MUTH’S TRUTHS

State of the Conservative Union Address
Delivered before the Carson City Republican Women
by Chuck Muth

Today is February 20th, not exactly a great historical day for conservatives.

According to InfoPlease.com, on this day in 1792, President George Washington signed the Post Office Act establishing a permanent Post Office Department.

Unfortunately, he MAILED his signed copy of the Act back to Congress…and they’re STILL waiting to receive it.

More ominously, on this day in 1809, the Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state. And it’s been all downhill ever since.

With that in mind, and as the self-proclaimed “conscience” of the Republican Party, I’m here today to report to you that the state of the conservative movement in Nevada today is…depressing.

But first, let’s define the terms of this debate by first defining what “conservative” means. And I can find no better definition of conservatism than the one offered by an old friend of mine who passed away last year, former Reagan adviser Lyn Nofziger.

“To me,” Nofziger wrote, “conservative means believing in a minimum amount of government and a maximum amount of freedom - and keeping government out of people’s lives and business - and leaving people alone.”

Eloquently put. But even BETTER, Lyn once described his conservative philosophy in interview by saying: “I don’t like government, it’s just that simple.”

Today, such hostile words about government are greeted by the Left, the mainstream press and, sad to say, all too many of our fellow Republicans with howls of indignation. But the truth is, such words are reminiscent of a bygone era, when political giants founded our nation.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.”

Thomas Paine wrote, “Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

And George Washington himself didn’t exactly have warm-and-fuzzies for government, saying, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master.”

Somewhere, somehow, too many conservatives have lost sight of that view of government.

Indeed, the key question every conservative voter should ask every candidate for office in every election is: “What is the purpose of government?”

If you ask this, you’ll find WAY too many Republicans responding with something along the lines of, “To help people.”

But as Americans from Davy Crockett to Barry Goldwater to Gerald Ford have reminded us over the years, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.”

With that being said, let’s now take a look at the state of the conservative movement in Nevada.

Those who know me or have read my Internet newsletters over the years know I’m no lockstep partisan Republican. I’m a conservative first and a Republican second. And I suspect many of you in this room feel the same way.

It’s not OUR obligation to support Republican elected officials so much as it is Republican elected officials’ obligation to support conservative, limited government. When they don’t, you get election results like the ones we saw last November.

And just in case some of our Republican friends in office aren’t quite sure how they’re SUPPOSED to act in office, here’s a little guidance, compliments of Mr. Conservative himself, Barry Goldwater:

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution … or have failed their purpose … or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.

“I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ‘needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ ‘interests,’ I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty, and in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

I sometimes think that quote ought to be tattooed on every Republican elected official’s forehead.

OK, here’s a question I get asked quite often: “Why do you criticize Republicans? Why don’t you pick on Democrats?”

Frankly, although I DO pick on Democrats a lot, I EXPECT bad behavior from them. I expect BETTER out of Republicans. Which helps explain my state of perpetual disappointment.

For example, take the issue of taxes.

I expect Democrats to push for tax increases. But last week it was Republican state Sen. Dennis Nolan, Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, who proposed a ballot initiative for new taxes to fund highway construction because Gov. Gibbons has promised to veto any tax hike passed directly by the Legislature.

Memo to Senator Nolan: God did NOT put Republicans on this planet to raise taxes.

But it’s not Republicans who simply wander off the conservative reservation from time to time who set my blood to boil. It’s so often the hypocrisy of those Republicans when they do it.

Take Senator Nolan again. He sounded very pious and self-righteous in proposing his ballot initiative last week, saying “the public” should have the right to vote on his tax hike proposal.

But I don’t seem to recall Sen. Nolan leading the charge for “the public” to get to vote for the largest tax hike in Nevada’s history that he and his colleagues saddled us with in 2003. Why is it the public’s right to vote for a tax hike THIS year, but it wasn’t their right to vote for it THAT year?

The conservative position on this issue is clear. If Senator Nolan and others wish to put a tax hike on the ballot next year, they should have to go through the same process that state Sen. Bob Beers went through last year to put his spending limit initiative on the ballot…by collecting tens of thousands of voter signatures on a petition.

It shouldn’t be easier to increase taxes than it is to control spending…period.

And speaking of spending, fiscal conservatives in Nevada can’t help but be depressed over the budget Gov. Jim Gibbons rolled out a few weeks ago. And again, the element of hypocrisy makes a bad situation worse.

First, remember the campaign mantra Gov. Gibbons used against his Democrat opponent, state Sen. Dina Titus, last year: “I will save you money; she will cost you money.”

