THE COALITION
  • Home
  • Past Shows
    • LIVE Broadcast
    • Gina Raimondo Political Hall O' Shame Inductee William Murray Cumberland Mayor 6/9/17
    • Alicia Ann Kelley - Environmental Activist
    • Rob Cote - Activist Extraordinaire
    • Bobby "The Rep" Nardolillo Candidate-US Senate
    • Arvin Vohra LP National Vice Chair 05/19/17
    • Emerge America Political Director A'shanti Gholar
    • Shannah Kurland \\ PrYSM: Community Safety Act
    • The Debate! Jared Moffat Regulate RI vs. MIchael Cerullo RI Center For Freedom & Prosperity
    • FIT: Meg Kerr\\RIPTA Riders-Pawtucket Soup Kitchen
    • Frank Carini -EcoRI.org
    • Attny's McElroy & Elmer: Invenergy!
    • Lynnette Labinger - ACLU / Donna Personeus Thayer St!
    • Jared Moffat Regulate RI
    • Jon Keith - Rhode Island Senate District 27
    • Homeless Bill of Rights Committee September 17, 2016
    • Republicans For Johnson\\\\Weld August 28, 2016
    • Rep Sherry Roberts: Quiet Strength\\Monique Chartier-Freedom & Prosperity\\Daryl Gould LP Candidate GA @ The Superman
    • Analee Berretto: Libertarian Candidate General Assembly Bristol / Portsmouth
    • Charles Wilson - National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers
    • Linda Lotridge Levin- Rhode Island Press Association
    • Pride Week! Thom Simmons LP Candidate US Congress / Mike Shipley Outright Libertarians
    • New England Livery: Uber & The Sharing Economy / Del BigTree Vaxxed The Movie
    • Alex Merced Libertarian For US Senate New York-Joanne Leppanen RIPAC Cannabis Tax Crisis
    • Steve Kerbel / Gary Johnson Libertarian Candidate
    • Phil West\\Bill Felkner CLEANRI.org The Ethics Bill 5/14/16
    • Darryl Perry: Libertarian Candidate for the Presidency of the United States
    • CoHost Blake Filippi \\Gary Sasse Represents John Kasich \\Joe Trillo Represents Donald Trump
    • John McAfee: Libertarian Warrior / Candidate for The Presidency of the United States
    • Austin Petersen: Libertarian Candidate for POTUS \\\\ Jame Kennedy TransportPVD
    • Prof Steven Forleo Rocks Corporate Academia
    • Blake Filippi Libertarian Lion
    • CLEAN RI Bill Felkner
    • Moira Walsh Candidate District 3/RIPTA Riders/Fung Fiasco!
    • State of Homelessness-Rhode Island
    • Emergency Medical Cannabis Summit!
    • Bob Lafleur: Rhode Island Independent Contractors
    • Bella Robinson-Coyote / Norma Jean Almodovar Sex Worker Rights Activist
    • StopTollsRI.com / Rep Pat Morgan
    • Michael G Riley Explains It All To You-Pension Crisis Redux
    • J. Kennedy/J. Harris The 6/10 Connector: Boulevard of Dreams?
    • Bella Robinson\\Maxine Doogan Decriminalize!
    • Dr. Beshara Doumani - Syria! 12/5/15
    • The Curious Case O' The Dancing Cop Moore v. Stewart: Presiding Judge Ford
    • RIPTA Riders Alliance/James Kennedy
    • Joan Chabot Candidate Senate District 11/Hillary Davis: RI ACLU
    • Jim Vickers-Manchester 65\\ Greenwich Cove Meadery October 24, 2015
    • Jim Vincent Providence NAACP October 10, 2015
    • Providence Apartment Association\\\\Monique Chartier December 3, 2015
    • John Miner Russ Moore Alex Merced August 26, 2015
    • Shannah Kurland September 19, 2015
    • Kate Nagle Michael Riley September 12, 2015
    • Providence Bankruptcy! 9/21/14 Riley/Harrop/Flanders The Experts Weigh In!
    • Bob Healey: The Cool Moose 10/12/14
    • The Coalition Episode 5
    • Podcast
    • The Coalition Condensed
  • Advertise
  • Civil Liberty News!
    • PO Taxpayer
    • Tony Jones
    • David Fisher
    • The Goldwater Institute
  • Fight the Stadium
  • YOU! Need To Join The ACLU
  • About Us
    • Hosts
    • In The News
    • Contact Us
    • Media Partners
    • Sponsors
  • LIVE Broadcast
  • Our Next Show
  • Coalition YouTube Page
  • The Coalition Podcast!

What Happened to Rhode Island Republicans?

4/5/2014

Comments

 
Picture
Rhode Island has a long tradition of fiscally conservative and socially moderate republicans. The names Ron Machtley, Claudine Schneider, and John Chafee come to mind. Even current Senator, and Attorney General hopeful, Dawson Hodgson falls into this category. My question is, “What happened to these types of republicans?”

