The Red State in Your Future

◼ Voters around the country are concluding it’s better to be red than dead—applying a whole meaning to an old phrase. - Merrill Matthews/Forbes (image source: via Wikipedia)

If you do not currently live in a red state, there’s a good chance you will be in the near future. Either you will flee to a red state or a red state will come to you—because voters fed up with blue-state fiscal irresponsibility will elect candidates who promise to pass red-state policies.

...though we are a year away from the 2012 election, generic Republican vs. Democratic polls have given Republicans the edge for more than a year. If that pattern holds—and if blue-state leaders refuse to learn from their policy mistakes, just like their true-blue leader in the White House—it likely means there will be even more red states in 2013.

One reason for that shift is that red states are taking fiscal responsibility while many blue states aren’t—and it shows. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a bipartisan association of conservative state legislators, recently released its fourth edition of “Rich States, Poor States,” by the well-known Reagan economist Arthur B. Laffer, the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore, and Jonathan Williams of ALEC.

...Most of the “poor states” states, as ALEC calls them, have the highest personal income tax rates and the largest unfunded state pension liabilities. But instead of taking the red-state approach by lowering taxes and/or cutting spending, the blue states tend to want to raise taxes even higher, just like their White House mentor.

The result of their overpromising and overspending, and their knee-jerk response to solving their fiscal problems by raising taxes, is that people are increasingly fleeing the blue states. As commentator Michael Medved points out: “Between 2009 and 2010 the five biggest losers in terms of ‘residents lost to other states’ were all prominent redoubts of progressivism: California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. Meanwhile, the five biggest winners in the relocation sweepstakes are all commonly identified as red states in which Republicans generally dominate local politics: Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia.”

◼ Republican states balancing their budgets - Washington Times

Iran's supreme leader ups fight with Ahmadinejad

◼ In the ongoing political skirmishes among Iran's leadership, it was the equivalent of bringing out the heavy ammunition: The country's most powerful figure warning that the post of elected president could someday be scrapped. - MSNBC

The National Popular Vote Plan is an initiative to effectively abolish the Electoral College without a constitutional amendment.

◼ Here is what would happen with an National Popular Vote Compact that hands all the needed 270 Electoral Votes to the national popular vote winner: Those states with larger populations – especially those with heavily populated big cities will pick the President. Period. - New Zeal

◼ Here is a summary of why the National Popular Vote Presidency is a really bad idea. - Upstate Voice

A major push to circumvent our constitutional method of electing a president is currently being efforted by the 501(c) organization National Popular Vote Inc., a George Soros funded who’s who of the progressive left. With the recent addition of California to the list, nine states have now signed into law a bill that awards all of the state’s electoral college votes to the winner of the “national” popular vote for president.
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If you want further information on Preserving the Electoral College, the Heritage Foundation is sponsoring an Event on this issue on Friday afternoon, October 28. See details here.

◼ National Popular Vote -- Electoral college reform and direct election of the President of the United States.
◼ California Is 9th State to Enact National Popular Vote Bill
◼ Bill now has 49% of the 270 electoral votes needed

‘California and Bust:' The smart money says the U.S. economy will splinter, with some states thriving, some states not, and all eyes are on California as the nightmare scenario

◼ In San Jose, the cost of retirement benefits and contracts with police and fire agencies has been cannibalizing government services for years, and the process is about to sharply accelerate. - San Diego Union-Tribune

In Vallejo, the cost of contracts with police officers and firefighters led to a declaration of bankruptcy in 2008. Now City Hall feels like a ghost town, roads go unpaved and traffic lights are set on permanent flashing mode. Public services are skimpy – with no prospects of a rebound in sight. ...

As Vallejo and San Jose illustrate, a painful new era looms for many local governments. Some will go belly-up. Some will muddle through. It all hinges on the quality of local leadership – starting with leaders who don’t peddle what San Jose’s mayor calls the “delusion” that the status quo is sustainable with some modest tinkering.

◼ ...All eyes are on California as the nightmare scenario - Vanity Fair

◼ A Second Term for Obama Would Make the United States Go as California Has Gone - Tom McClintock/Real Clear Politics

Defections by Senate Dems hamper Obama’s message on jobs

◼ Democratic defections and a united Republican front are hampering President Obama’s message on the economy. - The Hill

Last week and again Thursday night, there were a couple Democratic defections on Obama’s jobs measure. And despite a veto threat from the White House, 10 Democrats voted for a GOP alternative.

◼ Obama's jobs bill fails second Senate test - Washington Times (image source)

State warns 26,000 prison workers of layoffs

◼ The warnings by the California Department of Corrections are the result of Gov. Jerry Brown's so-called realignment program that began Oct. 1 and will eventually culminate with thousands of felons serving their sentences in local jails instead of state prisons. - SF Chronicle