Rep. Loughlin Defines Republicans???

It’s the biggest bunch of baloney since an Oscar Mayer commercial. I’m referring to Rep. John Loughlin’s apology for being a Republican in Thurs. “Newport Daily News.” Sorry, no free link. It’s a “Guest View” entitled, “R.I. Republicans must Present Vision.” There’s a “Duh!” moment if ever there was one.

Rep. Loughlin represents Little Compton & some of Tiverton. He had no opposition this election so this article affords him an opportunity to elucidate on what his “vision” is. He must be feeling somewhat intimidated by the Dem. victories this Fall & the desertion of Rep. Scott recently from the Republican party. Having a Republican represent our District is as useful as teats on a bull.

Part of the R.I. Republican Party’s core principles is a “limited government.” One sure wouldn’t guess this from the Party’s expansion of government on the national scene. Or the Guv’s wanting to raise salaries and add jobs for non-certified office holders today. The guv’s reason for this comes from his spokesman, “I understand that the funds to pay for these positions and salary increases are coming from gambling revenues that would not have otherwise been provided to the state. As a result, there is no cost to the taxpayer.” Hey, buddy, it’s ALL our money!

Another core belief is that of “expanding economic opportunity by creating new wealth in society is far preferable to perpetuating a culture of dependency through government-run programs.” Translation: the rich get richer and everyone else…well, remember it’s the “ownership society.” Problems? Well, you’re on your own. What, you don’t buy the trickle-down malarkey? It worked well for Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. That part in our Constitution” to promote the general welfare” was a typographical error. All taxes are bad, don’t you know?

He then points to “the biggest threat to our prosperity today is the ever-esculating tax burden and its ringleader, the real-estate property tax.” And here I thought it was the loss of good-paying jobs. The irony is that he quotes Teddy Roosevelt twice in the article. It was Teddy who wanted to heavily tax the wealthiest and help to redistribute wealth. Taxes received from the federal and state governments have been cut so much in recent years that local communities, the bottom of the food chain, have had no other choice but to raise taxes. As I’ve said many times, while the fed’l & state legislators take bows for reducing taxes (yet giving us a plethora of un-funded mandates), it’s left up to local council people to either raise taxes or cut essential services.

Rep. Loughlin states Republicans believe in “protecting our environment.” Guess they’ve missed how the Guv keeps refusing to sign the regional pact for reduction of greenhouse gases. Or do they still not believe in global warning like the Prez?

His last quote was quite on the mark, though. “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” You’ve got a national party that has split into different factions. This has translated into a state party that has the same factions and no one able or willing to unify it. Perhaps they should all become Democrats. Or perhaps they just don’t have a viable agenda. In fact, after reading his article, I’m still not sure what the agenda is. Perhaps it’s all an oxymoron. Say one thing but do another. But make it sound good.

I have to wonder why this article was written by a two-term legislator when our District has the two longest serving Republicans (Long & Gibbs). One would think that they would be able to best articulate the “Republican vision.” Maybe they’ve forgotten it.

See more comments on this at Newport Nine. Oops, I missed the grammatical error. Thanks, Tom!