Raising the sales tax by 25% during a recession

Forcing liquor stores to charge sales tax on wine and booze (Mass. has private liquor stores)

Closing local RMV offices (RMV is the Mass. version of the DMV)

Trying to give unemployment benefits to illegal aliens

Framing innocent people on phony child abuse charges

Three House speakers indicted by the feds — Coakley is Mass. attorney general and looked the other way

One senator caught stuffing bribe money into her bra

Another senator in a DUI hit-and-run, later failed a breath test and blamed it on his toothpaste (he really did)

The biggest howler? Coakley told a radio interviewer in Boston that Curt Schilling was a New York Yankees fan. Yes, Curt Schilling, a Red Sox hero from their playoff victory over the Yankees in 2004.

This is what happens when you structure society on force and authority. This is why government ‘solutions’ should be avoided at all costs. This is why sellers should offer goods and services voluntarily and buyers should voluntarily accept those they find of value.

Truly private industry is the voluntary segment of the economy. Public industry (whether state owned or state subsidized and regulated) is the coercive segment of the economy.

“I think the Democrats have not been able to deliver reform because Republicans spewed so much fear of government take-over that many citizens got cold feet.”

Then writes:

“I don’t buy the line that all things Democratic are good and all things Republican are bad. I have a lot of respect for some moderate Republicans. I was talking about the health care issue in particular. I think there are some good steps in the right direction for consumers in the plan.”

Hmmm. I believe you are giving Republicans far more credit than they deserve. The Democrats couldn’t deliver on health care “reform” because they sold out to the health care industry and let the special interests take over the bill.

The standard Republican bogeyman ploy doesn’t work here. The Democrats killed reform because of their own shortcomings. They blew it all by themselves.

It’s all a game and it’s all about buying access and support. It’s a corrupt system controlled by money and the system cannot be changed as long as those with the checkbooks control that system.

Did you also go “undercover” with Common Cause to learn their strategies? Washington’s political advocacy groups, I have found, play by the same rules, which means they decry the tactics of opponents while playing the same game themselves. Most have an agenda and facts matter little if they get in the way of pursuit of that agenda. Fred Wirtheimer had an agenda when he ran Common Cause. He continues that agenda at Democracy21. As a journalist, I learned quickly that claims and “facts” from Fred needed to be double-checked.

I’m afraid that 23 years in DC left me jaded and skeptical. That’s why I have a small sticker on the back of my motorcycle helmets which reads: “I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. I’m an American. There is a difference.”