With Texas burning out of control ol I want to secede from the union Perry went begging for help from his arch nemisis Obama. Texas seeks more help as wildfires burn Austin homes - Yahoo! News
For 2008 - The latest year I could find figures for.
Federal Government Tax Revenue Collected from Texas $235 Billion Dollars
Federal Government Expenditures for Texas $210 Billion Dollars
Doesn't seem too much to ask for some of our own money to help deal with an emergency.
If that seems unreasonable than maybe the Federal Government should take less money from the people and the businesses of Texas so we can use it as we see fit.
Well, true to form, you haven't provided any links, context, or citation for your numbers, not that they're remotely relevant anyway.For 2008 - The latest year I could find figures for.
Federal Government Tax Revenue Collected from Texas $235 Billion Dollars
Federal Government Expenditures for Texas $210 Billion Dollars
Doesn't seem too much to ask for some of our own money to help deal with an emergency.
If that seems unreasonable than maybe the Federal Government should take less money from the people and the businesses of Texas so we can use it as we see fit.
For 2008 - The latest year I could find figures for.
Federal Government Tax Revenue Collected from Texas $235 Billion Dollars
Federal Government Expenditures for Texas $210 Billion Dollars
Doesn't seem too much to ask for some of our own money to help deal with an emergency.
If that seems unreasonable than maybe the Federal Government should take less money from the people and the businesses of Texas so we can use it as we see fit.
I fail to see hypocrisy.
People complain about the size & scope of the federal government and that it is exceeding its bounds.
They send an excess of money to the federal government and when there is a fire bigger than Rhode Island they request some assistance.
They are deemed hypocrites for that?
I point that out and someone thinks I need to be told what a nation is?
(While not agreeing with my point that hypocrisy is not present)
Gov. Rick Perry campaigned for his position in government with one of his political angles being the idea of secession. Knowing what the word secession means (and I'll assume for now that you do know), that would imply in this country a state would become absolutely independent from its federal rule and obligated to take care of all of its state's needs without the need of any federal assistance. That would also mean, in the case of the current Texas wild fires, that they wouldn't have access to any of our federally funded sources to help them deal with it. Figuratively speaking, the fact that Rick Perry is now requesting assistance from the very government he wanted to secede from just a few years ago illustrates the hypocrisy regardless if you want to believe one exists or not. Researchable and accessible historical events, combined with actual definitions from official, indisputable reference sources (such as a dictionary) are more important than political ideology.
But even if you want to take the extreme angle and say that there's no hypocrisy here, there's still the issue of a politician doing a complete one-eighty on his own political ideologies. Anyone who is staunchly in support of one political view doesn't completely change his or her mind unless they've come to the realization that they are wrong, were incapable of seeing it through due to extraneous circumstances, or never believed what they were saying to begin with. Since we have nothing on record from Rick Perry suggesting that his past beliefs were in some ways in error, that would mean that his messages regarding secession in the past were nothing more than empty rhetoric geared to pander to the politically illogical. Either way you look at it, Rick Perry doesn't look good. So if hypocrisy isn't the right word to use in this case, pick one for us that would be more appropriate. And please... if you can, try not to use words like "liberal" or "conservative" next time. When you pay attention to the details, you realize this has NOTHING to do with left wing this or right winged that.
Thank you, VinylBoy... you are so much more eloquent and persuasive than I am.
Perry runs to the federal trough every time he gets a chance. He balanced the state budget last year, an election year, with fed money. Why was/is Texas in a budget crunch? Sure, the economy. But the Repubs changed our tax system a few years ago....maybe 3 years ago. They gave a huge property tax cut to homeowners and "replaced" the lost revenue with an increased business tax. But this business tax was not nearly high or broad enough to replace the lost property tax revenue. Many moderate republicans said at the time the tax change would result in a huge deficit in 2 or 3 years time. Guess what? Time to pay the piper. Which in Texas means slashing education and any other program that assists the poor. Great state Texas is.
Interesting perspective... I (incorrectly) thought that Texas was immune to budget problems because of oil and gas royalties. Has a proposal been made to institute a state personal income tax?
[BTW - impressive pix -- I was intrigued by the Calboner quote and I'm feeling pretty puny right now.]
Texas has made a deal w/ the oil & gas companies.....We won't regulate you if you don't give us much in the way of royalties.
And we have a constitutional clause that states anyone proposing a state income tax can be shot on sight by anyone with a Concealed Carry Permit.