Lisa Murkowski: The Bridge to Nowhere candidate

by Clifford F. Thies

Senator Lisa Murkowski is running an ad showing the endorsement she received during the primary by then former Senator Ted Stevens. Murkowski did not run the ad during the primary campaign as Stevens died.

We, at Libertarian Republican, are generally inclined to let the dead rest in peace. But, since Murkowski and the Stevens family have interjected Stevens into the general election, we will comment on the guy.

Stevens was the promoter of the Bridge to Nowhere and dozens of other pork barrel projects for his long-time supporters back home, and was always happy to join into back-scratching deals with his fellow Senators for the mutual assurance of lard for their supporters at the expense of Joe and Jane Taxpayer.

In 2008, he was found guilty on corruption charges for which he was sentenced to five years in prison and was defeated at the polls by the Democrat, giving the Democrats their sixtieth vote in the U.S. Senate and opening the door to a flood of socialist legislation and special-interest spending.

Upon news of the conviction, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin, then the standard bearers of the Republican Party for President and Vice President, called on Stevens to resign from the Senate. Possibly, if he had done so, he could have been re-elected, the seat declared vacant, and a special election could have been called to fill the vacancy. But, Stevens was absolutely too arrogant to see the big picture.

Following the election, there were discoveries of prosecutorial misconduct, and the conviction was vacated. In view of Stevens' age and the fact that he was but a private citizen, the federal government chose not to pursue a new trial. (In contrast, the federal government is pursuing a new trial after a hung jury in the case of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.) This was not an exoneration. In
terms of the law, Stevens is presumed innocent. But, we, acting in the capacity of private citizens, are free to draw the appropriate conclusion.

McCain was absolutely correct to spotlight the corruption that had crept into the Republican Party as a key issue of the 2008 election. His spotlighted boondoggles such as the Bridge to Nowhere sponsored by Stevens and the Woodstock Museum sponsored by then New York Senator Hillary Clinton. These are two of many thousands of other parochial projects, earmarked into legislation without public scrutiny on the basis of $10,000 to $1 for campaign contributions (i.e., $10,000 in contributions gets your project a $100 million earmark). In the case of Stevens, home improvements and other gratuities from those benefitting from legislation he sponsored were also involved, the value of which appears to have been over-stated during his trial.

And, the problem wasn't just in the Senate. Over in the House, Congressman Tom DeLay unveiled the "K Street Project," signaling to lobbyists that Republicans were for sale on the same basis as Democrats. Famously, DeLay declared he war on federal spending over. There was no more fat to cut, he said.

Thus, the Republicans, who were given majority status in order to reign in the gargantuan extent of the federal government, had become taken over the the federal government.

Now, I will get serious. It may be too late to save the country from the coming implosion of the federal government. Even if the Republicans were to win this year's elections, the extent of the fiscal problem is so enormous, the cuts in spending that will be necessary, the futility of trying to increase revenue by raising tax rates even higher, and the looming inflation may mean that it isn't possible, economically or politically, to get the done that needs to be done. Furthermore, the Republicans may, after a few years in the majority, again fall into corruption and lose interest in even making the attempt.

But, re-electing politicians like Lisa Murkowski who are oblivious to the problems befalling our country would be crazy. It would be like throwing gasoline on a fire. You might as well convert your assets into diamonds, sew them into the lining of your overcoat, and seek a new life in another country.

Dr. Thies is a professor of economics at Shenandoah Univ. in Virginia.

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