rail. Traffic isn't bad enough to warrant transit line; more uproar, outcry needed." From the article:

The head of the new Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) doesn't think local traffic is bad enough to warrant building a rapid-transit line from Indianapolis to Hamilton County.

"The bottom line is we don't have the numbers of people who will utilize it," said Nathan J. Feltman, vice president and general counsel for the IEDC. "There needs to be more of an uproar, more of an outcry for it."

I couldn't have asked for better timing than this, to have the first public soft-peddling of the plan by a public official to coincide with my comments. So- who's on record in favor of the suck-hole?

Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear reminded the chamber audience that the first rapid-transit corridor will travel from Indianapolis to Hamilton County, and Noblesville, Fishers and the county own the right of way to the Nickel Plate line.

"That is just an incredible asset," he said.

The under-used rail corridor is an incredible asset. However, light rail is hardly the best use of the asset, which should always drive public policy. The best use would be a trail and greenway, which would raise property values in the area and make the area more attractive aesthetically. The light rail would do the opposite.

The next item to make me smile was a letter from the Executive Director of the local GOP, Laura Campbell. Useful excerpts, below:

As executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party for the past 31/2 years, I disagree with the allegations made by Commissioner Steve Dillinger in your March 22 article, "Dirty politics claimed."

...

Steve Dillinger has decided to publicly vent his accusations in a blatant attempt to hurt his own party. Despite Dillinger's efforts, the Hamilton County Republican Party will proceed forward more unified than before.

I don't know. Are her comments about Dillinger, a long-time elected Republican County Commissioner, really any different than his? If he chose to "publicly vent" against the actions of one Republican, didn't she do it, too? The comments remind me of those Monty Pyhton gags from the old TV series. "I'd like to complain about all of the letters of complaints run on this program...".

In a way, it's incredible that the Republicans get as much of the vote around here as they do, considering what a mess they are. It shows the average observer how predisposed the Hamilton County resident is to vote for the things they think Republicans represent. I'm banking on the public noticing how they are not fiscal conservatives. It's pretty hard to miss.

More GOP Rumblings

A cursory glance at the history of the leadership at the Federal level shows that the American public prefers two-party governance. Periods such as this, where Republicans have the Presidency and enjoy majorities in the House and Senate are very rare, and don't usually last long.

I seem to be surrounded by the scenario. I live in Indiana, which has a Republican governor and GOP majorities in the State House and Senate, and in Hamilton County, which hasn't elected a single Democrat to countywide office in two generations.

My observation has been that while many Republicans talk the limited government, personal responsibility talk, few walk the walk. This morning's scan of news and blog sites show that the trend I see is seen by many others.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame had a lenghty article run yesterday on MSNBC, called, "A Conservative Crack-Up? Reynolds observes:

There's also a lot of contradiction lately. After talking about small
government and the rule of law, Republicans overwhelmingly supported a piece of
legislation intended to influence a single case, that of Terri Schiavo.

and

One may argue that libertarians and small-government conservatives aren't a big
part of Bush's coalition, but his victory wasn't so huge that the Republicans
can surrender very many votes and still expect to win. So this is a real
threat.

Reynolds cites an article by Pejman Yousefzadeh on the alliance between libertarians and small-government conservatives. Yousefzadeh's inclusion of a quote is particularly enlightening:

It is worth noting the comments of one prominent libertarian-conservative
Republican leader on the issue of making common cause between libertarians and
conservatives:

"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."

...

The conservative Republican who said these words was Ronald
Reagan. While his comments are thirty years old, they are still applicable to
the debate we are having. We shouldn't forget them.

Alas.

Because Neal Boortz has found himself opposite the GOP talking points on the Schiavo case, he is discovering the difference between the GOP and LP can be acute, despite travelling the same path. From Neal's Nuze:

Think about this for a moment. Attending physicians conduct their examinations and make their reports. The matter moves into the courts and is adjudicated ... adjudicated extensively. Nineteen state judges, one Federal District Court judge, one Court of Appeals, and three now four trips to the U.S. Supreme Court. Still, politicians aren't happy with the results ... so now the State contemplates using its police power to seize the body of Terri Schiavo so that she can be forced to endure this horrible existence for years to come.

and

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that there are many people out there who,
when faced with medical disaster, want to be turned over to politicians to be
used as political pawns. I'm wondering if these people will be anxious to
keep Republicans in power.

