Politics – Page 7 – Aren Cambre's Blog

Why Texas’s Driver Responsibility fees are really a tax

…it’s certainly a deterrent for me to walk down one side of the street when I see twenty yards in front of me a gang of menacing-looking thugs approaching from the opposite direction. I’m most likely to cross the street and avoid the possible confrontation. … However, if I were told as I walked down that sidewalk (with no thugs in sight) that some number of years after I have walked down the sidewalk, a group of thugs might be called together (after much legal wrangling and automatic appeals, etc.) and might possible menace me for having had the audacity to walk down that sidewalk on their side of the street — I probably wouldn’t be deterred.

This argument applies to any punishment far removed from the crime, including Texas’s silly “Driver Responsibility” fees. They have no deterrent effect, and they are not paying for a service.

This is simply a way that liberals and too many Republicans hide new taxes.

North Korea about to collapse?

When you’re out of options, you do crazy stuff.

Does this explain North Korea’s missile diplomacy? They backed up implied threats against Hawaii only with mid-range missiles?

Is North Korea angering its best friend? I can’t believe China appreciates pointless destabilizing provocation of its neighbors and trading partners.

I don’t see a logical end. Sure, North Korea’s threats usually rocket past any logical end, but this is a new color of nuttyness.

Is North Korea having an internal struggle? Can freedom-loving nations capitalize on it? Has the media investigated this?

Texas GOP’s extreme social stances are a losing strategy

The Texas GOP’s extreme social stances are a losing strategy for two reasons.

1: They are paradoxically liberal. If we fully legislated the Texas GOP platform’s social stances, we would make the government the moral compass, usurping the proper role of the church and individual wisdom. (It’s as if we want to reverse the Protestant Reformation, but that’s an issue for another blog post!)

2: They turn away mainstream conservatives and moderates. This is proven by two polls:

First is a recent Gallup Poll. It finds that conservatives are the largest single voting bloc. But they are neither a majority nor “very conservative”:

Second is a Pew survey, interpreted by Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka to show that the Republican party “hemorrhaging” voters. Indeed, party affiliation is:

36% independent
35% Democrat
23% Republican

If the Republican Party was the mainstream conservative party, it would have more affiliates than Democrats.

But no: the Republican party is hemorrhaging voters because of its extreme social stances. Per the Pew survey: “[independents] more closely parallel the views of Democrats … on the most divisive core beliefs on social values, religion and national security.”

Juxtaposing these surveys, an inescapable conclusion: Extreme conservatism, especially extreme social conservatism, is a losing strategy.

Any winning strategy for Republican domination must not alienate moderates; we can’t win without them.

Today’s Gallup poll on abortion

An interesting Gallup poll on abortion was released today. Pro-life Americans surged recently. I think it’s a reaction to our recent abortion-friendly ideology shift.

I found two things more interesting.

First is how only 22% want a total abortion ban:
abortion_circumstances

This is anther example of where the Texas Republican Party platform, which also calls for a total abortion ban, is out of step with reality.

The second interesting part is the stances of women and men:
women_abortion

men_abortion

They’re hardly different: within 5 points either way.

Pro-choicers complain that men are telling women what to do with their bodies. In other words, they say men cannot regulate female-specific issues. Sorry, but the numbers show women and men have roughly equivalent positions! If you substituted male legislatures with female legislatures, you would get the same results.

9 reasons to stop Dallas’s convention center hotel

Dallas' convention center hotel Dallas’s proposed city-owned convention center hotel is 9 mistakes wrapped in one package:

Fiscally stupid. The convention center loses $3 million a year. The hotel costs half a billion dollars. That’s 166 years of convention center losses! So you say I should consider return on investment, but…
Success not assured. The convention industry’s future is uncertain. In addition to broad economic pressure, telepresence technology is rapidly maturing, and the green movement frowns upon travel.
It’s a distraction. City resources used developing and monitoring the hotel come from other city functions.
Can hurt taxpayers. Even though revenue bonds finance the hotel, they are still backed by Dallas taxpayers. If the hotel can’t pay the bonds, taxpayers will!
Can hurt credit rating. If taxpayers must pay the bonds, that effectively increases Dallas’s indebtedness, hurting credit ratings. Credit ratings affect how much Dallas can borrow. Since Dallas puts almost any improvement on the “bond credit card,” good credit ratings are critical.
If it was so assured, a private company would have done it already. We have many wealthy developers with access to vast amounts of capital. They would have already done such an assured project.
It’s socialism. The city has no business competing in a well-functioning, established private market.
Ugly as hell. Looks like those ’50s-style “office buildings of the future”:
Looks like some of those old, goofy office buildings.
Harlan Crow is not evil. Yes, Harlan Crow is financing virtually all the anti-hotel effort. But he’s done a lot of good for Dallas. And he’s right.

Please join me in voting YES on Dallas Proposition 1. Stop the hotel. It’s 9 mistakes wrapped in one package.