But when the governor’s budget was finally released, we found out that not only did he spend every last dime of the projected surplus without rebating any of it to the taxpayers, he increased overall spending by a whopping 18 percent.

Now here’s why this is particularly disappointing.

Four years ago, then-Congressman Jim Gibbons opposed then-Gov. Kenny Guinn’s proposed tax hike, saying the projected state deficit was because “we keep government spending at the same level we have been spending.”

Mr. Gibbons added, “You have to justify to me why we haven’t looked at programs that need to be cut.”

I think Jim Gibbons was RIGHT. But if we didn’t need the $833 million tax hike back THEN, isn’t it STILL unnecessary today? And if so, shouldn’t the governor have proposed rolling back ALL of the $833 million dollars worth of taxes raised instead of just $30 million of it?

I also think Jim Gibbons was right back then when he said the government should look at programs that need to be cut.

However, despite having FOUR YEARS to come up with such cuts of his own, he proposed NONE in his $7 BILLION budget this year.

I’m sorry, but in light of the Governor’s unambiguous statements in 2003 about spending cuts, there just isn’t ANY excuse for not coming up with significant cuts in his budget THIS year.

Which brings me to a very conservative and fiscally responsible idea I’ve urged Gov. Gibbons to embrace and implement immediately.

The governor has transition teams and blue ribbon commissions coming out the wazoo. But what we REALLY need is a Nevada version of Ronald Reagan’s “Grace Commission.” A commission charged to take a meat cleaver to the budget and give Nevadans a clear choice between higher taxes and a much cheaper, much leaner government.

And I’ll personally volunteer to chair such a commission.

Things aren’t much better on the education front for conservatives.

As you know, full-day kindergarten is all the rage for liberals this year. It appears the notion of expanding this taxpayer-funded experiment statewide, regardless of its relative merits or cost, is their “hill to die for” this legislative session.

Having half-day access to susceptible 5-year-old minds in the government’s re-education camps isn’t good enough. We’re now told that nothing short of six hours of indoctrination will do, again, no matter how much it costs.

And make no mistake, folks. It won’t end here. Once our kindergartners are held captive for a full day, next will be a push for mandatory pre-school. These people won’t be happy until they’re taking our kids right out of the delivery room!

So what’s the conservative alternative in Nevada to the failure of our government school monopoly?

Well, Gov. Gibbons has introduced a “school choice” reform program he calls “empowerment.”

However, his empowerment proposal, which DOES have some good elements, still only allows parents the choice of sending their kids to one government school or another. There’s no choice option for parents who want to send their kids to a private school, a religious school or even home-school.

This is kinda like Henry Ford telling the public they can have their new car in any color they want…as long as it’s black.

The ONLY way to improve our mediocre government-run schools is to break the education monopoly; by giving parents universal school choice and introducing true competition to the system.

Oh, and castrating the teachers union in the process wouldn’t hurt.

But is there a coordinated conservative school choice alternative on the table for this session of the Legislature? If so, it’s one of the best-kept secrets in Carson City.

Now speaking of unions…

I don’t know if you know this or not, but labor unions are NOT our friends.

And while approximately 40 percent of union members are registered Republicans, well over 90 percent of union money goes to Democrats.

Generally speaking, the only Republicans who get union support are Republicans who run unopposed…or Republicans who are even more liberal than the Democrats.

In the 2006 elections, the unions targeted and helped take out conservative state Sen. Sandra Tiffany and conservative Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs-McDonald. And they almost took out conservative state Sen. Maurice Washington.

The Republican response has been along the lines of: “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”

The unions, of course, are pushing full-day kindergarten, because that will mean new dues-paying members.

They were also behind the minimum wage hike last year, because if the minimum wage goes up, that’s all the excuse the unions need to demand that THEIR wages go up, too.

They’re also leading the opposition to any change in future government workers retirement benefits; changes which are absolutely necessary to avoid bankrupting the state in the years to come.

And where are the conservative alternatives to Big Labor’s agenda? I can’t find any, but here are five reforms we SHOULD be pushing:

1.) Before even considering any kind of tax hike to fund highway construction, the use of mandatory union-only Project Labor Agreements, which drive up the cost of construction projects, needs to be ended. This can be done by a gubernatorial executive order.

2.) In addition, the state’s “prevailing wage” laws need to be repealed so as to allow construction firms to pay true MARKET wages, not inflated union wages.

3.) All collective bargaining agreements for government employees should be posted on the Internet for the taxpaying pubic to review and scrutinize.

4.) All future collective bargaining sessions for government employees should be done in public and subjected to the state’s Open Meeting Law. The days of secret negotiations behind closed doors should end, and all such meetings should be broadcast over the Internet.