The Republican Party in the U.S. has taken an unwarranted hard right turn since the inception of the Tea Party. While it seemed that the R.I. Repubs had rejected this all-or-nothing approach to governance, I see more and more influence of a stridently vocal minority in shaping the policy decisions and opinions of Rhode Island’s smallest party.

Let's take Rep. Doreen Costa who, during the shakeup in leadership in the RI House, said she was backing Rep. Nicholas Mattiello simply because, "He's not a Progressive." 

Is this the new face of the RI republicans? Can they be counted on to eschew bipartisanship over perceived ideological differences? Is that what Rhode Island needs right now? Moreover, do her constituents feel represented by this stance?

I thought that the Republicans in the RI House were dead set on breaking the existing power structure. As a matter of fact, I wrote a piece on Rhode Island's most liberal blog championing the House Repubs quest to do so (and caught a ton of shit for it!) writing, "Sorry, RI F***** readers, House Democrats came down on the wrong side of open government and public notice on this one."

Recently, in what I thought was an effort to build some bipartisanship in RI, I asked - via Twitter - the RI Tea Party and #TCOTs (get on Twitter, fascinating stuff) to give their opinion on the recent McCutcheon v. FEC Supreme Court ruling. The ruling basically furthered the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling and reinforced the 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo.

In short, these decisions confirm that corporations are people, and that spending money equals free speech.

The traditional RI Republican balks at these concepts, and yet the current crop of so-called conservatives had nothing but praise for the ruling.

Justin Katz (via Twitter) Good. Restricting money in politics only sends it further into the shadows.

Question: Sends money or politics further into the shadows? Is either good for the populace?

RI Tea Party (via Twitter) Corps are not machines they are ppl w/the same rights as everyone else

Question: If corporations are people,  do self-defense or stand your ground laws apply, and why are they not prosecuted for murder, collusion, negligence, etc.?

Mike Stenhouse (Chair of RI Repubs, via Twitter) Unions, individ's, & corps treated the same. Free speech trumps all

Question: Why are they not treated the same? Individuals get prosecuted for crimes, unions get vilified for (gasp!) asking to be paid fairly and retire in some level of comfort. Corporations get a slap on the wrist and a "Keep up the good work, you job creator, you," for any infraction on the public health or well being. It is ABSURD!

Corporations have proven, time and time again, that the unregulated market DOES NOT WORK. Look at the investigation of General Motors, where for the cost of 57 cents per vehicle, the company kept from recalling hundreds of thousands of cars for ten years. The lack of recall caused at least 13 deaths, but they are not being prosecuted for murder, or even negligent homicide.

If you want to treat corporations like people, let's prosecute them in the same manner. Republicans should enforce the same moral imperatives on corporations as they do on people.

Comments

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Dave Fisher

    I am the burr under your saddle. I am the rock in your shoe. I am the limb that appears out of nowhere while you're walking in the woods that you almost walk into and take your eye out. I will afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted, and offend those I find offensive. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.

      Email me!

    Submit
    Tweets about "@DAFisherRI"

    Archives

    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    1st Amendment
    Baldelli-Hunt
    Bernie Sanders
    #blacklivesmatter
    Black Lives Matter
    Blight
    Bureaucracy
    Buying Votes
    Campaign Finance
    Casey
    Chickens
    Chippendale
    Civil Liberties
    C. Montgomery Burns
    Constitution
    Corruption
    Costa
    Crony Capitalism
    Crony Corporatism
    CVS
    DINO
    Electioneering
    Election Fraud
    Ethics
    Fascism
    Felony
    Flexibility
    Funny
    Gina Raimondo
    GoLocalProv
    Graffiti
    Green Party
    Greens
    Hate Speech
    Highway Blocking
    I-195 Land
    I-195 Redevelopment Commission
    Income Inequality
    Islamic
    #Jill2016
    Jill Stein
    #JobsBudget
    Kettle
    Larry Lucchino
    Legislative Grants
    Mattiello
    Maximum Wage
    McCoy
    Minimum Wage
    Morin
    Muslim
    Nazi
    Newberry
    #NoPVDStadium
    Party
    Pawtucket Red Sox
    Phillips
    Progressive
    Protest
    Raptakis
    Religious Right
    Renamed
    Representative Raymond Hull
    Republican Party
    Rhode ISland
    RIFUTURE
    Route 99
    Satire
    School
    Senator Lou Raptakis
    Skeffington
    Skeffo-nomics
    Stadium
    Steve Ahlquist
    Subsidies
    Taxes
    Tea Party
    Thugs
    Transparency
    Trillo
    Vandalism
    Voter Fraud
    Wealth Inequality
    West Warwick
    Woonsocket
    Zoning

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture