Tuesday, March 22, 2011

TEXANS: Circle April 6, 2011 On Your Calendar

Attention fellow Texans: Lobby Day 2011 is fast approaching.

Circle the date of April 6, 2011 with a bright red marker! On that date, a big rally is planned at the State Capitol in Austin by every left leaning group who depends on your hard earned tax dollars for their very generous benefits and retirement pensions.

While conservatives labor away on that day, as is the normal course of events, there is no way to counter the number of rally participants expected to descend upon the Capitol. So, take a few minutes and make some calls that day. Burn up the phone lines! Call on state legislators to stand firm and continue to work on finding cuts to make to balance the budget.

It is named Save our State Rally.

It's a virtual field of all the usual suspects - union and public employee participants that are busing their people in to lobby the state legislature against making cuts to balance the budget. Here's some of the groups calling for their members to show up for the day: Texas State Employees Union, Center for Public Policy Priorities,Children's Defense Fund,Cover Texas Now,Save Our Schools,
Texas AFL-CIO,Texas AFT,Texas Forward,Texas Impact,Texas League of Young Voters,Texas Organizing Project,Texas State Employees Union,Texas State Teachers Association.

It will be a large crowd and the press will be all too happy to cover the day. Here's a list of cities and towns participating with bus service available to the rally:

Abilene, Alice, Amarillo, Beaumont, Big Spring, Brenham, Brownville, Brownwood, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Corsicana, Crocket, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Falfurrias, Ft. Stockton, Ft. Worth, Fredericksburg, Giddings, Gonzalez, Greenville, Harlingen, Houston, Kingsville, Laredo, Lockhart, Longview, Lubbock, Lufkin, McAllen, Mexia, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, Nacogdoches, Odessa, Prairie View, Raymondville, Richmond, San Angelo, San Antonio, Sweetwater, Temple, Terrell, Texarkana, Texas City, Tyler, Vernon, Victoria, Waco, Wichita Falls.

It is hyped as using the Wisconsin model. The same deceitful language is tossed around - the sick and handicapped, senior citizens, union members, children, the poor - will all suffer at the hands of budget cuts. The language is the same:

Building on the spirit and energy of rallies around the country calling on state governments to prioritize education, health care, public safety, the environment, and jobs, we will demand that Texas take a balanced approach to balancing the state budget by spending our state's savings in the Rainy Day Fund and finding new revenue. Be part of the movement to move Texas forward! Bring your family and friends and wear your rain gear! There's a torrential storm in Texas and together we have the power to turn the tides!

It was too cold in Wisconsin for rain gear, but you get the picture. They are demanding the draining of the Rainy Day Fund and raising taxes (finding new revenue). It's the liberal approach to balancing a budget.

As fiscal conservatives, we demand that Texas take a balanced approach to balancing the state budget, too. Our approach is built around common sense, though. Teachers don't have to be laid off if administration bloat is remedied. Union members can pay a smidge more for benefits and towards retirement pensions and still pay nowhere near what private sector employees pay towards their benefits and pensions, if a pension is even offered. That is how you save a state.

Public employees have the notion that they are a special class of worker - one who is entitled to your money for their perks. Those days are long gone in this economic climate.

Reality bites.

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