All The Power To The Top

It should come as no surprise that when Republicans gain power, as they have in Indiana's and New Hampshire's legislatures, they try to take away make it so that workers have even less say about their work conditions. We have a bad economy, and it's a golden opportunity for them to return to the Gilded Age.

Never mind that more than 285,000 residents are looking for work and that public schools are trying to minimize harm to students from a $300 million, two-year budget cut. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and his allies in the state legislature have decided that their No. 1 priority this legislative session is to enact a so-called right-to-work law that research shows will lower the average worker’s wages by $1,500 a year.

Republicans Push to Overturn Voting Rights

Not that the title of this post is any surprise. But Republicans have become increasingly brazen in their attempts to disfranchise groups that don't vote for them--people of color and the young. They aren't even really trying to hide this anymore. Take the New Hampshire Republican Party, who are pushing a measure that would ban young people from voting in their college towns unless they have lived there in the past or can somehow prove that they intend on staying in town after they graduate (how this would actually work is a whole other question). The New Hampshire Speaker of the House:

He said students in college towns register to vote on Election Day "and are basically doing what I did when I was a kid and foolish, voting as a liberal.
"That's what kids do," he said. "They don't have life experience and they just vote their feelings. And they've taken away the town's ability to govern themselves. It's not fair."

It's true--it's just not fair that a town would have Democratic voters!

Next they will probably seek to overturn the 19th Amendment. After all, Republicans frequently suffer from a gender gap.

Most Prominent Politiicans From Each State (IX): New Hampshire

New Hampshire's list is very weak. Basically, it's suffered from being a very small state bordering the state with probably the most prestigious list, Massachusetts. If you created a list of political figures born in New Hampshire, it would be a lot more impressive. New Hampshire also suffers from a history of not reelecting people much. Nonetheless, here we go:

1. Franklin Pierce. One of our worst presidents, served from 1853-57

2. Levi Woodbury, Senator, Supreme Court justice, 1845-51, leading Democratic figure of the Jacksonian period. Secretary of the Navy, 1831-34, Secretary of the Treasury, 1834-41. Given that Woodbury was Secretary of the Treasury during the Panic of 1837, this probably isn't something to be too proud of. But in New Hampshire, it's as good as it gets. 

3. H. Styles Bridges, Senator, 1937-61, Senate Minority Leader, 1952-53. Reactionary Republican who thought FDR and the CIO were communists. 2 time Chairman of Appropriations Committee.

4. David Souter. Supreme Court justice, 1990-2009

5. Warren Rudman, Senator, 1980-93, best known for his leadership on economic policy.

6. Jacob Gallinger, Senator 1891-1918. Fairly well-respected Republican insider of the late Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era, but really pretty nondescript.

7. John Sununu, Sr., Governor, 1983-89; Chief of Staff for President George H.W. Bush

8. Henry Keyes, Senator, 1919-37. Did virtually nothing, but did serve longer than almost any New Hampshire Senator. 

We're going to end it here, because to go to a top 10 for New Hampshire is an exercise in just randomly picking people at this point. There probably is some governor who passed something important in the 1880s or something, but I'm no expert on New Hampshire.And I have a lot of trouble believing that Judd Gregg really belongs on this list.

Next: Virginia

Appointments

While I'm a bit disappointed that Judd Gregg is being replaced by a Republican, I still have no fundamental problem with the appointment. Commerce is an almost meaningless agency (really, if we wanted to save money by cutting a large agency, it seems like Commerce is the place to start. You could merge a lot of its functions back into Treasury) and it eliminates a popular Republican senator in a Democratic state. This opens up the seat to a much easier Democratic takeover in 2010 and forces the Republicans to defend yet another tough open seat (along with Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and Kansas if Sebelius runs).

That said, I still don't understand Obama's bipartisanship. It's obvious that the Republicans are not going to play along. Still, for positions this meaningless, why not.

On the other hand, I'm really disgusted by the high number of appointees who haven't paid their taxes. Given that I think a Democratic government needs to make the argument that taxes are a good thing and that we should pay more of them for needed social services, appointing so many people with tax problems is not a good message. I would have no problem if Daschle were forced to withdraw his nomination; Howard Dean would make a perfectly good Secretary of Health and Human Services. I see that Nancy Killefer withdrew her nomination for Chief Performance Officer for the same reason. Clearly Obama wasn't going to expend political capital to defend a nominee of lesser importance.

But Obama needs to send the message (or the Senate if not Obama) that not paying your taxes is completely unacceptable. To me, this is a reminder of how Democrats joined Republicans in an all-out grab for money and orgy of greed in the last 30 years. How can we trust the Democrats to reinstate necessary regulations on industry and finance and lead the nation away from the policies of Reagan and Bush if they so clearly embraced that creed?

Update: And Daschle withdraws. It's too bad--I think he would have made a good health care czar. On the other hand, pay your fucking taxes.

Dixville Notch

The vote in one town doesn't matter.

However, Dixville Notch, New Hampshire fulfilled its usual role today as the first place to vote in the nation.

In 1988, Bush beat Dukakis in Dixville Notch 34-3. In 2004, W beat Kerry 19-7.

Today, Obama beat McCain 15-6.

If Dixville Notch at all represents shifts among small-town voters, this is going to be a very long night for McSame.

Historical Image of the Day

Harriet Wilson statue, Milford, New Hampshire. Wilson was the first African-American novelist in U.S. history. Her 1859 work, Our Nig, exposed black indentured servitude in the North and was based on her own experiences as a girl. The work was ignored until Henry Louis Gates rediscovered it in 1982.

Historical Image of the Day

Map of New Hampshire and Vermont, 1796