I'm listening to the Tom Roeser show this evening and a couple things I heard on the show tonight have me thinking...
First, the notion that all powerful teachers union thwart school choice. On Thursday at a Heartland Institute luncheon I learned that the teachers unions have never defeated a school choice proponent. In other words, no politicians has lost their job because of support for school choice... Friedman Foundation Executive Director Robert Enlow has promised to send me the details. Once I get them, I plan on sharing them.
Second, is the issue of privatization. Selling the tollway and the lottery seems to have drawn a knee jerk reaction by Republicans in Illinois. Don't get me wrong, if anyone can give a good idea a bad name, it's Gov. Blagojevich. His execution on these issues has been horrible and overseeing his proposals is a must. However, conservatives opposing the state -- THE STATE, BIG GOVERNMENT, BIG BROTHER, THE ENEMY OF FREEDOM, THE LEVIATHAN -- selling off assets should really spend some time studying the issue. I mean, who does a better job, the Post Office or Fed Ex? Which bathroom would you rather use, your own or the one at the bus station? Mario Puzo once said that he preferred gambling with the mob to playing the lottery? Why? Because at least the mob is honest enough pay up when the lose, the state doesn't.
Arguing that the tollway brings in revenue to the state, therefore it should be preserved, means more money for environmental groups who want take your private property, more money to grab your guns and yes, more money to fund Medicaid abortions. Sure, the money from these assets are "dedicated." But money is fungible. If money from the tollway wasn't being used to pay for roads, money would have to come from the general revenues to pay for those roads. That means less money to spend on things we as conservatives don't like.
I also hear in Indiana that people upset that the Austrians or New Zealanders are going to "own" their tollway. They weren't the ones in the Kelo case who seized private homes to give to rich developers. It was a local government. How many Austrian businesses have interfered with your life through taxation and regulation? Can you name any???
I thought so.
Link: TomRoeser.com.
