Tom Brennan writes about how spoiled we are here in Alaska. Read the article here. The article makes a lot of points (too many for one article). Some of them are good points; some of the points i simply disagree with; and one of the points is just plain foolish: He seems to think we should have kept the income tax.
I may look like it, but I'm not stupid. I'm only pressing this point because I think Mr. Brennan needs to have a better explanation for this belief. I would have a tough time arguing that it's a Conservative belief. I realize there are a bunch of quasi Marxist Liberals around blathering away about the state getting its "fair share." But let's not sell out our principles to debate them on this point.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Governor Rolls Out ACES
Today the Palin administration rolled out ACES, the reform to PPT. You can visit the website here. ACES stands for Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share.
What makes the debate over the tax interesting is the nature of everyone in it, and what they are pushing. There seem to be two kinds of Conservatives and one kind of Liberal (There are Liberals who are inconsistent, but we'll leave that alone for now).
The first kind of Conservative takes the same kind of position that Conservatives would take at the national level. Lower taxes and less government are the better way to go. We here at ASP tend to advocate the free market, but we also think this first kind of Conservative is wrong to use free market justifications to justify a lower PPT tax.
The second kind of Conservative operates from the principle that the resources are owned by the people of Alaska (as it says in the Alaska Constitution), and that it is the duty of elected officials to manage, sell or develop those resources for the best possible profit for the citizens here. The oil, mines and even the large stash of natural gas that the producers have stored up north: it all belongs to the citizens of Alaska. While this kind of Conservative would revolt if the federal government tried set up something similar, he's okay with this situation at the state level. Inconsistent?
I argue no. There is a qualitative difference between the state and federal government. A federal government is a kind of utilitarian construct. The state governements in most cases are bodies where the people have a genuine connection with each other that is more than utilitarian. Because of this qualitative difference, there are things we can do at the state level that we would never do at the federal level.
The Liberal who seeks to raise the PPT tax, does so for Marxian reasons, and would push for a higher tax even if the resources were not owned by the people of Alaska. What the Modern Liberal argues for at the state and federal level is the same, because ideology is not nuanced by context. Blinded by its forward march to whatever utopia it sees, it cannot discriminate between community (state) and construct (federal), and will gladly walk over any tradition, moral, principle or person who stands in the way. And that is what makes it inferior to the other two.
Both kinds of Conservatives need to keep the locus of debate between them and not allow this to become a conversation between Liberals and Conservatives. Ideology has little if anything constructive to contribute to the conversation.
What makes the debate over the tax interesting is the nature of everyone in it, and what they are pushing. There seem to be two kinds of Conservatives and one kind of Liberal (There are Liberals who are inconsistent, but we'll leave that alone for now).
The first kind of Conservative takes the same kind of position that Conservatives would take at the national level. Lower taxes and less government are the better way to go. We here at ASP tend to advocate the free market, but we also think this first kind of Conservative is wrong to use free market justifications to justify a lower PPT tax.
The second kind of Conservative operates from the principle that the resources are owned by the people of Alaska (as it says in the Alaska Constitution), and that it is the duty of elected officials to manage, sell or develop those resources for the best possible profit for the citizens here. The oil, mines and even the large stash of natural gas that the producers have stored up north: it all belongs to the citizens of Alaska. While this kind of Conservative would revolt if the federal government tried set up something similar, he's okay with this situation at the state level. Inconsistent?
I argue no. There is a qualitative difference between the state and federal government. A federal government is a kind of utilitarian construct. The state governements in most cases are bodies where the people have a genuine connection with each other that is more than utilitarian. Because of this qualitative difference, there are things we can do at the state level that we would never do at the federal level.
The Liberal who seeks to raise the PPT tax, does so for Marxian reasons, and would push for a higher tax even if the resources were not owned by the people of Alaska. What the Modern Liberal argues for at the state and federal level is the same, because ideology is not nuanced by context. Blinded by its forward march to whatever utopia it sees, it cannot discriminate between community (state) and construct (federal), and will gladly walk over any tradition, moral, principle or person who stands in the way. And that is what makes it inferior to the other two.
Both kinds of Conservatives need to keep the locus of debate between them and not allow this to become a conversation between Liberals and Conservatives. Ideology has little if anything constructive to contribute to the conversation.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Hot Spots at 37,000 Feet?
Alaska Airlines is testing in flight Wi-Fi. I have a bet with Akidis about how much it will cost when it first comes out. I predict it will be about as popular as the in flight phones they have available. But, kudos to them for being innovative. Read the article here.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Akidis: Lock Him Up
It is a great day for Alaska politics. According to this ADN article, former Rep. Tom Anderson was convicted of all 7 charges brought against him. I, for one, will be celebrating when they take him away. Anderson said,
Lock up the bastard. As a mother, I can't help but think about his wife, Sen. McGuire, and their kid. My advice to Anderson is don't say anything that you wouldn't want your kid to read when a teenager. You know it will happen eventually.
"The prosecution has criminalized being a legislator over this
past year. And I think I fell victim to that," he said.
Lock up the bastard. As a mother, I can't help but think about his wife, Sen. McGuire, and their kid. My advice to Anderson is don't say anything that you wouldn't want your kid to read when a teenager. You know it will happen eventually.
Happy Alaska Flag Day
According to the Gavel to Gavel website, today is Alaska Flag Day. This comes from 50states.com:
Alaska adopted the flag for official state use in 1959. The blue field represents the sky, the sea, and mountain lakes, as well as Alaska's wildflowers. Emblazoned on the flag are eight gold stars: seven from the constellation Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper. The eighth being the North Star, representing the northern most state. Alaska's flag was designed in 1926 by a 13-year-old Native American boy, Bennie Benson, from the village of Chignik. Bennie received a 1,000-dollar scholarship and a watch for his winning entry in the flag design contest.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
From ASP
Happy Independence Day! What better time to display Old Glory (or at least this early version of it) than today? The webpage from which it is found, has several different early flags of the American Revolution with brief explanations of them below. Read it, and remember. Memory may be the most important part of politics. It's a shame we don't use it properly.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Gara Criticizes House Leadership and, uh, half of the Senate Bipolar Leadership
In this ADN article, with regard to Governor Palin's budget spending, Representative Gara spins it thus:
Somebody screwed up. Either Rep. Gara got his talking points mixed up, or Sabra Ayres, the reporter, didn't get the memo. Rep. Gara fails to mention that the number two man in the Senate is a man from his own party, Sen. Hoffman (yes, Hoffman alone is number two. Sen. Stedman, unfortunately, is an empty three-piece suit).
Frankly, I expected more from Rep. Gara. He is usually more on top of things. After all, he was routinely seen meeting last session with fellow Democrats from the House and Senate in the Juneau restaurant The Zephyr, on Seward Street, and no, I don't think it was an open caucus.
It's all a show anyway. Does anyone really think Les Gara is concerned with keeping a Conservative budget? If you do, I have a bridge to sell to you.
Some Democrats, who had urged the governor to veto
some of the projects, hailed Palin’s broad cuts. “The Republican
leadership went on a spending spree,” said Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat from
Anchorage. “The state can’t afford a $1.8 billion pet-project budget.”
Gara said he agreed with Palin’s calls for more public involvement in the
budget-writing process. “Instead of writing the budget in someone’s
office, there should be public testimony to defend what projects are being
requested,” Gara said.
Somebody screwed up. Either Rep. Gara got his talking points mixed up, or Sabra Ayres, the reporter, didn't get the memo. Rep. Gara fails to mention that the number two man in the Senate is a man from his own party, Sen. Hoffman (yes, Hoffman alone is number two. Sen. Stedman, unfortunately, is an empty three-piece suit).
Frankly, I expected more from Rep. Gara. He is usually more on top of things. After all, he was routinely seen meeting last session with fellow Democrats from the House and Senate in the Juneau restaurant The Zephyr, on Seward Street, and no, I don't think it was an open caucus.
It's all a show anyway. Does anyone really think Les Gara is concerned with keeping a Conservative budget? If you do, I have a bridge to sell to you.
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