In Which John Oxendine Looks Good To Me

Here’s the Third Question from the Tifton Forum, which is “what are you going to do to protect us from the Federal Government?”

Eric Johnson is up first, then John Oxendine in this video, then Ray McBerry and Austin Scott in the second part.

Johnson opens up by admitting that this wasn’t a concern of the GOP until the OTHER half of the Big Government Party came into power in DC. (He claims they are the other party though.) He gets it right though when he says it is not as easy as yelling at the Federal government, that “it takes years, lawyers, and millions of dollars”. He then says he is “itching for a fight” with the federal government, and that he will find SOME issue to take them to task on. He says he would want some other States to join us “but I’ll do it alone if I can”. Next, he correctly points to redistricting as being one of the first things that will land on the new Governor’s desk, and that at that point he will have the attention of the Georgia Congressional Delegation. Once he has their attention, he plans to have a little chat with them about States’ Rights for Georgia.

Oxendine is up next, and in this next paragraph he is actually going to get some positive coverage from me for a change. Not really because I WANT to – it is well known on this site that I despise the guy – but because what he says here is one of the most sane, rational plans I’ve yet heard on this issue. And I still can’t believe I’m saying that about Ox, but I guess I’ve delayed the inevitable long enough, so here goes with what he said. “You can stand up and you can preach a beautiful sermon about States’ Rights, but that’s not going to get anything done.” You’ll remember that Ray McBerry has said he still preaches on occassion…

Anyway, he then says he already has a bill pending in the “Legislature” – I’m assuming he means General Assembly? – that asserts States’ Rights on a law called “RISA”? I’m not sure about the name, but apparently it prevents State oversight on the health care policies of large, self insured companies – and Ox HATES not being able to regulate every single thing he possibly can. OK, so I couldn’t bring myself to keep this paragraph completely positive. Sorry! Anyway, he says he has been told that if this bill passes, he will be sued the day it becomes law and that he has already lined up test cases and precedent from Kentucky that he feels supports his position. In other words, he knows what is coming and is prepared for it on this specific bill.

“Standing up and ranting and raving might make you feel good, but its not government, it doesn’t get things done, it doesn’t accomplish things.” “You don’t tell the Supreme Court to go jump in the lake, you beat them at their own game.” He closes by opening himself up to one of my typical attacks, but I really am trying to keep this paragraph as positive as I can towards Ox, so I’ll let it slide. But I’ll actually bring the three lines I quoted out into their own paragraph for emphasis, because they REALLY are spot on regarding this issue:

“You can stand up and you can preach a beautiful sermon about States’ Rights, but that’s not going to get anything done. … Standing up and ranting and raving might make you feel good, but its not government, it doesn’t get things done, it doesn’t accomplish things. … You don’t tell the Supreme Court to go jump in the lake, you beat them at their own game.” -John Oxendine

This question is set up for Ray McBerry to show his black helicopter insanity in its full glory, and he really doesn’t disappoint in that regard. He opens up by saying that Ox is crazy for fighting the issue from the inside, that States’ Rights is about the people of the State of Georgia asserting their demands on the Federal government. I knew the moment he made that statement that I was actually going to have to say nice things about the Ox, and my honest thought was “Oh my God, this guy is going to making John Oxendine look good to ME!”. Of course, again, this really shouldn’t be surprising seeing as how barely 72 hours after this event, McBerry’s right hand man was openly calling for war against the US Government.

Anyways, McBerry’s next point is about Voter Verification, where he sides with Karen Handel (who was not present at this forum). He says that Handel should’ve essentially given the Department of Justice and the Federal courts the finger on done her own thing – even though her own method has been shown to FAIL 60% of the time and label US Citizens as “non-citizens”. Yep, that’s right. Ray McBerry is siding with the person who has been shown to be denying AMERICANS their right to vote! The rest of his drivel is basically the same things he said in his opening speech.

Austin Scott opens with a line that I’ve heard him use many times when this subject comes up, both privately and publicly: “My name is Austin Scott. I’m an American, and there will be no talk of secession from my administration.” He continues with saying that President Obama has been elected for a year now, and we cannot allow what has happened over the last year to destroy this country. “We’ve got three years left of this guy, and we cannot allow these things to destroy us and turn us into 50 independent States. What we’ve got to do is fight him on the issues where he is wrong.”

He correctly points out that the States’ Rights issue has grown in popularity over the last several weeks due to the healthcare debate. Scott then correctly says that the State Appropriations bill is approximately $40 Billion, with approximately half of that coming from Federal funds. (The actual numbers are something like $39 Billion total, $21 Billion Federal and $18 Billion from actual in-state sources – but this is something I too have been looking at, and was waiting a bit before going after McBerry with them myself.)

Scott continues with noting that we all pay Federal income tax and we all pay Federal tax on virtually everything we do, and that what the Federal government does is essentially blackmail. He gives examples such as transportation and healthcare. Did you know that the reason a lot of speed limits – particularly on Interstates – are set at the levels they are is because the Federal government mandates this or they will withhold transportation money for road improvements? Montana once had no speed limits – and therefore received no Federal transportation money. About 5-10 years ago, they finally caved in and put speed limits on their highways specifically so they could get some of that money.

Continuing with Scott’s remarks though, he notes that two of the Republican Governor candidates sat in another forum a few days earlier and promised to increase Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals – yet was telling the Tifton crowd today that they were going to cut spending! “What we’ve got to have is people who tell you the truth, and who give you the same answer they give to the next crowd and the next crowd and the next crowd. I hope you’ll watch as this debate goes on, and what you’ll find is that Austin Scott is absolutely consistent.” “Some of the things that we want to build – like transportation projects and other things – we simply cannot afford to do right now.” “Every dollar that I take out of your pocket as Governor is a dollar that you can’t give to your church, its a dollar that you can’t give to the boys and girls club, its a dollar that you can’t give to a YMCA. I honestly have more faith in the American people than I do in the American government. I think if we leave more money in your pocket, you’ll use it wisely to help those same people that the government takes it from you in the name of helping.”

So yeah, as much as I HATE to say that I would EVER vote for John Oxendine, I will give him this: I will vote for John Oxendine LONG before I will vote for Ray McBerry – and this site attests to how much I detest John Oxendine and would NEVER vote for him. And it comes down to this: As corrupt as John Oxendine is, at least he isn’t so crazy that he wants to start a literal shooting war with the United States of America.