forgottenliberty.com

For several years now, people who live in states with high taxes, like New York and Massachusetts, have been voting with their feet and moving to states with lower taxes, like Texas and Florida.  The migration has been great enough that after the 2010 census, many liberal states will lose seats in Congress while many conservative states will gain seats.  National Journal Online created a map that illustrates the expected change in house seats after the census.

As you can see from the map, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois will most likely lose seats in the House after the census.  These states have all been implementing liberal tax and spend policies for years and are losing some of their  population as a result.  Of the states that will most likely gain seats, all are solidly red with the exception of Washington and Nevada.  None of the solid blue states will see a gain of house seats after the census.

This means that people are voting with their feet in favor of conservative policies.  This doesn’t surprise me, because liberal policies are not sustainable and eventually collapse.  New York and California are near bankruptcy and Michigan isn’t looking too hot either.  I don’t blame people for fleeing liberal mismanagement of state and local governments, but I’ve seen a problem in my own state of Virginia caused by people voting with their feet.

Paul Ryan was one of the few bright spots during the 7 and a half hour long “bipartisan” Health Care Summit.  I wasn’t able to watch as much as I wanted because of my work schedule, but what I did hear was more of the same.  From the Democrats, it was sob stories and ideas based on emotions.  From the Republicans, it was tort reform, buying insurance across state lines and anger at the President and Democrats for shutting them out of the process and breaking promises of transparency.

Even though the Republicans gave some great ideas, we all know that Obama isn’t going to incorporate any of them.  This health care summit was designed to make Obama and the Democrats look good and the Republicans look bad.  Unfortunately for Obama, I think it backfired on him.  Several Republicans, in addition to Paul Ryan, had some great things to say and I’ll try to post some of them as I’m able.  I also got the impression that the Republicans knew more about Obama’s plan than Obama did.  They definitely came prepared.

If you missed Congressman Ryan, you can listen to him by clicking on this link —> Paul Ryan Health Care

He lays out the reasons why conservatives are opposed to the Obama’s health care plan while at the same time advocating for free market solutions to health care.  Let me know what you think.

UPDATE

I found a YouTube video of Paul Ryan at the Health Care Summit.

Laurence Verga is a conservative running for Congress in Virginia’s 5th district and was kind enough to allow me to ask him a few questions.  He has a background in commercial real estate and has worked for several large companies including ABC/Disney, AT&T, and CBS/Viacom.  Mr. Verga is also the founder of the Verga Project at the University of Virginia Health Services, which funds research towards a cure for polycystic kidney disease.  You can find out more about him at his website, Laurence Verga for Congress, and his Facebook page.

Why have you decided to run for Congress?

I was compelled to run to fight back against the reckless policies of President Obama and the Democratic Congress that are putting at risk my childrens’ ability to pursue their dreams freely. Frankly, I am also running to reform the Republican Party from within. We need to regain the trust of the American people through principled conservative and ethical leadership.

Who is your favorite character in American politics, past or present, and why?

It would be easy to say Ronald Reagan, so I will veer to Kit Carson. Carson was an essential figure in developing the Western portion of our great nation, but is somehow forgotten in history.  He was a brave and noble man who always answered the call to service for his country.

Health care reform is a big topic in the news today. What do you think should be done to lower health care costs, and what types of reforms would you be willing to support?

The White House has released President Obama’s health care plan.  Supposedly, it’s supposed to lower costs and increase coverage.  I’ve read most of what is posted on the White House website, but I don’t see anything new.  It seems like it’s the Senate bill with a few measures from the House bill mixed in.  The opening paragraph of Obama’s plan claims that Republican suggestions have been included, but I have yet to see the 2 main pillars of the Republican take on health care — tort reform and buying insurance across state lines.  Obama’s plan consists of new government regulations, mandates on buying insurance, new taxes on “evil rich” people and tax credits for everyone else.  It can basically be summed in two points, more government intrusion into our lives and redistribution of wealth.  How will this be beneficial to our country and our health care system?   From what I’ve read, this plan does nothing to actually reduce the cost of health care, and provides government handouts to help some people pay for health care.  This would naturally increase the deficit, but will supposedly be paid for by taxes on businesses and the rich.  The following is a summary of the section of the plan that is supposed to make health care more affordable. 

Jason Mattera gave a speech at CPAC slamming President Obama and liberalism in general.  This video is a must see.  He speaks about the left’s hold on academia and the “liberalizing” of our young people on college campuses.  At first I thought he was being a little coarse in his references to liberals, but then he said he was from Brooklyn and I realized he was just being a New Yorker!  I can’t wait to see more of this guy.  Not only does he quote the late Milton Freedman, who happens to be one of my favorite conservatives, but near the end of his speech he gave this line, “Hey Jackass!  Get your government off my freedom!”  Amen Mr. Mattera!

It seems that once again, government regulation is making things worse for consumers and businesses.  A new regulation on airlines is about to kick in this April.  It involves a hefty fine if passengers are stuck inside a plane for more than 3 hours without taking off.  To avoid this fine, airlines will be canceling flights if there is any chance of a delay.  From USA today,

The government announced in December it would fine airlines $27,500 per passenger for long tarmac delays — or $2.75 million for a 100-passenger flight.

Cancellations cost far less than a huge fine, especially since seats are routinely prepaid and airlines save fuel cost.

“You’re not going to get penalized for tarmac delays if you don’t fly the flight,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor John Hansman, an aviation expert.

$27,500 per passenger is an extreme amount of money, especially when you realize that many jets hold 180 or more passengers.  Airlines are in business to make money, not pay fines to the government.  With fines this large, airlines will be forced to cancel delayed flights just to stay in business.  According to the same USA Today article, JetBlue