Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) doesn’t have a voting record ranked as far left as Socialist Bernie Sanders by accident; Sherrod thinks a bigger central government is the answer to every problem. In this video, Senator Brown applies his trademark class warfare to the issue of Medicare, instructing a gathering of teachers’ union members to indoctrinate their family, friends, and students against cruel conservatism:

Like the first half of Sherrod’s answer to a question about whether privatization of government programs is a Wall Street conspiracy, there is so much stupid in this clip that it’s tough to begin. To his credit, Sherrod Brown is consistent! Sherrod consistently glosses over exploding federal deficits, consistently attributes the worst motives to anyone who tries to limit government’s power, and consistently brags about the wonders of failed Progressive governance.

Even with crippling tax hikes, the government programs whose praises Sherrod sings will bankrupt the nation by mid-century. Even if Medicare did amazing things for every American it served, only a fool or liar would fight reforms to a collapsing system.

This is why I ask, earnestly, my question from the end of the video: Is Sherrod Brown an idiot, or a dishonest idealogue? The brutal effects of Washington spending on America’s economy are plain to see, and unfunded entitlement liabilities total in the tens of trillions. Yet, as our fiscal canoe sloshes toward the falls, Sherrod Brown attacks with a straight face anyone who dares paddle backwards.

Sherrod’s mathematically outrageous and transparently political scare tactics are, like most every policy Sherrod has ever pursued, wrong for Ohio and wrong for America. Next November, Ohio should send Obamacare champion Sherrod Brown packing… along with the guy that awful legislation is named for.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero and Big Government.

Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is the most liberal member of the United States Senate, according to NationalJournal vote rankings. Senator Brown supports the freaks of Occupy Wall Street, opposes free trade, and was the deciding vote for Obamacare.

That vote could be… problematic, as explained by likely 2012 challenger Josh Mandel:

We must not overlook the truly significant blow that Ohioans dealt Obamacare last week, with a mix of 2.2 million Democrats, Republicans and Independents rejecting this intrusion on individual liberty and family control over health care decisions.

Indeed, you would be pressed to find a statist boondoggle Sherrod Brown doesn’t love. Check out this rant from a Q&A session Sherrod held this spring with Ohio’s largest government union:

According to Senator Brown, privatization is always driven by “greed” and always makes “the services get worse.” Hearty red meat for a government union crowd, but keep in mind this was an unscripted response. Bigger government, higher taxes, and demonizing The Rich are the only things Sherrod knows.

Sadly for Sherrod, every county in Ohio voted to amend the state constitution against Obamacare’s individual mandate – even after a $30 million Progressive smear campaign against union reform. With huge turnout for an off-year election, the citizen-driven Health Care Freedom Amendment passed by a wider margin than the union issue failed! Brown claims the amendment was “confusing,” which would be a great explanation for the opposite result.

Think class warfare will convince Ohio to retain America’s most liberal Senator, a freshman who rode into Washington on a 2006 Democrat wave in the Buckeye State? Not if I have anything to say about it.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero and Big Government.

Per The Columbus Dispatch:

The Ohio Supreme Court this morning unanimously rejected an attempt to block an issue from the November ballot that would attempt to opt-out Ohio from the new federal requirements that everyone obtain health insurance.

Good news, as expected. The Health Care Freedom Amendment does what it says, providing Ohioans with an opportunity to fight leftist attempts at centralized government medicine. Complainant ProgressOhio uses this platform as they use all platforms, spinning harebrained Progressive nonsense:

“Ohioans will now have a choice — to return to the days when children were denied insurance coverage over pre-existing conditions; return to the days when seniors have to choose between prescription drugs and groceries; return to the days when young adults can’t stay on their parents insurance and return to the days when small businesses did not get tax breaks for providing insurance.

“This fall “no” will be a beautiful word.”

Where is the option for magically affordable coverage for everyone? Somehow ProgressOhio has missed the past year’s worth of news about what a budget-busting, care-rationing disaster Obamacare will be if it’s not disassembled.

If you live in this dimension’s Ohio, where things aren’t free just because socialists think they can force The Rich to pay for them, vote Yes on Issue 3!

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero and Third Base Politics.

