Jon Gabriel
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact

The Salmon Rule: A Vote for Common Sense

3/11/2013

0 Comments

 
FREEDOMWORKS

Keep your word. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Don’t spend more than you have. This is common sense for most people. But in Washington, D.C., these grade-school lessons are considered downright radical.

For decades, those of us in the real world have wondered why our political leaders won’t follow these simple rules. As our national debt rocketed past $5 trillion, $10 trillion, $15 trillion and beyond, we asked how the federal government got so out of control and what we can do to fix it before the U.S. economy goes Greek?

Whether the president had a “D” or an “R” after their name, the wave of red ink just continued to rise. But there was a brief moment in the ’90s when Congress actually forced a liberal president to sign the first balanced budget in a generation. One of the congressmen behind that effort is back to return common sense to the Beltway.
Rep. Matt Salmon was first elected in 1994 but stepped down in 2000 to honor his pledge not to serve more than three consecutive terms. Sensing Washington needed to relearn some basic arithmetic, Arizona voters sent Salmon back last year. As one of his constituents, I’m glad that Salmon is keeping his word.

In today’s Washington Times, Salmon served notice not only to the federal government at large, but also to the GOP House leadership specifically:
From this point forward, I will vote against the rule for bills that increase spending without offsetting spending cuts and encourage my other conservative colleagues to do the same. Similarly, if House leadership brings any more bills to the floor without first securing the support from the majority of the GOP conference, I will take the same action. If enough of my conservative colleagues in the House join me, we can unilaterally put an end to the growth of government that is moving us closer to Greece-like fiscal calamities.
This new “Salmon Rule” is a direct challenge to the go-along-to-get-along style often promoted by the GOP leadership. Not only will he hold the line on fiscal sanity, Salmon also will contest the stealth growth of government seen most recently in the fiscal cliff tax hikes and the pork-saturated Sandy relief bill. In those cases, House leadership brought legislation to the floor without support from the majority of GOP members.

Why would a Republican congressman go against the wishes of his own leadership — especially in such a public way?  “Because my allegiance will always be to the Constitution and the American people first and foremost,” Salmon says, “not to my political party.”

Principle. What a concept.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Arizona
    Arizona Republic
    Art
    Business
    Buzzfeed
    Communication
    Culture
    Daily Caller
    Design
    Drugs
    Economy
    Education
    Energy
    Environment
    Family
    Food & Drink
    Freedomworks
    Free Speech
    Gender
    Guns
    Health Care
    Heartland Institute
    Humor
    Immigration
    International
    Journalism
    Military
    Music
    Neatorama
    NY Post
    Outrage
    Philosophy
    Photoshop
    Politics
    Red Tape
    Religion
    Ricochet
    Social Media
    Technology
    Unions
    USA Today
    Wall Street Journal

    RSS Feed

© 2017  Jon Gabriel. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact
✕