votes and positions over the past years.
Roberts' voting record going back to the 1990s
Posted on 10/20/2014 6:08:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
Former Democrat House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s political wisdom that “All politics is local” has been a staple in political thinking for many years.
But the truth of the matter is that, regarding elections for national office, politics is really, today, a national business.
And this is what voters in Kansas should be thinking about in the current close Senate race between Republican incumbent Pat Roberts and Independent challenger Greg Orman.
Roberts has not been shy making the point that regaining the Senate by Republicans is crucial and this is what Kansas voters should be thinking about in this election. And he is right.
Let’s consider how the role of the federal government in American lives has changed since Tip O’Neill was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1953.
In 1953 about 15 percent of the federal budget consisted of direct payments to individuals and almost 70 percent of the federal budget consisted of spending on national defense.
Today it is the opposite. Seventy percent of expenditures of the federal government consist of transfer payments made directly to individuals and spending on national defense is barely 20 percent of the federal budget.
Where are all these transfer payments going?
According to John Merline of Investors Business Daily, 38.6 percent goes to pay health bills – through Medicare, Medicaid, or Obamacare, another third is in Social Security payments, 21 percent goes to poverty programs, and 5 percent to veterans.
When Tip O’Neill was first elected in 1953, non-defense expenditures of the federal government amounted to 10.4 percent of our GDP. Today it is 17.6 percent.
So politics cannot be local anymore. America is a different country today than Tip O’Neill’s America. The federal government places a major role – dwarfing that of local government – in the lives of every American citizen.
Furthermore, our political class in Washington – particularly the liberal ones that have controlled our government for the last 6 years – have advanced their control of our personal lives in a surreptitious way. Instead of raising taxes to cover the costs of all new expenditures, they just borrow the money.
Massive increases of American debt finances growth of government with citizens sitting on the sidelines, hearing about what they are getting and not what it is really costing them.
The latest report that federal debt has ballooned to $18 trillion boggles the mind.
That is over $57,000 debt on every US man, woman, and child.
Beyond the overriding economic control that the federal government now has over citizens, federal courts now dictate our social norms.
It is the federal judiciary that defines a woman’s ability to destroy life in the womb. And it is now the federal judiciary that defines what marriage is.
Kansas has always been a red state. The last time Kansans sent a Democrat to the Senate was in 1932. Since then, every Senator from Kansas has been a Republican, except for two populists.
The national agenda – runaway debt, runaway spending, loss of American leadership in the world, collapse of values and the American family at home – permeates every election in every state.
Greg Orman rejects Pat Roberts’ claim that he is a liberal Democrat in hiding. It’s pretty hard to not agree with Roberts when Orman ran for office as a Democrat in 2008, has given major contributions to Democrat candidates, is unapologetic in his pro-abortion stance, and has just been endorsed by the AFL-CIO.
Certainly conservatives have good reason to be disillusioned with the Republican Party over recent years. But at least there is hope that the Republican Party can get back on track.
There is no such hope for Democrats. They stand for everything that is sinking our country.
Pat Roberts is right. We cannot let Kansas turn purple or blue. We need to keep it red and we need to get conservatives back in control in Washington.
If Roberts lived in Kansas then it'd be a state election and not a national one.
<><>he has given major contributions to Democrat candidates,
<><> Orman sucked-up to pro-abortion women, and,
<><> he's earned the endorsement of the AFL-CIO.
The buzz is Big Pharma is running out of digitalis---b/c Democrats are downing it like it was Skittles, in an effort to keep their "Hearts of Gold" beating til election day.
Only problem I see here is that there is no conservative running. That being said, Roberts is the most conservative of the two. Star is right as usual. I hope those who live in Kansas who are mad at the Republicans will do the best thing possible, and that is vote for Roberts.
I fear for the Republic if the Democrats maintain control of the Senate.
He even looks scummy.
Orman
Where does Orman live? Who will he support in the Senate? Where does Reid live? Where does Obama live?
How do you define "conservative". Is there somewhere that we can go to get a list of approved conservatives? Who approves the list?
The important thing is to not split the conservative vote and elect the less conservative, which in my opinion is Roberts opponent.
Olathe.
Who will he support in the Senate?
Democrats. Even if Orman was honest about being willing to caucus with the Republicans Preibus has already said that won't happen.
Where does Reid live?
D.C. suburbs I imagine. But he's not running for re-election in Kansas.
Where does Obama live?
According to Palin at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
She’s only 2 blocks off. Better than Obama’s 7 states off.
Only problem I see here is that there is no conservative running. That being said, Roberts is the most conservative of the two. Star is right as usual. I hope those who live in Kansas who are mad at the Republicans will do the best thing possible, and that is vote for Roberts.
Yes, this is correct. Vote for Roberts but his boosters should stop lying to us about what a rock ribbed conservative he is.
As soon Roberts is safely over the electoral finish line his cheer leading squad will be gone. We won’t hear a peep from them when Roberts knifes Cruz on some cloture vote in the next Senate. We saw this beltway careerist born again conservative movie with Orrin Hatch recently. It has a bad ending for genuine conservatives.
No doubt, but we know what a Democrat controlled Senate gives us. If we give the Republicans the opportunity and they blow it, it will be game, set, match, and bye bye Miss American Pie. We are literally at a cross-road between a rock & a hard spot.
We are literally at a cross-road between a rock & a hard spot.
I’m afraid it’s already over. We have no opposition party to these rampaging demofascists. Main Street has been assaulted by the IRS and kenyancare. The beltway GOP haven’t done a single substantive thing to defend us. No program defunded. Nobody in gaol. Too much work I guess.
Well if we do not give them the opportunity we will never know and it will be over. It the Republicans get their opportunity and blow it they will be out of power and America will be lost. I think I prefer the slim to none chance over the no chance at all. I will grasp at all straws until there are no more straws to grab at all.
The last time Kansans sent a Democrat to the Senate was in 1932.
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The last time Kansans sent a Virginia resident to represent them in the Senate was 2008.
He even looks scummy.
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Hey, Senator Roberts is elderly. Don’t talk about him like that.
Indeed.
Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.
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