5.) And finally, once an agreement has been struck by negotiators, all collective bargaining agreements for government employees should be subject to an up-or-down vote of the taxpayers. If the union members themselves get to vote “yes” or “no” on accepting the new contract, the people who will be footing the bill should be given the same opportunity.

Have you heard of any Republicans pressing for such common-sense labor reforms? Me, neither.

And what about conservative alternatives to health care?

Did you know that Nevada Medicaid could save tens of millions of dollars a year just by making sure that private health insurance companies pay the bills THEY’RE responsible for which are currently being paid by Medicaid?

The Government Accounting Office estimates that 13 percent of Medicaid recipients nationwide have private insurance coverage which often is not being billed. All we need is to pass a bill mandating the use of available technology to make sure the proper alternative insurance company is billed instead of the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program.

This could save Nevada taxpayers as much as $140 million a year.

You can build an AWFUL lot of roads with non-union labor for that money. Let’s hope a conservative legislator jumps on this common-sense, no-cost opportunity.

Why do so many elected Republicans seem to avoid conservative, free-market ideas such as these the way vampires avoid sunlight?

Unfortunately, one of the problems is simply a lack of leadership, especially when it comes to the state Assembly and the Nevada Republican Party.

In case you missed it, Nevada Republican Party Chairman Paul Adams resigned about a month ago.

Everybody agrees that former state senator and unapologetic conservative Sue Lowden will be the new chairman. And she will be FANTASTIC for the party.

However, the next meeting of the party’s Central Committee isn’t scheduled until late April.

And instead of figuring out a way to get Sen. Lowden into place IMMEDIATELY, which is doable in so many different ways, the party’s leaders are dragging their feet and allowing the GOP to drift rudderless while Democrats make political road kill out of us.

This kind of political inaction by the party’s leaders is just short of criminal. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

And as the late-great Republican political operative Lee Atwater used to say, “When a decision needs to be made, make the damn decision and implement it immediately.”

The decision on Sue Lowden was made weeks ago. There’s just no excuse not to implement that decision until April.

If any of you have ANY influence on the members of the Nevada GOP Central Committee, you should contact them immediately and tell them you want Sue Lowden NOW.

As for the state Assembly, I could go on for days about the leadership vacuum there.

Suffice it to say that Minority Leader Garn Mabey is no Newt Gingrich. He believes Democrat Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley is someone he can “work with.”

The fact is, she’s going to chew him up and spit him out before this session is over.

Perhaps the best example of what’s wrong with the current go-along-to-get-along Assembly leadership is what happened to freshman Republican Assemblyman Ty Cobb on his first-ever vote in the Legislature.

It was a yes-or-no vote on Democrat Barbara Buckley for Speaker. Unlike his 14 Republican colleagues, Republican Ty Cobb voted “no” for the Democrat as Speaker.

Imagine that. A REPUBLICAN voting AGAINST a Democrat. How scandalous!

Now, of course you’d expect the Democrats to have a cow over this. But you wouldn’t think the Republican Minority Leader would publicly call Cobb’s principled vote “disappointing” and take the freshman to the woodshed.

But that’s exactly what Garn Mabey did.

As long as Republicans are in the minority in the Assembly, all Republicans will ever get from Democrats is legislative table scraps.

And as long as Republicans are afraid to vote against the Democrats and their legislation out of fear of being called “partisan,” they will remain in the minority.

I don’t care if Republicans LOSE legislative fights. I care when they REFUSE to fight at all.

That doesn’t mean being nasty or bitter. Republicans can be a respectful, dignified loyal opposition. You see, there’s a difference between being “civil” and being “servile.” You can be one without being the other.

The only way for Republicans to gain the majority in the Assembly is to replace the current wishy-washy leadership that cow-tows to the Democrat majority with strong, principled leadership that knows how to create issue contrasts which Republican candidates can use in their campaigns next year.

And that means in some cases it’s time for conservatives to start thinking more seriously about challenging some of our GOP incumbents in primaries, especially Republicans who represent strong Republican districts.

Our objective can’t be to simply elect MORE Republicans, but as Steve Moore of the Club for Growth used to say, to elect BETTER ones, as well.

And just one final local note on this subject.

This Carson City Assembly seat currently being held by Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell is the ONLY Republican district in the state currently held by a Democrat. As goes Carson City, so goes the Assembly.

If we can’t win this seat, we can’t win squat. Ms. Parnell’s seat has to be the #1 targeted assembly race in 2008. And it is NOT too early to begin recruiting an exceptional candidate and to start raising money for him or her.

OK, enough doom-and-gloom. Let me give you a few bright spots.

