Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Election 2010: Things to Consider

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Much has happened in the two years since the last Congressional election. In the lead-up to the 2008 polls, outgoing President George W. Bush (R) was just kicking-off an unprecedented ‘investment’ of billions of your tax dollars to bail out Wall St. executives and failed banking and automotive firms. Voter anger quickly rose to a crescendo, and the people rightly rebuked the Republican party for its mad, wasteful spending and record-breaking federal deficits. President Barack Obama (D) roared into power with strong Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It was, we were promised, the dawn of a new era in Washington.

Well, it turns out that the new era looked a lot like the last one. The new administration promptly quadrupled Bush’s deficit record, increased the mad bailout spending, embarked on a misguided health care ‘reform’ bid, and alienated much of the angry electorate that rocketed them into power. This is the background against which we must consider our votes on November 2. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are in contention this year, as are 37 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, 37 of 50 state governorships, and many other state and local offices. We have an opportunity to either lend our endorsement to the policies of the last two years, or demand a new course.

At the risk of sounding overly melodramatic, this is possibly the most important election you will ever vote in. The economic policies initiated by Bush and accelerated by Obama will, if pursued much longer, catastrophically collapse the American economy and quite possibly take our system of government down with it. Never in the history of the world has a government successfully spent its way out of a recession and, on the contrary, excessive deficits and ‘injections’ of money into a faltering economy invariably serve to prolong and deepen recessions. The longer it goes on, the greater the risk of massive inflation, hyperinflation, and collapse. Governments that follow this path rarely survive intact.

Read more . . .

U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia’s 10th District, 2010

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In the race to represent Virginia’s 10th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Representative Frank Wolf (R) faces off against challengers Jeff Barnett (D) and William Redpath (L). The 10th District encompasses Clarke County, Frederick County, Loudoun County, Warren County, Manassas, Winchester, and parts of Frederick, Fairfax, and Prince William counties. Wolf has represented the district since 1980 and is seeking his sixteenth two-year term.

In 2008, I heartily endorsed the reelection of Representative Wolf when I posted the Off on a Tangent endorsements. Then, when President George W. Bush (R) embarked on a mad binge of socialist bailouts and bank takeovers, I was forced to rescind most of my endorsements—including Wolf’s—for reconsideration because most of my endorsees had voted in the face of vehement, consistent, and vocal public opposition for the ill-advised and ineffective TARP bailout. I ended up endorsing Wolf anyway, reluctantly, with some new caveats. Most importantly, I said that “Wolf must oppose any further moves toward socialist interventionism by our government and must defend the free market economy.”

This caveat has become even more important in the last two years, as President Barack Obama (D) and his strong Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate have expanded and accelerated the mad and misguided federal spending that started under Bush. In 2009, the first annual federal deficit under Obama was nearly four-times bigger than Bush’s record-setting 2008 deficit, and the Democratic Party—roaring into power on promises of fiscal responsibility—shows no sign of stopping the madness.

Read more . . .

Virginia Statewide Ballot Issues, 2010

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Citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia will be voting on three state constitutional amendments in this year’s general election. These amendments would each add, remove, or change text in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Question #1: Property Tax Exemptions for the Elderly and Disabled

Currently, the Virginia Constitution (Article X, Section 6, Part B) allows the General Assembly to give localities authority to grant partial or complete property tax exemptions for the elderly and disabled. The exemptions can apply to persons 65 years old or older and to anybody suffering from permanent, total disability, provided the General Assembly has deemed that they bear an “extraordinary tax burden . . . in relation to their income and financial worth.”

The constitutional amendment (PDF link) being presented to the voters as question #1 would modify this provision in two ways. First, it would remove the requirement that the tax exemptions only be granted to people suffering an “extraordinary tax burden.” Second, it would devolve authority from the General Assembly to the localities themselves to set income and financial worth requirements for granting the tax relief.

Read more . . .

Loudoun County Bond Referendum, 2010

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Note: Since the last general election I have moved from Fairfax County, Virginia, to Loudoun County, Virginia.

Virginia county governments are required to put bond issuance to a voter referendum in order to borrow money on behalf of the county. Bond issuance is usually used by governments to raise money for large capital expenditures, and those bonds are repaid to their purchasers at a later date with interest. Bond referendums in Virginia almost always pass by a large margin, in large part because people think they are voting in favor of the agencies that will benefit (after all, who wants to vote ‘against’ schools, parks, or transportation?). Many voters do not realize that bond issuance contributes to government debt and should be used sparingly.

School Bonds

Citizens of Loudoun County will be asked through a bond referendum to authorize the Board of Supervisors to borrow up to $26.8 million to finance, in whole or in part, the building of a new elementary school near Leesburg, Virginia.

Read more . . .

Four Random Photos

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And now for four more random photos! First, a truly high-tech security system at a CVS that apparently requires passing customers to call 911 when a bell is ringing. Second, our two cats secretly liking each other. Third, our youngest cat Vincent cuddling with an octopus toy. Finally, some stacked containers at a WalMart helpfully labeled, “DO NOT STACK.”

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.