President Obama's Inaugural Address

I listened to the President's Second Inaugural Address live and then watched and listened with colleagues at a get-together to celebrate our success in the 2012 campaign.  If there ever was a 20 minute speech worth multiple listens this is it: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/inaugural-address/

For an analysis of where the majority of voters stand on some of the areas the President highlighted during the address - climate change, marriage equality, voting rights, immigration and gun violence, you can take a look at this blog post: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/what-does-public-support-in-obamas-second-inaugural-speech/

One thing I took away from the President's address is that "we, the people" need to get to work to make  our law-makers responsive to us, and to do what we can to ensure that everyone in America can realize the promise of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Ignore the "US government is spending too much" hype

Involved voters have reason to ignore Senator Mich McConnell, Alan Simpson and Ersine Bowles when they say the real problem is spending.

Check out these recent blog posts in which Kevin Drum at Mother Jones and Samuel Knight at the Washington Monthly's Political Animal expose them for the ideologues they are.

Drum provides the data and states:

The facts are pretty clear. Spending isn't our big problem. The recession spike of 2008 aside, it's about the same as it was 30 years ago. But instead of paying for that spending, we've repeatedly cut taxes, which are now at their lowest level in half a century. Tax revenue will go up as the economy improves, but even five years from now it will still be lower than it was when Reagan took office. 

So what's our real problem? That's simple: America is getting older and healthcare costs are rising. That means we'll need to spend more money in the future on Social Security and Medicare. There's simply no way around that unless we're willing to immiserate our elderly, and that's not going to happen.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/01/we-dont-have-spending-problem-we-have-aging-problem

According to Knight:

Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles - co-founders of the corporate lobby Campaign to Fix the Debt ... argue that the national debt is a reason to gut the welfare state. ... 

But they and their disciples couldn’t be more wrong. The U.S. government has no “spending problem” from a macroeconomist’s point of view. Of course, the country can’t indefinitely continue to borrow more than it earns, but the idea that we must somehow tackle debt by cutting spending — and do it right now — is voodoo economics of the highest order.

For spending to be an immediate problem, it would have to be problematic.
...
Yet interest rates are rock bottom and aren’t expected to rise anytime soon, and demand for U.S. Treasury bonds remains high.

Thus, government spending appears to be having no averse effect on financial markets, which, according to Treasury yields, actually seem to think that lending the U.S. government money is a wise idea. The debt “crisis” is only caused by a “spending problem” when one considers government spending to be an issue from an ideological standpoint.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_01/simpson_and_bowles_spending_pr042221.php

Tell your friends and family how bogus the "spending problem/debt crisis" talk is.  Contact your US Senator and Representative.   Tell them that increasing revenue (especially through taxes on the super-rich) needs to continue to be on the table.  And back up the President when he goes to bat for the middle class and those who are in danger of falling out of it.

Eternal Vigilance

Here in Michigan there is a lame duck legislative session during which Republicans will try to push their Tea Party-style agenda while the five incumbents defeated by Democrats are still around.

Despite clear messages to the contrary from the majority of Michigan voters, the Republicans will go ahead with plans for legislation:

• Undermining workers' rights
• Instituting voucher-style "reform" of public schools
• Cutting taxes even further for corporate special interests

I guess they're hoping we're all busy preparing for the holidays and won't notice what they're up to.  But, being an Involved Voter means being committed to eternal vigilance.  So, let your State Representative and Senator know you're watching and will remember what they do when the next election comes around.

Republicans at the national level haven't gotten the messages of the November 6 election yet either.  They're still resisting tax rate increases on the wealthy - protecting them at the expense of everyone else and claiming they are all "job creators."  A recent opinion piece by self-made billionaire, Warren Buffett, pokes holes in their arguments and makes the case for a fairer tax structure.  See the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/opinion/buffett-a-minimum-tax-for-the-wealthy.html?ref=opinion and then tell your Representative what you want him or her to do.

Campaigning for a Balanced Solution to the "Fiscal Cliff" Problem Begins Now

OK Involved Voters, we've had our day of rest.  Time to lobby the House of Representatives with its Republican majority for a balanced solution to the "fiscal cliff" problem.

Here's what I sent to my Michigan 7th District Representative via his web site:

Dear Representative Walberg:  I am hopeful that the message you are taking away from the results of Tuesday's election is that the majority of Americans want Congress to work with the President to avoid the "fiscal cliff".  So, please, tear up your Grover Norquist "no taxes ever" pledge and see that the richest among us are finally asked to pay their fair share of taxes.  Favoring millionaires at the expense of education, R&D, rebuilding infrastructure, and public safety makes NO sense.  Please read and believe the report of the Congressional Research Service which shows that continuing tax breaks for the rich is NOT a path to creating jobs in the US.

Please add your voice to the call for fact-based compromise.  Call, email or write - today - before spin takes it toll and delusion sets in again in the Republican House.

Voting IS The Best Revenge...

...revenge for having to endure the flood of lies and misinformation from Republican slime-machines like Crossroads GPS.  According to the Sunlight Foundation, 81% of the "dark money" polluting the 2012 election, is being used by groups supporting Republicans.

