In my field of work, I keep politics outside. It is not appropriate and it is not fair for me to bring politics into the workplace.
Recently, I have had several customers talk about their disdain for the government takeover of health care and also the commercials promoting the Census. While there is certain temptation for me to get into conversation with everyone about these issues, I find this blog to be a better avenue for discussion.
I recall writing an article in 2000 about the Census, calling it “senseless.” A google news search now reveals a lot of sources calling it the same in 2010. I am often irritated by the commercials that are played in every town in the United States. They proclaim that it is important to send your form in right away to ensure that your town gets its “fair share” of funding from the federal government. Not only do they have goofy actors doing their bidding, but politicians (i.e. I have seen the Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin on television) as well.
Let’s look at the idea of “Fair Share” for a moment. The Census recognizes 25375 “places” in the United States. Places consist of towns, cities, villages, etc. If every one of these places got a “fair share” of $1000, that would be $25,375,000 in “fair share” spread around. Tell me how a country that is trillions in debt can give a fair share of that amount? Of course $1000 for a city like Manchester NH would amount to “only” a penny per person. So it’s not even realistic.
To me, it is a total outrage. The intend of the Census is not to find out how many toilets you have in your house. It’s not even to find out how many males, females, whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, etc live in your house. It was put together to count people, simply people, in an effort to appropriate US House seats. There very well may be 120,000 PEOPLE living in Manchester NH in 2010. That’s all that matters for Congressional representation.
I hope to see a continued outrage at the way the Census is being administered. I hope to see people fill out one question – how many people live in your household. That’s it. Nothing more. I also hope to see a stop to the millions being spent on “crafty” commercials trying to entice people nationwide to get their “fair share.” Remember, your fair share takes away from my fair share and my fair share takes away from your fair share. So let’s be truly fair and cut the mess out with this entire bogus concept put forth by our federal government when it comes to the senseless Census.
Cameron
For weeks it had become strongly rumored that John Stephen was going to enter the Republican primary for Governor of New Hampshire. It was exciting news to me as John is someone I have really come to respect – a lot.
Two years ago when I thought about running for the state legislature, John Stephen was one of two politically active individuals (Joe Briggs being the other) who showed a great deal of moral support towards my efforts. This is while other candidates I have supported were much more reserved in supporting my ideals and what I was doing.
John offered to put a sign in his yard during the 2008 primary and his campaign manager at the time was looking at ideas on cross promotion of campaigns had we won our respective primaries. We had several great conversations and I could sense a certain authenticity in John Stephen that I didn’t see every day in politics. Perhaps most disheartening to me at the time was not my failure to advance to the general election in 2008, but it was John Stephen’s loss to Jeb Bradley in the Congressional primary. I believed in John and was behind more as much as I have been behind any candidate for public office.
In 2009, John Stephen continued to be supportive of my efforts. Always complimentary of my efforts, it led to my ultimate excitement to support him for Governor.
Don’t get me wrong, just because John Stephen is a “nice guy” and supports what I have done does not automatically equate to an endorsement. John also has the right views on the issues for New Hampshire. He has worked in state government and knows the ins and outs of the process. He wants to return New Hampshire to the state that it once was. A state where there is no threat – ever – of a state sales or income tax. A state where spending is understood as the real problem and that we need to cut spending in order to survive. John deserves everyone’s support today. His campaign web site is up at http://www.johnstephen.com
Yes, I would agree with my friends that Jack Kimball is an outstanding messenger for smaller government. I would agree that either he or John Stephen would make an outstanding governor. However, John Stephen has proven to me personally that he is a person of integrity and is an individual of great principle.
Please join me in wholeheartedly and enthusiastically supporting John Stephen for Governor of New Hampshire in the September primary.
Thank you!
Cameron DeJong
Below is an editorial written by John H. Sununu and John Stephen. I supported John for Congress in 2008 and he has been very supportive of my efforts as well. The key here is corruption – whether it be in health care, national defense, or any other bill that comes before Washington DC or Concord NH. Downsize DC has been promoting the “Read the Bills Act”, which would require legislators to read bills before voting on them. All too often, bills are loaded with pork (corruption) that leads to increased spending. In some cases, this spending initially leads to increased borrowing. Others in politics are not afraid to simply spend more. The problem in DC is that spending when you’re account balance is in the negative trillions is detrimental to our society. In Concord, there is no money to be spent either. The scare here is that some in Concord believe this to be an opportune time to bring forth the prospect of an income and/or sales tax as the only thing that can “save” New Hampshire. It is my belief that getting spending under control and understanding the principles of liberty are key to success for all in our great state.
The editorial initially blames Democrats for the problems with this bill. While I would agree with this, we must also remember to never blindly look at Republicans when it comes to other bills that have passed in recent years.
Without further delay is a paragraph of and link to the editorial. Thank you to Mr. Sununu and Mr. Stephen for putting this one together.
John H. Sununu and John Stephen: A bad bill born from Washington corruption
THOSE FOLLOWING the recent passage of the health-care reform legislation in the U.S. Senate have been treated to a perfect example of why congressional approval ratings are rapidly approaching historical lows. The events of the past two weeks have shown that power politics and corruption continue to run this Democrat-controlled Congress.
Read more by clicking here.
Credit: UnionLeader.com – Published Sunday December 27, 2009