BY RUSSELL TURNER
A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHES
I am a grassroots conservative, I believe in the concepts of the conservative philosophy. The belief in limited government, minimal taxation and the right of everyone to operate their businesses in a free market society are the core of our beliefs. I am a registered Republican because the Republican platform supports the ideals of conservatism, but just because someone is registered as a Republican does not guarantee that they are indeed conservatives. There is an old saying that I have used at times which states, “Not all Republicans are conservatives, but all conservatives are Republicans”. Over the past several years we have been electing people that claim to be conservative, but in my opinion many of them are liberals who have re-registered as Republicans just to get elected; they are simply a wolf in sheep’s clothes.
When the Oklahoma legislature convened this year our governor gave her state of the union address. In the address she proposed to cut the state sales tax on groceries, but she wanted to impose taxes upon services in the state. In fact she wanted to impose those taxes on 168 different professions; those taxes would severely impact all Oklahomans. Everyone would pay more for having their hair cut, auto repaired, even paying for a loved one’s funeral expense, etc... There are several reasons why Oklahoma is facing a budget shortfall this year, but when you look at the rest of our nation most of the other states are facing similar problems. Even our federal government cannot balance their books.
In my opinion the major factor in the financial mess we are experiencing is due to our lawmakers selling their souls just to get elected. We voters in this nation need to get our collective heads out of the sand and understand that all of the slick brochures and slick marketing that influences our voting patterns is killing this nation. There are always groups with deep pockets who will give piles of campaign money to these jokers with the understanding they will have influence when certain bills come before the legislature. I can definitely understand the saying that the love of money is the root of all evil.
In a recent press release our governor was angered by the Democrat legislators who would not support the increases of the cigarette tax and the fuel tax. It seems ironic to me that a so-called conservative Republican governor is chastising the Democrat legislators who would not support a tax increase. It wasn’t that long ago that many of these so-called conservatives were on the campaign stump griping about the Democrat’s liberal tax and spend policies. Our legislators have forgotten that while cutting taxes is a good thing, it is also essential that spending and the size of government must be cut at the same time. It is also becoming very apparent that we voters need to be wary of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
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