So, get your revenge for those TV and radio ads, robo-calls and mailers by voting!  Michigan voters can check their registration status, find their polling places and see a sample ballot at the Michigan Secretary of State's web site.

"No" to Romney on Military Spending

Why I say "no" to Romney's plan to spend an additional $2 trillion on the military in the next decade:

I'll let this quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower, Army General and President of the United States from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961 state the case. (Some of us are old enough to remember Ike.)

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

-  From DDE's Address "The Chance for Peace" Delivered Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, 4/16/53

To many Involved Voters this "ancient wisdom" provides yet another reason to re-elect President Obama and VP Biden.

52nd Michigan House Seat - Driskell vs. Ouimet - Analysis

This Involved Voter is tired of the claims made in robo-calls and on mailers with unflattering photos.  So, I'm sharing some analysis I recently found via the e-newsletter Bridge: News & Analysis from The Center for Michigan.  (Exact quotes are shown indented; emphasis added.)

In my opinion, the Republican Party is trying to distract us from Mark Ouimet's voting record with these robo-calls and mailers.  And with good reason - his record is out of sync with the wishes of his constituents and right in line with those in control in Lansing.

Republican freshman Rep. Mark Ouimet of Scio Township in Washtenaw County is seeking re-election in the 52nd House District, where he is opposed by Democrat Gretchen Driskell, who is mayor of the city of Saline (and has been for 14 years).

From Republican Party mailers (and robo-calls of unknown origin):

Questionable statement: “While serving as mayor of Saline, Gretchen Driskell voted to increase her salary eight times.” 

According to City Clerk Dianne Hill, the mayor’s salary has increased five times since Driskell took office in 1999. Driskell said the votes were always unanimous and that she also voted against raises several times. The pay rates are set by a local officers compensation commission, and the council, including the mayor, can either accept it or reject it. Three of the five raises were $100. Driskell’s salary as mayor grew from $3,200 in 1998 to $4,000 in 2009, and she hasn’t had a raise since.

Questionable statement: “She received over $35,000 in taxpayer-funded travel reimbursements for her junkets across America.”
The mailer cites “City of Saline Expense Vouchers and Credit Card statements.”
The Driskell campaign did not dispute the figure when contacted by Truth Squad.
Driskell acknowledges traveling to conferences of the Michigan Municipal League and the National League of Cities, where she has had leadership roles. She is a former vice president and board member of the MML and is vice chair of the Advisory Council for the League of Cities. Last year, the City Council approved her trip to Phoenix for a League of Cities conference, despite objections raised by a city resident. Driskell said that she paid her own expenses in travels to Germany and Wales to establish sister cities with Saline.

Questionable statement: “According to a Saline City Council member, Gretchen took questionable votes related to her employer, including permit fee waivers.”

While serving as mayor in the early 2000s, Driskell also worked part-time as a leasing coordinator for the Phoenix Corp., which owns business rental property in Saline and does other business with the city. According to the Ann Arbor News, she abstained on several votes involving Phoenix, but she did vote for a building permit fee waiver. Councilwoman Mary Hess raised questions about whether it was a conflict of interest.

A city attorney’s report found that Driskell had not taken inappropriate action. “I have been unable to find any Council action on any matter which might be directly, or even indirectly, related to your employment relationship with Phoenix where you failed to abstain from voting,” the attorney’s memo reportedly said. Hess was unsatisfied with the report, saying it lacked objectivity,” according to the newspaper.

From Michigan Democratic Party mailers:

Questionable statement: “An independent audit showed Ouimet took nearly $15,000 in reimbursements he wasn’t eligible for as county commissioner, and as state representative, he’s billed taxpayers more than $17,000 in expenses.”

Ouimet served as a Washtenaw County commissioner before he was elected to the state House in 2010. During his campaign, Democrats accused him of bilking the public by inappropriately claiming reimbursement for a variety of activities.

Under county rules, commissioners were eligible for $25 per diems for attending meetings of the Board of Commissioners and its committees, as well as other authorized county-related and where boards and committees on which commissioners serve. After the allegations were made, the Ann Arbor News review(ed) the records and found that Ouimet had claimed reimbursements of a wide range of other meetings and events, including an interview with the Ann Arbor News editorial board, meetings with the County administrator, and attendance at an annual memorial service for fallen police officers.

An audit followed and found that Ouimet had received inappropriate reimbursements totaling $14,386. Nine other commissioners were found to have received inappropriate reimbursements of much smaller amounts. He then paid the money back to the county.

It is true that Ouimet has received more than $17,000 for expenses since becoming a state representative in 2011. Legislators receive a $71,685 salary and $10,800 for expenses — those are set by the State Officers Compensation Commission. All legislators receive the payment for expenses as part of their compensation package. The “more than $17,000″ is the total of all of 2011 and part of 2012. They are also entitled to mileage for a round trip to the Capitol each week and mileage for legislative-related travel in the district. 

I'll leave it to you to decide which are the more blatant distortions of the candidates' records when it comes to how taxpayers' money was spent.

I'm convinced that Gretchen Driskell is the candidate who will best serve our interests as 52nd District Representative.  She has my vote.