In her weekly column, Nancy Churchill discusses national Democratic policies and the progressive movement
Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric
As we approach the season of giving, it has become clear that the progressive movement has transformed the Democratic party into the “Party of Scrooge.” At the national level, Democratic policies like runaway deficit spending, out-of-control theft and crime, a broken transportation system, open national borders, racist education policies and “climate justice” tax policies have created the highest inflation rate in 39 years, empty store shelves, and declining IQ scores for our youngest children. (Fox News report)
The budget recently proposed by Gov. Inslee pours gasoline on the fire of inflation. (Gov. Inslee proposed budget)
In spite of record setting revenues, Washington citizens will continue to endure a system of taxation that is a massive transfer of wealth from everyday working people to the elite “expert bureaucrats” who want to increase the size of our state government.
Rep. Drew Stokesbury reviewed the governor’s budget and noted “Despite the continued toll of the pandemic, most sectors of Washington’s economy are thriving. State revenue growth is the second-strongest in the country and tax collections have doubled since their pre-Great Recession peak. As a result, the Legislature will enter the 2022 session with a four-year surplus of $8.8 billion, the highest in at least 20 years.”
Stokesbury continued, “At a time when the state is overwhelmed with cash, it is disappointing, though not surprising, to see that the governor’s budget proposal does not include any tax relief for the families who have struggled through the pandemic and who are now experiencing the highest rate of inflation since 1982. Instead, the governor wants to spend our entire surplus on growing (the) state government even more.” (Rep. Drew Stokesbury statement)
Using the twin tools of regulations and taxes, Governor Inslee and his bureaucratic experts seek to destroy, dehumanize and disempower the entire population of working people who are the bedrock of our great state. They will use a climate agenda and “climate justice” to make it very difficult to live, work, and thrive in rural areas of our state. While their policies will not actually reduce the amount of carbon produced, the carbon taxes and “clean energy” regulations have the potential to destroy farming and ranching, clean hydropower production and eventually limit combustion engine use by everyday people.
Washington Policy Center’s Todd Myers published a sobering look at the governor’s proposed transfer of wealth: “Governor’s new climate proposals: more money, but no environmental benefit.’’ Myers points out that “Despite proposing hundreds of millions of dollars in additional spending, none of the governor’s proposals today will reduce additional CO2 emissions.”
Here’s a partial list of pet pork-barrel projects being used to funnel money from your wallet to the “climate industrial complex” taken from a list of budget items on the Washington Policy Institute Facebook page:
“$402,000 … is provided solely for the department to provide technical assistance and permitting guidance on solar facility proposals with the intent of limiting impacts to threatened and endangered species and critical and sensitive habitat areas, including shrub-steppe.” Are you aware that the Governor wants to force the residents of East Wenatchee to accept a solar facility even though there are endangered species on the proposed 12,000-acre site? Resistance to the project in East Wenatchee is strong, so the state’s taxpayers will foot the “technical assistance” bill for Inslee to push through this unwanted project.
“$852,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for fiscal year 2023 is provided solely for the department to provide additional capacity to the attorney general’s office to prosecute environmental crimes.” What “environmental crimes”? I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that the attorney general will be prosecuting farmers, ranchers, trucking companies and oil companies rather than forest arsonists.
“$200,000… is provided solely for a climate science curriculum staff position within the office of the superintendent of public instruction and to integrate climate change content into the Washington state learning standards across subject areas and grade levels.” Just what we need… a climate science curriculum office at OSPI. That means that “climate justice” will be pushed in every subject, every grade – just like critical race theory. It starts as a staff position, and will expand to an entire toxic department.
And finally, there’s this: “$1,500,000 of the general fund — state appropriation for fiscal year 2023 is provided solely for the development of a climate solutions and climate justice curriculum.” It’s always about warping the minds of our children with toxic ideology. How about we spend that 1.5 million to improve our students’ general reading, writing, math and science knowledge?
If you’re tired of the governor’s “climate justice” agenda, inflation and higher taxes taking a bigger and bigger bite out of your family budget, you might want to get involved in a Republican campaign near you. It’s time to walk away from the toxic progressive governance, and get back to government that works – featuring individual prosperity, smaller government, lower taxes, and growth in jobs and prosperity.
Nancy Churchill is the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own.
