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Oregon State Senator Dennis Linthicum - District
28, June Newsletter 6/26/19
Oregonians
are keenly aware that there has been
trouble brewing in Salem’s marbled halls.
Metro-centric Democrats have achieved
super-majority standing in both Legislative
Chambers. While in the minority, Republicans,
like myself, have
sound fiscal
and legitimate policy perspectives, and
like all minorities, we deserve to be heard. But
that has not been the case this legislative
session when my colleagues and
I have been run
over and bullied time and time again!
Our ideas are
ignored, and our voices remain muted.
The
game has been
rigged, especially for important bills
like
HB 2020,
the carbon tax bill. The Democrats claim this is
an emergency,
and everyone needs to pitch their money into the
pot. Yet, the committee hearings were
slanted
towards the proponent’s perspective. “Invited
testimony only”–sessions were scheduled and
packed with “expert
panels” whose goals were
to enlighten
the masses and give credence to only
one-side of the discussion.
Even the typical
“public-hearing”
got the squeeze
and this happens across all committees. For
example, during testimony for a bill dealing
with water rights (SB
977-1),
farmers and
ranchers, some of whom traveled 5 hours to
testify, were given 60 seconds to
explain their position. The pretense is that the
only solution that can save us, our resources
and our planet is the government’s solution. Of
course, this
necessarily means giving the government control
over us, our resources and our planet.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The time to
guard against corruption and tyranny, is before
they shall have gotten hold of us.”
Therefore, the
perfect response, is to
deny
the Democrat super-majority a
quorum
for advancing
their one-sided efforts. As the
Republican Whip for the minority party, I think
denying quorum is an
effective
tactic and a
perfectly
appropriate decision for Republicans.
Our action has elicited claims that, “Republicans
aren’t doing their jobs and
should return
to work.” Think about it, would the
presence of a couple of Republican “NO” votes
make HB2020
less onerous or costly? Would those
Republican “NO” votes cause the
well-connected
cronies to lose their exemptions or
their windfall
profits?
No, the
game has been rigged and the turmoil
and angst that the Democrats are displaying is
due to Republican Senators
successfully
derailing their
runaway
government-growth train. Continued
support for ramming HB 2020 down the line comes
from those scurrying for the
largess
they’ve been promised. After all, $550 million
during the first year can buy a freight load of
support,
flattery and sycophancy.
On a more fundamental note, what makes any
person believe that the law would
become more
legitimate if an
extra 11
Senators were
forced
to sit in the Chamber wearing their
prison garb?
The Democrat super-majority is advocating
for the
round-up and capture of elected
representatives by the Oregon State Police.
Additionally, they are proposing to fine each of
us $500 per
day. Then, to
drive the knife
deeper into the wound, the Senate
President scheduled floor sessions for Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, which allowed the
super-majority to levy an extra three days of
fines. The
sheer level of avarice is stupefying.
NEW TAXES, FEES AND BURDENS
To illustrate, let’s roll through the
new taxes, fees
and burdens placed on businesses and
people. The Democrat super-majority initiated
state-wide rent
control, which
dampens
the supply of affordable housing and
chases
away real estate investors. This is quite ironic
because their goal is to increase
affordable
housing within Oregon.
Then, they
banned plastic straws, followed by a
state-wide ban
on single-use
plastic bags
like those used at the grocery store. Remember,
there was a time when paper bags were outlawed.
Back then, the chant was, “Save
the Planet,
ban
paper
bags.” Today, we hear the same chant,
“Save the
Planet, ban plastic bags.” Which will
it be, paper or plastic? Why is it so
distasteful,
to the super-majority, to allow the consumer to
choose?
Additionally, the progressives passed a
gigantic tax
and spend initiative, which instituted a Gross
Sales Tax without a single Republican
vote. House Bill 3427 was
disguised
as an education funding bill, but without a
constitutional amendment, the funds can be spent
anywhere. Officially called a
Corporate
Activities Tax, the effect of this
Gross Sales
gimmick will be felt across all
business and trickle down to the paying
customer.
Not content with just
tearing up real
estate opportunities and “funding”
education, the progressive Democrats pretend
they can curb
rising health care costs by raising
$380 million in taxes from hospitals and health
insurers. The idea that inflicting $380 million
in additional taxes will lower the cost of
healthcare is
patently absurd.
The cache of taxes raised by the Democrat
super-majority in this legislative session will
extract $750
per man, woman and child, or
$3000 for a
family of four, per year.
When will it end?
Now!
SOCIALISM ALWAYS FAILS
First, it is time the Democrat
super-majority returned freedom back to the
people of Oregon. Second, the
authoritarians
ought to take a page from the Original
Star Wars trilogy and realize that the
more they tighten their grip, the more
people will slip through their fingers.
As F. A.
Hayek argued, socialism has always
failed due to
internal errors in its assessment of
factual
evidence, logical assumptions and historical
understanding. We have observed its
gross failures many times during this past
century. These
failures have occurred across many nations,
cultures and ethnicities and all point
to the errors in the starting assumptions. Hayek
notes this is the “fatal
conceit” of the political class –
the idea that
rule-makers are able to shape the world
around themselves, according to their
legislative
wishes and desires.
The legislative mandates inside of HB 2020,
the gas and emissions tax, are nothing but a
blunt force,
trauma inducing tool to force tax-payers into
compliance while extracting their
hard-won earnings into the pockets of the
well-connected. This legislation is not about
“climate change.”
It is about
money. Oregon has one of the lowest
carbon emissions rates in America. This is just
another way to
grab billions of dollars out of the
pockets of Oregonians.
At
America’s
founding,
John Dickinson
writes about Spain,
where money, for a single emergency, was needed.
“The request was violently opposed by the
best and wisest
men in the assembly.”
But they caved
and, “this single concession was a PRECEDENT for
other concessions of the like kind…
until the
people ceased to be free.” (emphasis
in the original)
Unlike those in Dickinson’s account,
I will never
cave.
Thank you,
for supporting the “Oregon
11,” as we stand for
Liberty,
freedom, sound policy, and fiscal responsibility!
Remember, if we don't stand for rural-Oregon
values and common sense - No one will!
Rally at the Capital -
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate 28
Capitol Phone:
503-986-1728
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-305, Salem,
Oregon 97301
Email:
sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov
Website:
http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/linthicum |
