Thursday, December 31, 2015

The Best of The Western Right 2015

The Western Right had a slow year in 2015, with 25 posts, but still had a few good ones.

Conservative of the Year: Matt Bevin
Vote NO on the Homeless Tax
Second Hoax at Kalamazoo College
2016 Michigan Congressional Races
2014 ACU Michigan Legislature Ratings
Is Fred Upton More Conservative?
Race Hoax at Kalamazoo College
Where Did Lorence Wenke’s Votes Come From?
Pay for Your Own Buses!

Conservative of the Year: Matt Bevin

2015 was another year of stalemate in Washington, with Republicans largely conceding to the President on spending issues.

The Presidential primary campaigns are well underway.  Establishment favorites Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christie quickly tanked.  The race appears to be down to three candidates.  Donald Trump is conservative on immigration but moderate on most other issues.  He has a unique style that cuts through the media filter but also misses key facts and unnecessarily offends many.  Ted Cruz is a solid anti-establishment conservative who has run a shrewd campaign and has good shot at the nomination.  Marco Rubio is trying to bridge the gap between conservatives and the establishment, but will be hampered by his work on the Gang of Eight amnesty bill.

Meanwhile, there was one significant conservative victory at the state level.  In Kentucky, Matt Bevin was elected Governor.  Bevin is a businessman who in 2014 challenged Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 primary.  He lost, but put up a strong showing that gained him a following around the state.  In 2015, he ran for governor, and barely won a three-way primary against two less conservative candidates.  He was considered the underdog against democrat Attorney General Jack Conway, a position supported by polls that showed him trailing.  But on election day, Bevin won by a nine-point margin.

Bevin campaigned on eliminating Kentucky's Obamacare exchange and Medicaid expansion, ending Common Core, passing Right to Work, and other conservative priorities.  He will have the opportunity to implement many conservative reforms in a state that has mostly been run by democrats for generations.  He is already working to flip the democrat-controlled state house in 2016.

Matt Bevin showed that conservatives can win without compromising their principles if they run good candidates with good campaigns.  He is 2015's conservative of the year.

Previous winners (including retroactive):
2014: Dave Brat
2013: Jeff Sessions
2012: Ted Cruz
2011: Scott Walker
2010: Jim DeMint
2009: Glenn Beck
2008: Sarah Palin
2007: Ron Paul
2006: Jerome Corsi
2005: Tom Tancredo
2004: John O'Neill
2003: Roy Moore
2002: John Ashcroft
2001: George W. Bush
2000: William Rehnquist

Repeal Straight-Ticket Voting

The state legislature recently passed Senate Bill 13 to eliminate straight-ticket voting in Michigan. The Governor should sign this bill.

Democracy works best when voters are informed.  At a bare minimum, voters should have to actually read the name of the office and names of the candidates that they will decide between.  It is an insult to the candidates and informed voters that some choose to vote in elections without even looking at the names on the ballot.

One common objection to eliminating straight-ticket voting is that it would lead to long lines at the polls.  This objection is without merit.  This might be true if Michigan used direct recording or puchcard machines, but we use optical scan machines that count votes but do not record them directly.  The only potential lines at the polls are the line to receive a ballot and the line to submit it, neither of which are affected by the amount of time it takes to fill out the ballot.

Only ten states have straight ticket voting, and the other forty seem to manage fine without it.  Michigan should join them.