by Glenn Littrell
UPDATE: Having asked the question on several issues it is apparent that an answer is not forthcoming, and neither is the Tea Party. Like the 1st time voters in the 2010 election they went home after the election and expected that everything they wanted would happen, only to find that you have to stick around and monitor, encourage and demand that your expectations be met. The end result being that the loonies they elected had their own agenda: pro corporate, pro-big and interfering government at the state level and a unannounced love of social issues that were covert during the election. The end result is that the legislative bodies have done nothing on jobs or the economy outside of more tax breaks for the rich, corporations and further attacks on the working class. De-funding Planned Parenthood, NPR and destroying unions was more important than strengthening schools. All four of the bills mentioned below were passed [amended] in Indiana.
…Tea Partiers aren’t marching on the state capitol with the rest of us in opposition to bills that:
House Bill 1538: Makes local government units servants to state government mandates by barring them from setting a minimum wage higher than the state’s minimum wage? The argument for ‘states rights’ evidently doesn’t carry over to local rights. Strong centralized government control is ok at the state level but not the federal?
Senate Bill 001: …limiting local control of teacher evaluations. There is no appeal process under this bill if a teacher is fired unjustly. The [state] Superintendent of Public Instruction may revoke a teacher’s license at will. The bill also includes a provision to require that only 50 percent of the teaching staff at some schools be licensed as teachers. Big brother at the state capitol knows what’s right for schools more than the local school boards? Who can teach, who can be stripped of their license [without appeal] while allowing more teachers to teach WITHOUT a license?
House Bill 1002: The bill allows for acquisition by a non-government entity [ie., charter schools] of under-utilized buildings for $1 per year for up to 20 years. The school corporation must maintain the building. The non-government entity [ie., charter schools] have first option at any under-utilized building, meaning the corporation cannot choose to sell it if the non-government entity wants the building. The free acquisition of local government property without compensation to the tax-payer and without even assuming the cost of maintaining that property? Eminent domain in reverse?
House Bill 1003: Allow public money to be diverted to private entities [schools] to the tune of $110 million. The only difference between this and the federal bailouts is that the private entities aren’t failing financially. With Obama and GM its socialism but with Daniels and Indiana its ???????
Evidently taking their country back meant giving it to the state level republicans so they could do to state economies what the national level republicans did to the national economy. Or could it be that without their corporate sponsored umbrella groups telling them what to do their grass roots movement is lost? Or is it that since unions start all their meetings with a prayer and the pledge without demonizing others they can’t get fired up enough to care? Not enough Hitler and Nazi paraphernalia or gun toting to make them feel comfortable? Too much peaceful coexistence? Too many people?
“…Between 1998 to 2005, GAO found that about 72 percent of large foreign controlled companies and 55 percent of large U.S. controlled companies reported zero tax liability for at least one year. About 57 percent of foreign controlled large companies and 42 percent of U.S. large companies paid no taxes in two or more years, and a third of the foreign companies and one quarter of their U.S. counterparts paid no taxes for at least four of those years. Just 45 percent of large U.S. companies and 28 percent of foreign companies reported a tax liability for each of the eight years. The report defined large companies as those with at least $250 million in assets, or at least $50 million in receipts…”
Yet, Tea Partiers objection to taxes is limited to attacking wage earners? GlennDL