When Nice is Wrong
IDAHO FREEDOM FOUNDATION CRITICIZED
It appears the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is doing a fine job since they are stirring the ire of the neoconservatives and progressives who believe more government is the answer to all our problems and ‘don’t get it.’ It is pathetic to see bloggers criticizing the IFF for rating the voting records in their Idaho Freedom Index of individuals whom the bloggers feel compelled to defend because they are such ‘nice people’ and care so much about this and that…
People in elected offices are put there to represent a constituency and uphold our Constitution which they solemnly take an oath to defend. They are put there to exercise correct judgement and being put there just because they are nice is pure nonsense. Being a great pair of grandparents, and whatever else they might be that’s good, is fine. However, we should only care about the exercise of good judgment in keeping with the oaths they take to our state and national constitutions when it comes to voting.
Social issues, the children, the environment and such have their place in our hearts but the business of government spelled out in our Constitution should be a limited affair and these tertiary issues are for local governments and the private sector. However, the Alinskyites have, like the Maoists and Stalinists, so successfully and constantly kept these ‘concernments’ in the forefront of legislatures’ agendas because it all further breaks us down financially and by distracting our focus on the serious business at hand which the government is really meant to cope with.
We shouldn’t give a whit to how nice a person is when it comes to their job performance. Nice is nice. But how elected officials make judgments and truly vote is what matters.
The Freedom Index states that it focuses on policy, so they don’t rate appropriations bills.
IFF’s Freedom Index’s disclaimer: “The Idaho Freedom Index is an aggregation of the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s non-partisan analysis and rating of bills voted on by the Idaho Legislature during each legislative session. The Idaho Freedom Index is not intended to serve as either an express or an implied endorsement or rejection of any candidate for public office. Idaho Freedom Foundation recognizes that there are inherent limitations in judging the qualifications of any legislator on the basis of a selected number of votes, and legislative activities such as performance on committees and constituent services are not reflected in the scores of the Idaho Freedom Index.”
‘REAL NICE’ IS VOTING CORRECTLY WITH OUR CONSTITUTIONS
We would love nice people who vote correctly. But we have far too many nice people who vote incorrectly with our Constitutions! We probably need some grumps in elected office who are madder than hell at how these nice people are taking us away to awaken them or run them off. We need serious people who will deal with the seriousness of their intended calling with our Constitution. In this serious, businesslike environment all that counts is voting on issues soundly with our state and federal constitutions. It is obvious that either most elected officials today don’t really know these two constitutions or they don’t take their constitutional oaths seriously. The way our system has evolved, unfortunately, they are probably too busy campaign fund raising, which is not an excuse for a poor voting record. They need to prioritize, vote correctly and re-election will take care of itself. Then all is truly nice.
The Freedom Index is published by IdahoFreedomIndex.com
For the U.S. Congress see “The Freedom Index at JBS.org: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution” which rates congressmen based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements. In this second 6 month session of the 114th Congress just completed on January 25th, here is how abysmally our congressmen and senators in Washington, D.C. voted with the Constitution: U.S. House 44% and U.S. Senate 47%. So there you see now why we are where we are.
“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.” – Thomas Paine