SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 09/27/2014

BILBRAY-KOHN’S DANGEROUS IGNORANCE SPILLS OUT

It’s been fun poking fun at the travails of the most overhyped Democrat congressional candidate of the 2014 election cycle, Nevada’s own Erin Bilbray-Kohn.  Lame communications, anemic fundraising, gaffes, laughs, flubs, schoolyard taunts, false accusations…and that was just at her announcement event!

But as Election Day draws near, we’re now into serious policy matters.  And it’s important to know that Bilbray-Kohn has been boasting of business experience in her campaign propaganda.  But consider the following by Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Laura Myers in a story published Saturday morning about the candidate’s editorial board meeting this week…

“Democratic congressional candidate Erin Bilbray said Friday the national minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour - more than twice the current rate - to boost the middle class and help those barely making ends meet.”

Such ignorance of how the free-market economy works, let alone the proper role of government, should disqualify Bilbray-Kohn from any serious consideration.

“I think we need a minimum wage where people can have a decent lifestyle,” Bilbray-Kohn told the RJ editorial board, adding that “higher wages could lead to more spending, pumping money back into the economy.”

First, it’s not the proper role of government to provide a “decent lifestyle.”  Americans are endowed with the right to life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.  There is no “happiness entitlement” embedded in either our Declaration of Independence or our Constitution (you could look it up).

If any American wants a better lifestyle, here’s how to get it: Turn off the TV.  Turn off YouTube.  Turn off Twitter.  Turn off Facebook.  Turn off email.  Turn off the X-Box.  Turn off iTunes.  And get your sorry rear end to the nearest local taxpayer-funded library and read some books on how to improve your skills or obtain skills that an employer is actually interested in paying you more to perform.

Or maybe just try showing up for work on time.  Or doing your job better, faster and smarter than anyone else.  Make yourself WORTH more to your employer.  Better yet, start your OWN business!

Look, if YOU want a better lifestyle, it’s up to YOU to go get it; it’s not up to the government and taxpayers to “give” it to you.

Secondly, what a load of crappola to make the argument that by forcing private employers to pay workers more than the jobs are worth you’re “stimulating” the economy.  Could there possibly be a dumber argument? 

I mean, come on.  If you can boost the economy by raising the entry-level wage to $15 an hour, why stop there?  Let’s really kickstart the economy and boost the entry-level wage to $25 an hour!  Or $50 an hour!  Heck, why not $75 an hour?

But hang on.  I haven’t even gotten to the hypocrisy aspect of her argument yet.

Later in the story Bilbray-Kohn says she’s opposed to the data collection activities of the National Security Agency (NSA).  “I would never agree to give up my civil liberties for safety,” Bilbray-Kohn said.  “I think freedom is first.”

Wait.  “Freedom is first”?  Then why isn’t a willing employer free to pay a willing worker whatever the willing worker is willing to work for?

The problem with liberals trying to run as moderates is that they trip all over themselves trying to rationalize policy and issue positions that cannot be squared with reality or their true philosophy. 

And anyone so dangerously ignorant of both the free market economy and the proper role of government has no business anywhere near the halls of Congress…except as one of those smelly tourists Harry Reid is always complaining about.

SANDOVAL’S CAMPAIGN SELFIES

Any sentient human being with an IQ over the interstate highway speed limit knows that Nevada “Republican” Gov. Brian Sandoval (R&R-Partners) is a shoe-in for re-election.  The odds of the Democrat beating him on November 4^th has been set by Mandalay Bay at a gazillion to one.

So every dime spent by the Sandoval campaign to selfishly promote Sandoval is for nothing more than pure ego gratification and his consultants’ wallets’ fatification.  Sandoval’s Obama-like “Forward” billboards, his TV and radio commercials, his voter contact mailers…all of that money SHOULD be going to helping down-ballot Republicans get elected instead.

Some titular head.  No wonder party leaders want nothing to do with him.

And speaking of Sandoval, there’s no way this guy has the testosterone to challenge U.S. Sen. Harry Reid in 2016.  But I’m not convinced that Reid will run, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him try to hand down the seat to his son, Rory.

Here’s the thing: If Sandoval does jump into the U.S. Senate race, he won’t be alone.  Conservative Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers is already running and raising money.  And term-limited Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki has long had an interest in that seat.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if Rep. Joe Heck took a serious look at it after he wins re-election in November.

After all, open U.S. Senate seats don’t come around very often.

And that’s the problem for Sandoval.  Sure, he was able to waltz through the GOP gubernatorial primary this year absent a funded, known, credible challenger.  But his prospects as a pro-abortion, tax-and-spend moderate in a competitive 2016 U.S. Senate primary?  Not so good.

Thankfully.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“The debate isn't really about whether government has a role in protecting life. The debate really hinges on when life begins.” – Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)