As we listen to our government officials at all levels, we hear many talking about spending cuts. But, are they really cuts?

For example, in Maryland, if I add-up all of the so-called spending cuts made during the past 7 years, taxes should have decreased by $3 Billion, and individual tax bills should have decreased more than a thousand dollars a year per taxpayer.

Of course, that is not what has happened. Taxes increased: Income taxes, property taxes, flush taxes, rain taxes, fuel taxes, toll taxes, sales taxes, vehicle taxes, food and beverage taxes, bottle taxes, bag taxes, title taxes, death taxes, healthcare taxes. You name it.

This raises an interesting question. If the government is making all of these “Spending Cuts,” why is the government continuing to grow, and why are taxes continuing to increase?

The answer will anger you. The average salt-of-the-earth common-sense citizen knows what a cut is. If this year I spend $100, but next year I spend only $99, it’s a cut.

So what’s happening?

Government deliberately uses illegitimate definitions of a cut, but is counting on you to subconsciously apply a correct definition of a cut.

Here’s how:

• The first is something I refer to as the fallacy of buying bananas versus oranges. If government decides to buy fewer bananas, but more oranges, it issues a press release saying it has cut spending on bananas, while failing to mention it is now spending more on oranges. Of course, in this so-called cut, net spending usually goes up.
• The second definition is one I refer to as the fallacy of a reduced wish list. Government creates its own wish list to grow its budget $10M next year. When it only get $6M of the planned increase, they announce they’ve cut spending $4 million. Again, this so-called cut translates into more spending and expansion of government.

So what is a real cut? A real cut must meet one of the following three criteria:

1. Next year’s total spending must be less than this year’s total spending. If it’s lower, it’s a cut; or
2. Next year’s total funding plan must be fewer total dollars than this year’s total funding plan, if it is, it’s a cut; or
3. If next year’s planned spending per person is less than this year’s planned spending per person, it might be a cut. The key word is “might,” because you have to pay close attention to the details. If the government reduces the amount of spending funded by each taxpayer, it may reasonably be considered a cut in spending-per-taxpayer. This could happen when the population of a jurisdiction is increasing, but expenses are fixed. On the other hand, if the government reduces benefits for each recipient of a social program by 1%, but addicts 50% more people to the same social service, it’s not a cut. It is an expansion of government.

So there you have it; three definitions of real cuts in spending. Everything else is fiction.

Understanding the games played by government officials will help citizens decode “government budget speak” and determine whether so-called cuts are fiction or fact.

Originally Posted at: http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/03/spending-cuts-orwellian-double-speak-decode/#dmlPxzAiEVFV0kqj.99

I never deny climate change… the climate has been changing since the beginning of time. I simply reject hysteria and theories that suggest catastrophic anthropogenic (man made) CO2 based climate change is occurring.

There’s a reason the left has changed vernacular… Global Warming is now
Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise is now Storm Surge. Scientists have not been able to demonstrate a correlation with their radical CO2 warming theories, so they now repackage their movement with even vaguer wording.

Furthermore, even in theory, if you assumed CO2 was the substantive driver of climate, CO2 abatement schemes large enough to be effective would be unaffordable; and those schemes small enough to be affordable would be ineffective. For example: To reduce the earth’s temperature one degree with CO2 abatement would require an investment equivalent to 130 years GDP of the entire planet, or more than $4,000,000,000,000,000 (4 quadrillion dollars). It ain’t happening.

The question is not whether climate is changing… it has been changing for eons. The proper questions are…

Is change exceeding usual cyclical variations?
If so, is the variance substantial?
Do the negative impacts outweigh the positive impacts?
If so, are any changes likely to be catastrophic?
If so, what are the true drivers (causes)?
Can change be conclusively correlated with any human activities?
How large of a component do human activities play?
If man-made, can we reasonably abate them?
What is the most appropriate coping mechanism… General abatement or focused adaptation?

I recommend you read the U.S. Senate Minority Report containing statements from 700 scientists rebutting Climate Change. Several of the scientists were previously involved with the UN-IPCC, and to put it bluntly, they say it just ain’t so… and the 52 scientists on the IPCC are wrong.

Charts I have seen of worldwide cyclonic energy, worldwide temperatures, etc. do not corroborate CO2 theories. Claims of increased damage from hurricanes and storms are a function of increased development and infrastructure in vulnerable areas… NOT more violent storms.

Claims in Maryland of rising sea level are actually a function of settlement of land masses. Furthermore, usual and customary sea level rise elsewhere of 3mm a year (ten inches per century) hardly qualifies as catastrophic. Besides, if Maryland’s Governor O’Malley and his Department of Planning REALLY believed this bunk, they wouldn’t be constructing more subways underground.