Let's just hope that those disaffected supporters of limited government don't tune out altogether, but find the Libertarian Party- especially here in Indiana and in Hamilton County.

Update: Today on www.townhall.com, Cal Thomas sounds the same note in his article, The Capital Spenders.

Republicans have been in charge of the budget and appropriations process for a decade. They promised things would be different if voters gave them a majority. Newt Gingrich promised an audit to expose the wasteful spending of House Democrats during their 40-year rule.

Sadly, Republicans have been seduced by the love of other people's money and many (there are a few holdouts, but not enough to change much) have succumbed to the same temptations that enveloped big-spending Democrats. Only the "uniforms" have changed. The rules of this game remain the same.

Poker Tonight

Barley Island is hosting another 5-week shootout, starting tonight. Deal me in!

The skinny: no buy-in, play for chips and fun. Poker Prodigy runs the show and keeps score. At the end of the five weeks, scoreboard leaders advance to a broader tournament. You pretty much have to win a night in order to advance. Proof? I finished with points all four of the five weeks I played, with three final tables, good for 750 points. I didn't advance.

No matter. Good fun! See you there.

Another Disaffected Republican

I'm seeing more and more signs of this, and frankly, it's about time. The GOP periodically gets back in touch with being in favor of limited government and personal responsibility (think Goldwater, then Reagan, the Gingrich), but this is not one of those times.

Here is a letter from someone in my hometown, in today's Indy Star:

GOP has trouble framing its role

If I were a patriotic Republican these days, I would be very concerned about what is happening to my party. From the righteous deceit in the shifting justification of the Iraqi war to the self-righteous intervention into the lives of Michael and Terri Schiavo, the Republican Party seems to have trouble framing its role appropriately in our system of governance.

Lowell Bartel
Fishers

While I tend to focus on state and local issues, this is someone more focused on national issues. Different focus, same conclusions.

Enlightened European Work Schedules

I have had a good many international friends over the years, plus even more Europhiles, in addition to my 3 recent trips to Europe. I wish I had 6 Danish Kroner for every time one of these let me know how they admired the enlightened shorter work week.

Don't get me wrong- it's a great deal if you can find an employer willing to give you 40 hours wages for 35 hours worth of work. I don't expect any employer to think it's a great deal, though.

Apparently, neither does France, anymore. France has abolished the 35-hour work week. From Bloomberg:

A parliament report last year concluded that the legislation had helped create 350,000 jobs at a cost of 4.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion). The jobless rate in Europe's third-biggest economy fell to an 18-year low of 8.6 percent in mid-2001 from 11.8 percent at the start of 1998.

The 35-hour week has ``heavily weighed on wage increases,'' French Finance
Minister Thierry Breton said March 15, responding to a question from a Socialist
lawmaker in parliament. ``You wanted to share jobs, people had to share wages.''

Go figure. Cause and effect.

Get a load of those unemployment rates! 8.6% is an 18-year low? I shudder at the thought of the 18-year high, then.

Had Enough Yet, Fiscal Conservatives?

Hamilton County is quickly being overrun by liberal Republicans who seem bent on showing how unnecessary liberal Democrats are by concocting new schemes for expanding the size and scope of government so quickly it can barely be charted. They are showing how necessary Libertarians are. To wit:

• Republican leaders from across the County have endorsed an $800 million light rail boondoggle that would decrease traffic on I-69 by a mere 4% on its best day.
  
• County and Town of Fishers officials are gearing up to remove a perfectly good, popular airport in a useful location in order to build one from scratch.
  
• Noblesville is expanding City Hall, which doesn’t expand unless government is growing. The City is risking chasing a prominent retailer away over so crucial an issue as the size of a sign.
  
• The City of Carmel has floated bonds for everything from road projects that fail to significantly expand capacity to a $55 million park and an $80 million concert hall.
  
• Carmel and Westfield are engaged in an annexation war that offers the residents virtually nothing except the promise of municipal taxes.

State Senator Luke Kenley has taken the lead in the legislature to craft a bill for socialized football that would tax service industries in Marion County-for now. Critics within Marion County point out that the residents of the region, including Hamilton County, enjoy the team, and therefore should share the bill. A compromise that imposes taxes on services provided in Hamilton County does not seem too far fetched, especially since Kenley is open to the idea.
It's hard to draw any conclusion other than that the fiscal conservative is a constituent the GOP is no longer interested in.

One of the most common things I hear from people who believe in limited government goes like this: “I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me”. These people are joining the Libertarian Party.

