Dingy Harry

In his 4th 6-year term in the US Senate, he is like our previous poster boys –never had a real job in the real world. He was elected to the Nevada Assembly in 1967 at age 27 and he has been at the public trough ever since, including two terms in the U.S. House. He was chairman of the Nevada gaming commission for five years, a government job but not an elected political position. Here we have the Majority leader of the U.S. Senate making decisions that affect virtually every business and profession in the country yet he has little personal experience to guide him. Virtually every person reading this has had much more real life experience than this powerful career pol. He has not lived under the rules he makes for the rest of us.

He had a tough early life. His mother did laundry for a bordello; his father, a miner, killed himself. They didn’t have indoor plumbing in the hot desert where they lived. Maybe that is why he is so bitter and hateful in using his power.

He is a most hateful partisan who is disrespectful and doesn’t hesitate to use personal insults often calling President Bush a “liar, a “loser” or “King George.” He has insulted Clarence Thomas, Alan Greenspan and many others with whom he had disagreements. His vitriol for supporters of the war on terror was never more on display than when he told the world that “I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — that this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq.” He voted for the war but then did all he could to hinder the effort. Imagine how the troops in the field felt when they heard the Dem leader tell them they lost the war.

We try to say something positive about each poster boy and with Harry Reid, a Mormon, we found that he does evidence some moral conviction saying “abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the mother is endangered.” He has voted to ban the partial birth abortion procedure but voted for funding groups that perform abortions. Regarding same-sex marriage, Reid has stated he believes “…marriage should be between a man and a woman.” However, he voted against the Federal marriage amendment. He has opposed some gun-control measures, to his credit.
On spending he’s a major-leaguer. The National Taxpayers Union gives him an “F” rating for every year, scoring a lowly 15%. http://www.ntu.org/ Of course, he supported the massive bailouts and with Nancy Pelosi delivered Obama the $800 billion Porkulus Bill. He voted against the bill to put a one-year moratorium on earmarks, a very modest attempt to control pork spending. Never having earned much money of his own, he has no problem spending ours. He spends money that has not been earned yet putting our children in multi-trillion dollar debt.
He opposed all attempts by the Bush administration to reform Social Security and when asked why on Meet the Press, he said, “President Bush is the worst president we’ve ever had,” as if that was a valid answer. David Gregory asked if he had any regrets about his persistent criticism of Bush, Reid responded, “I am who I am.” His adamant refusal to work with the Repubs on major fiscal reforms and his support of virtually all spending bills loaded with pork provided no offset to the big-spending Repubs, either. His constant public denigration of the president was especially damaging to the country because it was during wartime. Remember the old concept of “loyal opposition?” No more.

Reid is against drilling in ANWR, for imposing stricter emission standards, for adhering to the UN’s treaty regarding global climate change opening the political class further opportunities for control threw energy regulations and restrictions. As bad as these positions bode for our freedoms, our economy and therefore, our prosperity, Reid is also protectionist in his trade policies. He opposes Nafta, other regional trade agreements, GATT, WTO and fast-track authority for moving trade agreements through congress with an up-or-down vote which deprives our exporters of new markets. He is for more tariffs like the 54 cents a gallon on Brazilian sugar-ethanol so that it doesn’t compete with our highly subsidized and inefficient corn-ethanol. He’s for increasing the national minimum wage which deprives so many young students and low-skilled workers the opportunity to get a job. It deprives them of the opportunity to get on the first rung of the ladder.

When asked if he supported term limits on congress, he answered NO. But imagine if he was term-limited after, say, 6 or even 12 years –we may have had an experienced businessman or professional whose life experience included living under the ever increasingly restrictive federal laws and mandates. And maybe even less partisan, more open-minded Senators whose goals might not be primarily for power. It is not guaranteed but term limits of governors and state offices have proved effective in encouraging good, patriotic people to offer themselves for service to their country –the way it is supposed to be, but isn’t. Professional pols are self-serving –maybe not at first, but demonstrably so over time. Tenure corrupts.

With term limits we may not have this mind-numbingly ignorant person in a position of such power. Here’s Harry himself telling how dumb he really is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mRSI8yWwg
as he explains that paying taxes in America is voluntary. He doesn’t even know about FedGov mandatory withholding taxes from paychecks in the USA! Forty years of being in the political class one loses track of how the people live. Career pols do not “serve,” they rule.