Maryland will spend $17 Billion attempting to reduce Greenhouse Gases over the next decade. You’ll be pleased to know that this effort, if successful, will reduce the temperature of Maryland by 1/20,000 of one degree. Unfortunately, we have no way of measuring anything this small. So even if the program is a success, we’ll have no way of knowing it.

I attended a convention where they asked a scientist from the University of Colorado who believes in man-made CO2 based global warming, “What would need to happen to get you to admit you were wrong?”

His answer, “The current cooling trend would have to continue for another 10 to 20 years.”

Bladabling.

The “Climateers” argue that most scientific papers support their theories. Of course, nearly 100% of all government research grants are commissioned with a charge to demonstrate global warming exists. Clearly, it should be no surprise when universities and non-profits eager for follow-on grants give the government exactly the so-called science it requests. After all… if they produce conclusions counter to what the government wants, they get no more money.

People ask, why do you call them “Climateers?” Simply because they are the only crisis centric group that becomes genuinely disappointed when evidence is produced that demonstrates their fears may be unfounded. Amusing.

Environmental exaggeration provides the rubric government needs to scare children, scare adults, and justify unacceptable encroachments on our constitutional freedoms.

Of course the smoking gun that says it all was the recent statement by the former undersecretary of the Marxist UN-IPCC and Ottmar Edenhofer who made the statement, “… that we redistribute the world’s wealth by climate policy.”

Ouch!!!

I agree with the 700 scientist(s) in the Senate Report who conclude that claims of CO2-based catastrophic anthropogenic global warming is the biggest fraud ever perpetuated on the human race.

We need our teachers to take the lead, and start teaching our children both sides of this debate and stop indoctrinating them with one-sided government paid-for propaganda.

And finally, as Mark Twain once said, “It is easier to full a man than to convince him that he’s been fooled.”

One of the prized pieces of advice I gave my children when they graduated college is this:

“MOST EXPERTS AREN’T.”

So, why do “experts” on the political right insist on serving as our own worst enemy?

Nullification isn’t a procedure…it’s a movement

I sit in disbelief at rallies and community meetings while attorneys, gun rights advocates, and lobbyists tell us there is no such thing as nullification, and even if there was, “there is no procedure for nullifying unconstitutional federal or state laws.”

Horse hockey.

It’s time to put the misstatements of these so called “experts” to rest for good.

It’s as easy as one-two-three.

One: Nullification is real. The left has been doing it for the past decade.

When jurisdictions across America perform gay marriages in direct violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), they are nullifying it.

When large numbers of jurisdictions across America declare themselves “sanctuary counties” for illegal immigration, in direct violation of federal immigration laws, they are nullifying them.

So why do so called, “experts,” on the right claim there is no such procedure? Could it be because they are blind to what is really happening? You see, nullification is not a procedure, it is a movement.

Two: As evidenced by the previous map, most counties in the United States are Red. Furthermore, many blue counties, akin to those of the Eastern Shore of Maryland are conservative on certain issues such as the Second Amendment. Clearly, this provides evidence that more than two-thirds of all counties in America have right-leaning voting constituencies and values.

Three: The key to the most successful nullification movements is in the numbers. It is most effective if lots of jurisdictions nullify simultaneously.

Let’s play a what-if game…

What-if two thousand counties in America simultaneously passed resolutions declaring Obama-care unconstitutional and declared themselves “Health Insurance Open Competition Zones?”

What-if a Board of Commissioners or Board of County Supervisors used the same vernacular as the Left, and passed a resolution declaring themselves to be a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County?” This is exactly what Carroll County, Maryland did on May 22, 2013 when we passed our Second Amendment Preservation Resolution that prohibited the use of county resources to enforce firearms laws we deemed unconstitutional. And, what-if the local Sheriff and States Attorney both agree they will not arrest nor prosecute under an unconstitutional federal or state law?

Now, imagine if similar resolutions were simultaneously passed by two thousand counties across America. The effect of the sheer magnitude would be profound. As a practical matter, enforcement by federal officials that depend heavily on state and local cooperation would be impossible. And besides, what elected federal official, other than perhaps an outright seditionist, would want to govern against the will of thousands of duly elected local governing bodies?

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, what-if July 4th, 2014 were adopted as a national day of nullification?

What would happen if thousands of locally elected boards of county commissioners and supervisors issued nullification resolutions declaring Obama-care and other unconstitutional federal infringements or our freedoms to be… well… unconstitutional, and prohibited the use of local resources for local enforcement?