The County Convention of the Libertarian Party of Hamilton County will be held at 11am on Saturday, April 9, 2005, at the Delaware Township Government Center, 9191 E. 131 Street, in Fishers.

Terry Schiavo and Gary Numan

What's the connection? Gary Numan wrote a great song called "The Life Machine" that was a part of an even greater album called Tubeway Army. It was released in 1978, and has been one of my all-time favorite records since I first heard it in the 1980s.

The song is somber, with the bass drum leading in sounding like a heartbeat. The lyrics sum up my own thoughts on the Schiavo case, along with my own thoughts for myself, should I ever be int he situation. In any case, I believe every adult should have a living will that specifies instructions for these kinds of situations.

The Life Machine

Me I've just died
But some machine keeps on humming
I'm just an extra piece of dead meat to keep running
Why won't you let me die in peace?
Why won't you let me die with some kind of honour?
Why won't you let me die at all?
I know
You've got your principles

My body lies immobile
I left it days ago
And me I watch from somewhere as the loved ones come and go
I see them glancing at the switch
I hear them whispering "maybe it's better that way"
I see the love turn into feelings
I know
Aren't quite the same

I see the men of learning
Pacing to and fro
But how can I expect the sane to ever know?
I'd rather die than have no mind
I know my brain is gone "damaged beyond repair"
I see an empty shell below me
I know
I've had my time

Nothing To Do With Montana

From time to time, I find myself supremely bothered by the lack of action taken by some of our sister LP state affiliates. There are so many taxes and stifling, useless regulations to attack that would bring those states such good will and earn such support that it just frustrates me when those are simply given a free pass.

The only thing worse than this inaction is the action taken on positions that will leave a majority of voters to conclude that Libertarians are kooks. Most recently, the New York party conducted giveaways of toy guns in response to an NYC buy-back program that replaced kids toy guns with other toys. The LP action was poorly received by a public concerned about youth violence. Sure, the philosophical libertarian could grumble about this public policy, but a toy buy-back hardly stands as the most egregious public policy in Manhattan, what with all of the taxes there. But, that's what New York acted on, and got press on- all of it negative.

Therefore, I would like to make clear that I have nothing to do with the Libertarian Party of Montana. There is a world of difference between Indiana and Montana, and it goes like this- the LPIN takes policy positions in support of small business owners and property rights. The LP of Montana takes pet positions despite whatever negative backlash might come.

Can you think of any reason to support drinking alcohol while driving? The Montana LP does. Curiously, Montana is one of the few states that still permits drinking while driving, so long as the driver does not get intoxicated. From the LP News:

Legislative hearings are open to the public in Montana, and Mike Fellows -- chairman of the Libertarian Party of Montana -- is one of several people who have attended hearings on the proposed bills to speak out against the proposal.

Fellows doesn't oppose the legislation because he thinks people should be allowed to drive while drunk, but because he doesn't think the new law is necessary, he told members of the House Judiciary Committee in recent testimony.

While that's a fairly reasonable position to take, the problem lies in the press. How many times does the Montana LP get quoted? If this is the only thing they have testified on this year, too many people in Montana will know the Libertarian Party for one thing- standing up for the right to drink in one's car. It doesn't matter that this is an incomplete impression of what the Party stands for. What matters is what the people perceive the Party to stand for- and this is it. What's worse is when the AP picks up the story and runs it in newspapers where the local LP hasn't laid the groundwork for readers to know more broadly what libertarians are about. They know nothing about libertarians, conclude that some are 'in favor of drinking and driving', and summarize that libertarians are kooks.

This is why it is crucially important to prioritize issues, going after the ones that a majority of people can back right away, even if the press only partially quotes or covers you. I would be concerned about the LPIN's work on Indianapolis' proposed smoking bans if we hadn't been enormously on record in opposition to new taxes, budgetary increases, new stadium funding, $800 million for a light rail boondoggle, $80 million for a concert hall, etc., first. People in Indiana know us as fiscal conservatives first, and that matters, because so many Hoosiers are fiscal conservatives, too.

When we go after the proposed smoking laws, we always make sure to include a phrase about the right of business owners to set their own policies within their own establishments regarding the use of a legal product. It signals not only a broad support for property rights, but also tells a key constituency- business owners- who is on their side, and who is not. Montana simply went out there on a principle, and that's fine, except that there is very little to gain, and quite a lot to lose where it matters- with the voters. I hope like heck this item is not picked up by the AP.