I can’t imagine how
you can think philosophy and wine are similar—except in this one respect, that
philosophers sell their learning as shopkeepers their wares; and most of them
dilute it, too, and defraud customers — Lucian, “The Sale Of Philosophers”
The Democrats' problem in Connecticut is simple: you can’t
sell a failure to someone who has experienced the failure. Working class
citizens in Connecticut are poorer now than they were before Dannel Malloy
became governor in 2011 and
after more pending tax increases, they will be poorer still. The assets sunk in their property have been devalued; workers in the private marketplace haven’t had raises in years; college tuition for their children has increased,
along with their inability to pay metastasizing tax increases; despite the
insistence of reigning politicians that the future will be rosy under an
enlightened, progressive administration, their recent, remembered past has been
a nightmare. The clunker doesn’t move forward or backwards, and the guy and gal
yelling in the front seat – buy, buy – have by now lost all credibility.
Promises have become pretentions – diluted wine, false philosophies.
This roiling discontent lies just under the surface of
Connecticut politics. It is only a matter of time before the general unease
blossoms into a quiet rebellion, except in places like Hartford, where despair
has murdered hope. Hartford, Connecticut’s Capital City, is on the point of
bankruptcy, economically, politically and spiritually. So are the state’s other
large cities, most of which, for the past half century, have languished in the
iron grip of a Democratic hegemony.
Malloy’s progressive administration has now become a tar pit
over which should be hung the motto “abandon hope all ye who enter here.” As a
practical matter, this means that no Democrat directly associated with the
dying, problem infested, progressive regime of Malloy will have an unquestioned
chance of being elected governor. The spoils that went to victor Malloy in the
2011 gubernatorial race have now been spoiled by Malloy and a tax hungry
Democrat dominated General Assembly.
Increasing taxes during a national recession has had the
effect in Connecticut prophesied in 1990 by soon to be Governor Lowell Weicker.
Increasing taxes during a recession, said Weicker, would be tantamount to pouring
gas on a fire. His prophecy, which Weicker quickly discounted once he became
governor and found he needed an income tax to spare a largely Democrat General
Assembly the necessity of cutting spending, has been borne out by progressive Governor Malloy, who twice
imposed crushing taxes on Connecticut’s real working party, Connecticut’s
taxpaying middle class that has, so far, shouldered rising expenses, even as the
state has suffered from two major recessions prolonged by politicians averse to
long term, permanent spending cuts. This
overburdened proletariat is now poised on the edge of a quiet rebellion that
may not be detected by the usual polls. Connecticut’s cities, long the
political preserves of ruling class Democrats, also are restive.
A candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket who has
not been directly involved with the dystopian Malloy regime probably would
stand an even chance of retaining the governor’s office for Democrats. Most
gainfully employed state Democrats in Connecticut have been soiled, in one way
of another, by attempting to sell clunkers to an awakening voter base. The
progressive tar staining their politics -- when in doubt, tax; resist
permanent, long term spending cuts; eat the rich -- has become glaringly
obvious.
The question arises, where can such a champion –
economically and socially moderate, as are most Connecticut voters, and detached
from the ruinous policies of the Malloy administration – be found within
Democratic Party ranks?
One obvious answer is – outside the magic circle of those
Democrats directly implicated in active state politics. A strong, moderate Democratic
mayor might do, distance and separation from the architects of Connecticut’s
long winter of discontent being a plus. Any moderate member of Connecticut’s
all-Democrat U.S. Congressional Delegation might turn the trick. Recruitment could
be a problem. Connecticut U.S. Senators Dick Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both
unrepentant progressives, appear to be enjoying themselves obstructing the
Trump regime. And Democrat king-makers will remember how long it took to
dislodge Blumenthal from his plush, status driven position as Attorney General.
Three U.S. Representative in the state’s Washington
delegation – Elizabeth Esty, Joe Courtney and Jim Himes – find it useful on occasion
to affect moderation. All have the requisite experience and brains to guide the
state in a non-progressive direction. But there is a problem; politicians so
comfortably situated are unwilling, as a general rule, to leave distant, quiet
waters and bravely engage the stormy tempest at home.
It is sad but true that Connecticut’s politicians have
little in common with the state’s hero, Nathan Hale, who regretted that he had
but one life to give for his country, and then surrendered it up for posterity.
The number of Connecticut politicians willing to die politically so their state
might survive and prosper is disappointingly small. Too many fraudulently dilute
both their wares and themselves.
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