Great job Missouri!! I thought Missouri had decent, moral, intellegent people living in it’s borders. Now that I see that you just elected one of the most liberal politicians in the state, I now realize that I have made a error in judgement. Good luck with your new Governor your going to need it. How much damage can one liberal do in four years??

Show Missouri to be a model for the rest of the country. Abolish income taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes and replace all with a 20% tax on all purchases. Stop all TIF and entitlement taxes to corporations and let the free market sort itself out. Cut all welfare programs and let the communities,churches and private social programs help thoses in dire immediate need. As we recently passed laws allowing the casino loss limit to be dropped, realocate this money to education. Reduce the amount of money we spend on our legal system by decriminalizing marijuana and instead build an industry to produce and sell it and tax the hell out of it. Release all prisoners of the war on drugs and hire them for the purpose of starting this industry. The 20% consumption tax, the taxes on casino revenues, and the newly formed marijuana industry, along with the savings from reducing the incarceration level would leave the state government with a budget surplus that could be used to fund health care with treatment for drug addicts, the repeal of payroll taxes would draw employers, and the economy would turn around quickly.

1) Take an hour, read the Missouri constitution, and make a solemn vow to follow it in all of his enthusiasms and decisions.

2) Get all the creationists out of the schools and political PC positions, and back to church where they belong.

3) Get the government away from micromanaging people’s lives, and back to protecting our common resources as it should.

4) Get politics out of the merit system, give people their “on paper” job descriptions back, and judge them on how well they do their job, not on cronyism.

5)Protect the small from the big, the poor from the wealthy, and the majority from all the political extremists of all flavors.

6)Enjoin all citizens to make their best effort at all times, maximizing the general good for all over the extreme good for any particular group.

7)Keep the government out of places it doesn’t belong, like reproductive rights, prescribing(or not prescribing) medications, and using my pocketbook for unworthy causes.

8)Make a pledge to do the most for the people with the smallest amount of money possible, but don’t engage in false economy which causes bigger bills down the road.

9)”Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.”–Missouri State Motto

10) Remember, it’s just a job, smell the roses in the Governor’s Garden and invite Kenny over for basketball occasionally.

I read through all of the messages above before posting my own thoughts. But first, a little comparison… Has anyone been following the sordid state of affairs in California? My father lives there, and I hear snippets from him. Things like a $20-40B deficit, or not paying income tax refunds this year (vouchers instead), or even bigger, meaner, more invasive government… Not a happy state of affairs. Then I look to our own state

For years I have thought I am lucky to live in a state that is realtively fiscally conservative. Some State services could be better, but how do we pay for it/them? Gore one ox to fatten the other? No one wants higher taxes, and no one wants their pet/favorite program bled to fund another. All in all, I think Missouri provides a fairly balanced slate of services.

My pet programs:

1. Nixon needs to get behind an increase (a substantial one too) of the State’s gas tax. Missouri has one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation, and the lowest of any adjoining states. Use the proceeds to increase MoDOT funding, AND bolster funding for mass transit.

2. Special Education. Fully fund it.

3. Department of Conservation. Ever hear anyone in Missouri complain about the poor job the DOC does? Exactly! We have one of the BEST state conservation departments in the nation, and also have an excellent storehouse of conservation areas. Funding to the DOC is very modest. Imagine what they could do with even a slight increase.

4. Gambling: Get rid of it. Not from a moral or other similar perspective, but from that of a nuisance. Look how dependent education funding is gambling revenue now. What happened to all of the money that USED to go to education? Gamblig is a tax - a tax on the poor. Wean the state off of it, and implement other funding.

I’ve got a few more, but will leave space for others.

Ban smoking in public places.

Invite an investigation by federal authorities into the corruption of Mat Blunt and his crooked friends in Kansas City and Jeff. This is echoing all of my Republican friends save one, an exec for an insurance company that paid into Blunt’s campaign coffers.

Find ways to implement reconnecting children in the public schools, especially boys and young men,who do not have relationships with their fathers, or good relationships, with them.

Tim, I agree. Nixon should resign. I was going to give him a chance, then he irresponsibly gave all State employees the day off yesterday. Who pays for that, the State Tax Payers. He cannot wait to waste all of the surplus Blunt left him. Nixon is an idiot. Missouri didn’t have much of a choice. Hulshoff is an idiot too. It was like choosing between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Boyd, don’t just pick on sport stadium tax breaks. Let’s work on TIF’s in wealthy areas like Des Peres and Chesterfield. I know the going after the sports stadiums is “sexy” but let’s call out all gov’t waste of our tax dollars.

Be non partisan and fiscally responsible.