Taxes. Gov. Jim Gibbons has promised, in writing, not to raise them. And he’s sticking by his pledge. Not only that, he HAS proposed rolling back SOME of the taxes raised in 2003.

Also, for the first time in history a majority of Republicans in the state Assembly have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge promising to oppose any and all tax hikes. With the addition of Assemblyman Bob Beers last week, nine of the 15 Republicans have now signed the pledge.

But what about the remaining six Assembly Republicans?

If signing a pledge to voters not to raise taxes is good enough for the Republican president of the United States; if it’s good enough for Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons; if it’s good enough for Republican Sen. John Ensign; if it’s good enough for Republican Congressmen Jon Porter and Congressman Dean Heller; if it’s good enough for Republican state senators Bob Beers, Warren Hardy, Barbara Cegavske and Maurice Washington; then why isn’t it good enough for Assembly Republicans Heidi Gansert, Pete Goicochea, Tom Grady, Joe Hardy, Lynn Stewart and Francis Allen?

If you see any of those folks around town, you might want to ask them why they won’t promise not to raise your taxes.

Congressman Dean Heller. I have to tell you, as a conservative I was worried about Dean going to Congress. Over the years, he’s been more of a populist than a conservative, and he and I have locked horns on some issues in the past.

But Dean’s votes in his first month in office have been rock solid. In fact, on a couple of key votes, Dean has voted better than our other Republican congressman, Jon Porter.

Let’s just hope he continues to drink bottled water and avoids that tap water from the Potomac River which apparently turns solid conservatives in Washington into Jello.

State Sen. Bob Beers. In an otherwise conservative-free zone in the Legislature, my friend Bob Beers has been a breath of fresh air, if not a bull in the china shop.

Whatever else you say about Sen. Beers, you cannot say he’s afraid of controversy of the opposition.

Last year, as you’ll recall, he led the effort to pass TASC, the Tax and Spending Control initiative. While he and I disagreed on whether or not his proposed language was appropriate for a constitutional amendment - and I thought the rate of population growth plus inflation for the spending cap was too generous - you cannot deny that this was the ONLY concrete conservative idea on spending control we saw in all of last year’s political campaigns.

Sen. Beers also engineered the ONLY tax cut in the 2005 session, and has come back again this session with a proposal to cut our vehicle registration fees in half.

He’s also drawing up a bill to create a Nevada “Tax Me More Fund” for Democrats and Republicans like Senator Nolan who don’t think they’re paying enough in taxes. Folks who believe they are under-taxed will soon be able to voluntarily pay more.

Any bets on how many put their money where their mouths are?

Sen. Beers has also taken up a bill originally requested by former conservative Assemblywoman Sharron Angle which would make English the state’s official language.

And just in case that’s not controversial enough, Sen. Beers has proposed allowing properly-trained teachers to carry a concealed weapon in schools in order to protect themselves and our kids against a future Columbine, or a massacre like the one last year in that Amish school in Pennsylvania.

Whatever it is that’s running through Sen. Beers’ veins, we ought to bottle it and inject some into his colleagues in the Legislature.

Assemblyman Ty Cobb. Assemblyman Cobb not only has the strength of his convictions, as I noted earlier, but he possesses political skills and knowledge that I’ve been unable to detect in any of his colleagues. And such political skills and instincts will be required for Republicans in the Assembly to do what national Republicans did in Congress in 1994.

It’s a bit early yet to declare Assemblyman Cobb as Nevada’s Newt Gingrich, but don’t be surprised if down the road we see Democrats agonizing over whether or not to vote for him as Speaker of a Republican majority Assembly.

And finally, Eric Odom.

Eric is a young, talented, principled conservative who also is unafraid of a fight with the Left.

More importantly, he knows more about the Internet than Al Gore, the guy who invented it.

Under Eric’s direction, a new statewide conservative blogging network is under development which promises to dramatically change how politics is covered in this state.

With Eric’s bloggers on the job, the cone of silence which in the past covered the legislative building will be lifted. There won’t be any more “what happens in the Legislature, stays in the Legislature.” It’s a long overdue change, and Eric’s a leader in changing it.

So while the overall current state of the conservative movement in Nevada is pretty darned depressing today, hope springs eternal.

We…you and I…need to stand up and fight for what we believe in, EVEN if it means fighting with some in our own party.

We simply cannot afford to give up or give in. As the great conservative actor Clint Eastwood said in the movie The Outlaw Josie Wales:

“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up, then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.”

Amen. Here’s hoping every conservative in this room catches a little rabies today. Thank you.

Posted on February 20th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada