I am cheerful to work for a principled and libertarian organization. At the Cato Institute, there is never pressure to say or do anything wrong for partisan reasons.
When Republicans screw up, I don’t have to think twice about exposing their misdeeds.
I have he repeatedly criticized President Bush (and him former general counsel) for increasing the government’s burden. Buying votes with other people’s money is not an expression of compassion.
I have sharply criticized former GOP Hill staffers-turned-lobbyists for various interest groups wanting to defraud taxpayers. Stealing is wrong even if you get a lot of money to operate the government as an intermediary.
I have sharply criticized the former Reagan administration official for defending the earrings. I find it morally offensive that he enriches himself by facilitating the transfer of money from taxpayers to powerful special interests.
I have condemned the former Senate Republican leader for defending Obamacare. I think it’s disgusting that he puts his lobbying income above America’s best interests.
I have condemned Republican Illinois legislators for disrupting school choice. I find it downright nauseating that they are condemning inner-city kids to terrible schools in exchange for campaign contributions from teachers unions.
And that’s what I noticed Statist policies are not becoming acceptable just because they come from Republican presidential candidates. The road to serfdom is often a two-way street.
We now have another candidate for our “Republican Hall of Shame.” Ohio Governor John Kasich supports Obamacare. Moreover, not only does he want bad health policy, but he uses third world tactics and makes morally reprehensible arguments.
The Wall Street Journal savages Kasich w stinging editorial. Here is a key passage explaining the overall situation.
…there are still a few students who believe in a higher power in ObamaCare, and one of them governs Ohio. Governor John Kasich is such a passionate believer in this principle that he is even abusing his executive power to join the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. I don’t want to be sacrilegious, but the Republican used to know better. Now it appears that Mr. Kasich views signing up for this portion of ObamaCare as an act of Christian love and literally claims that God told him to do so.
But Governor Kasich has a little problem. The legislature did not approve this budget-busting part of Obamacare. So Kasich decided he could change the policy at will, just as Obama did with the employer mandate and Obamacare waiver for Capitol Hill.
The problem is that his evangelism has not converted Ohio’s Legislature, led by Republicans who understand the brutal budget and regulatory realities of participating in the recent Medicaid. So Mr. Kasich simply decided to cut off Ohio’s elected officials and expand Medicaid on his own. …appealed to a little-known, seven-member state panel called the Control Board, which oversees some state capital spending and can receive or award grants. …You. Kasich asked the panel to approve $2.56 billion in federal funds and then raise eligibility levels through an executive order. This is a trick worthy of President Obama, who also claims the unilateral right to suspend regulations he does not like and bypass Congress.
But what’s really sickening is that Kasich equates enormous government and social spending with religious values.
Mr. Kasich must really feel led by the Holy Spirit… “When you die and get to meet St. Peter, he probably won’t ask you much about what you’ve done to reduce the size of government. But he will ask you what you have done for the poor,” to quote one of his favorite lines.
I suppose I could joke about supposedly super-religious communists using this twisted metric, but there’s a earnest point to be made here. I am not a religious expert, but the so-called wrote a few years ago that: “Doesn’t Christianity (and, I assume, Judaism and other faiths) require charitable actions from individuals exercising their free will? 
And using the coercive power of government to forcibly redistribute other people’s money is, at best, moral hubris.”
Moreover, Kasich must be delusional if he thinks that expanding government is good for the impoverished. Redistribution drags the impoverished into dependence iaa larger public sector hinders economic growthmaking life even harder for the less fortunate.
Damn, just compare Hong Kong and Argentina over the last 50 years and ask yourself which jurisdiction provided greater opportunities for those trying to climb the economic ladder.
Fortunately, the battle is not over yet.
Thirty-nine House Republicans have signed a formal protest, and some of them are threatening to sue, and well, they should. They argue that bypassing the legislation undermines the separation of powers set forth in the Ohio Constitution and exceeds the statutory authority of the Control Board, which is to “take no action that does not further the legislative intent of the General Assembly.”
I don’t know if the lawsuit will be successful, but I can share data that shows Ohio is already in earnest fiscal trouble.
This ranks 39th in the Tax Foundation’s National Business Tax Climate Index.
It was The seventh worst condition on controlling spending over the last decade.
Takes place in bottom 10 on bureaucrats’ measures against teachers.
It was listed as one of the American ones 11 states facing an economic death spiral.
And John “Barack” Kasich thinks he will improve Ohio by adding an extra layer of government spending to finance Obamacare expansion?!?
What makes the situation sorrowful is that Kasich was chairman of the House Budget Committee in the mid-1990s, so he deserves some credit for cutting federal spending during that period, very effective policy this translated into better economic performance and budget surpluses.
PS Kasich’s push to expand Medicaid shows one reason why the program should be reformed. He is lured by the promise that for the first few years, Washington will foot the entire bill. After that, some of the burden will fall on state taxpayers, but Kasich probably assumes he won’t be around to deal with the problem. That’s why the entire program should be allocated in block to the states. If Kasich really thinks God wants a larger Medicaid system, he should go to Ohio voters and ask them to pay for it.