The answer is self-evident.

Local elected officials, sheriffs, and states’ attorneys that want to work together to uphold their oaths of office and learn more about nullification can go to www.upholdmyoath.com .

Learn more about your Constitution with Commissioner Rothschild and the Institute on the Constitution and receive your free gift.

Originally posted at: http://www.theamericanview.com/nullification-easy-as-one-two-three/

Pro-spending activists want you to believe funding for schools, law enforcement, and public safety was slashed in Carroll County.

It wasn’t.

True, I supported property tax cuts, but county budgets still increased during the past 4 years.  I also voted against budgets that used risky O’Malley-style financial gymnastics to increase ongoing spending with one-time cash.

In 2010, voters fired every commissioner for wasteful spending. Along with liberals on the BoE, they built an overpriced oversized $80M school that sits 40% underutilized. The BoE now demands another $30 million in taxes, while enrollments continue to decline.

County education funding, including pensions and debt service increased from $178.4M in 2011 to $184.4M in 2014.  Meanwhile, enrollments declined 1,200 students.  Most new spending went to pensions and paychecks.  Yet, liberal politicians, posing as Republicans, have the audacity to claim there were “no increases.”  Most teachers received a step increase of 2.5% in 2012; 2.5% bonuses in 2013; and 3.0% bonuses in 2014.  Activists play word games by claiming these aren’t technically “increases.”

You hired me to stop foolish spending.  I did.

I blocked two commissioners’ demands to write a $3M check to exit the incinerator contract.  They wanted an expedient political victory regardless of price.  Disgraceful.   Instead, I initiated legal negotiations that reduced the exit fee by $2 Million.  Rather than applaud this achievement, the Carrol County Times ran front-page articles whining about legal expenses. Only on the back page do you learn the $2M savings from these negotiations was ten times larger than all legal expenses combined for the four-year period.

Let’s summarize.

Nothing was slashed. I simply reduced the growth rate of government.   Establishment politicians hate this, so they create slogans like “vote sanity”.  What they really mean is “vote liberal.”

Now for the bad news:

Many conservatives did not vote in the June primaries.  Government union-backed candidates won every primary election except District 4 commissioner.  This means I am likely the only remaining official that can bring objectivity to the budgeting process.  Why?  Because, I am the only candidate that is not beholden to government labor organizations.

This raises a question.  Can Rothschild make a difference?

I went nose-to-nose with Annapolis, and said, “Absolutely no,” to the Rain Tax. We have no Rain Tax.

I went nose-to-nose on Fox News, in direct opposition to the federal government and said, “No Way” when Obama tried to transport illegal aliens into Westminster.  They abandoned their scheme.

I opposed O’Malley’s new gun laws by writing Maryland’s first nullification resolution prohibiting the use of county resources to enforce unconstitutional components of his gun-grab.  Two additional counties passed similar versions of my Second Amendment Preservation Resolution.

Recently, I lead efforts to teach rural counties how to stop EPA regulatory assaults on our farmers and businesses.  The National Environmental Policy Act requires agencies to “coordinate” with county governments BEFORE administering harmful regulations.  They didn’t.   Instead, they assumed we would “collaborate” and simply roll-over.  I won’t.

Obama’s federal agencies routinely ignore the law and behave like schoolyard bullies, hurting our farmers, businesses, and schools with expensive mandates. Now, local governments, with leadership from rural counties, including Carroll, can stop these oppressive mandates by standing-up to the bully.

We will.

So what’s the point?

The Constitution will not enforce itself.  Republicans want leaders that will defend their freedoms with knowledge and conviction.   I do.

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, Andy Harris, Ellen Sauerbrey, and Dan Bongino endorse me because they know the truth.

Ellen Sauerbrey said, “Richard is a conservative with a backbone.  He understands what made America great and fights tirelessly to preserve the fundamental principles of limited government and personal freedom.  He has demonstrated great courage under fire.”

If you trust me with your vote, I will continue to oppose the Godless, Socialist, Big-Government Agenda of the left.

I’m Commissioner Richard Rothschild, and I thank you in advance for your vote on November 4^th.

Also, learn about the ONLY conservatives running for the Board of Education… Harmening, Nason, and Roenick at KeepCarrollConservative.com.  You can also hear from Roscoe Bartlett.

Thanks, and may God Bless You.

Commissioner Richard Rothschild, Unwavering Conservative Leadership

240-315-5844

Commissioner Richard Rothschild of County Carroll MD Discusses Common Core