With yesterday’s news that the Secretary of State has certified more than 425,000 signatures supporting The Healthcare Freedom Amendment, it’s official – the November ballot will include a referendum on Obamacare’s key mandate. This is excellent news for Ohioans, and less-excellent news for Progressive advocates of big government.

The amendment, championed by the Ohio Liberty Council and other conservative groups, has found support among Ohio’s GOP establishment – which is finally recognizing the old Democrat-lite agenda as a dead end. In addition to being unaffordable, guaranteeing rationed care, and limiting Ohioans’ health care choices, Obamacare is plainly unconstitutional. Unless you believe (as Sherrod Brown does) that “interstate commerce” means “Washington can decide what you do or do not buy; when, where, and from whom.”

But those reasons don’t explain Republican support for The Healthcare Freedom Amendment! No, according to the Dispatch, “The measure was supported by the state Republican Party as a possible GOP counterweight to the Democrat-backed referendum on Senate Bill 5.”

Ok… let’s go down that road. Progress Ohio and the usual array of mathematically-impaired leftists insist Obamacare is good and necessary legislation, while Senate Bill 5 is the work of hateful extremists. Need proof? Just look at the campaigns behind the two ballot issues:

• Socialized medicine is a long-time goal of Progressives, therefore opposition to Obamacare is evil. Senate Bill 5 changes a law passed by Democrats in 1983, therefore Senate Bill 5 is evil.
• The Health Care Freedom Amendment has support extending beyond Ohio: astroturf! All government unions march to a nationally financed and centrally-organized drum: solidarity!
• Wealthy people sometimes donate to tea party groups – those capitalist swine! Union bosses pay themselves six figures in member dues – those martyrs for workers’ rights!
• Obamacare was written by a few Democrats and lobbyists before being rammed through using flagrant bribes, as all legislation guiding the lives of 308,000,000 people should be. Senate Bill 5 was passed with GOP maneuvering, which is obviously far worse.

Shall we start a collection for train tickets so the InnoProgPolicy Ohio scholars can depart our cloud of backwardness when The Healthcare Freedom Amendment passes and the SB 5 referendum fails?

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero and Third Base Politics.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) created by last summer’s Dodd-Frank “Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection” bill is scheduled to open its doors today, but there’s a bump in the road: those accursed Republicans won’t let Obama place its Director!

The choice of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head a new federal consumer-protection agency did not pacify Senate Republicans, who vowed to fight his nomination until President Barack Obama agrees to revise the powers of the bureau.

Lucky timing for the president, who can only avoid for so long the Democrats’ refusal to produce a budget, let alone try to balance it. An array of talking heads appear content to treat the creation of another federal agency as pragmatism in action, supporting big government until the Wile E. Coyote “splat” goes up at the foot of the cliff.

Why is the G-No-P fighting the CFPB, aside from their deep-seated racism? Using one decent idea – simplified credit card and mortgage paperwork – as sugar, Democrats are pushing a permanent, ill-defined bureaucracy about which we can be sure of only two things:

1. The CFPB will spend bushels of money.
2. Some or all of the CFPB’s rules will have severe consequences.

It’s Obamacare all over again… demagogue an issue, torch a strawman opposed to all regulation, and write 2,000 pages of red tape behind closed doors. The media cheers a noble cause, while more serious problems (in this case, Fannie, Freddie, and mandates in the name of social justice) continue pushing us toward the abyss.

At least we know Richard Cordray is a moderate; once during his term as Attorney General he refused to make a ruckus over an obvious racket:

“We believe these lawsuits do not have any legal merit whatsoever,” Cordray said during a news conference today. “We will not be joining these lawsuits.”

Naturally, the suit Cordray deemed meritless was the states’ challenge to the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” otherwise known was Obamacare. Cordray’s give-no-quarter approach to private industry – coupled with an inclination to let the federal government trample citizens while wasting trillions – will fit in nicely when President Obama appoints him during the next Congressional recess!

Not convinced that skepticism of Czar Cordray’s new agency is warranted? I can’t think of a better argument against the CFPB than simply repeating the primary co-sponsors’ names: Barney Frank. Chris Dodd. Thanks, Mr. President, but no thanks.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero and Third Base Politics.