I saw the headline "Perry making use of stimulus boost" this morning when I was reading the Chronicle, and the first thing I thought was; what happened to all that talk about the merits of secession, twisted interpretations of the tenth amendment, and opposition to the stimulus?

Perry making use of stimulus boost

Quote:Gov. Rick Perry rallied opposition to federal stimulus spending, but he now is the manager of one of the biggest pots of federal gold in Texas: crime grants to local law enforcement agencies.

And those grants have become an integral part of Perry's political machine.

I've lived in Texas off-and-on for nearly four years, have family down here, and interned at a group involved in legislative advocacy this past summer, but I still feel like sometimes I'm missing something when it comes to how this state is run...

Anybody care to enlighten me with regard to Governor Goodhair (as he is affectionately known in among some liberal bloggers)?

(09-08-2009 10:17 AM)CTRice10 Wrote:  I saw the headline "Perry making use of stimulus boost" this morning when I was reading the Chronicle, and the first thing I thought was; what happened to all that talk about the merits of secession, twisted interpretations of the tenth amendment, and opposition to the stimulus?

Perry making use of stimulus boost

Quote:Gov. Rick Perry rallied opposition to federal stimulus spending, but he now is the manager of one of the biggest pots of federal gold in Texas: crime grants to local law enforcement agencies.

And those grants have become an integral part of Perry's political machine.

I've lived in Texas off-and-on for nearly four years, have family down here, and interned at a group involved in legislative advocacy this past summer, but I still feel like sometimes I'm missing something when it comes to how this state is run...

Anybody care to enlighten me with regard to Governor Goodhair (as he is affectionately known in among some liberal bloggers)?

Of course he's a hypocrite. There is almost no politician on earth who isn't a hypocrite - especially when it comes to doling out money. To paraphrase something that has been noted before in The Quad: the only way to reduce the role of money (and hence of hypocrisy) in government is to reduce the role of goverment in distributing money. As much as many of us would like to see that happen, it never will. The collusion between the distributors and the receivers of money is just too powerful.

(09-08-2009 12:02 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(09-08-2009 10:17 AM)CTRice10 Wrote:  I saw the headline "Perry making use of stimulus boost" this morning when I was reading the Chronicle, and the first thing I thought was; what happened to all that talk about the merits of secession, twisted interpretations of the tenth amendment, and opposition to the stimulus?

Perry making use of stimulus boost

Quote:Gov. Rick Perry rallied opposition to federal stimulus spending, but he now is the manager of one of the biggest pots of federal gold in Texas: crime grants to local law enforcement agencies.

And those grants have become an integral part of Perry's political machine.

I've lived in Texas off-and-on for nearly four years, have family down here, and interned at a group involved in legislative advocacy this past summer, but I still feel like sometimes I'm missing something when it comes to how this state is run...

Anybody care to enlighten me with regard to Governor Goodhair (as he is affectionately known in among some liberal bloggers)?

Of course he's a hypocrite. There is almost no politician on earth who isn't a hypocrite - especially when it comes to doling out money. To paraphrase something that has been noted before in The Quad: the only way to reduce the role of money (and hence of hypocrisy) in government is to reduce the role of goverment in distributing money. As much as many of us would like to see that happen, it never will. The collusion between the distributors and the receivers of money is just too powerful.

But when it comes to Politicians and their "buddies" making money, Rick Perry takes the cake, as seen with his good friends involved in the TTC, Merck. Some of it is expected. Perry comes real close to violating the "pig rule."

He is absolutely a hypocrite...

However... as I recall... the major opposition to the stimulus funds was the seed monies to fund NEW programs, often in conjunction or competition with existing state programs... and the requirement that those programs be funded "forever" by the state... I'm certain that SOME of the programs seeded by the stimulus are good ideas... but that doesn't mean they ALL are

One of the reasons we can't ever cut spending is because we call people who turn down "free" money hypocrites when they accept OTHER money... Where is their incentive to EVER turn down money?? Only in politics is a decrease in the planned increase is a spending cut... which only encourages them to plan to spend more in the future based upon some rosy projection of the future revenue...

Now, I don't know enough to say if I would have opposed and accepted the same parts of the stimulus that Perry did... or that he did so for good reasons... but I'm CERTAIN that we'd all accept and reject parts of the stimulus without being hypocritical.... and SOME of them would be large sums of money

Of course he is a hypocrite, as are Pelosi, Reid, the late T. Kennedy, Obama, and dozens of others, of many political stripes. You just need to look both ways before crossing the purity street.

(09-10-2009 03:51 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Of course he is a hypocrite, as are Pelosi, Reid, the late T. Kennedy, Obama, and dozens of others, of many political stripes. You just need to look both ways before crossing the purity street.

While I don't especially like him, one thing good about Ron Paul is that he says "No" to everyone.