Beto’s Facade

Beto O’Rourke has created a facade for himself. Positioning himself as neither for a political party or political ideology but for the common man. It only requires a quick look at his platform, support of far left ideas, and voting record to see that his core ideology is that of Socialism.

What happens when Beto’s ideas become policy and that policy affects you and yours. Beto’s platform is in line with the Democratic Socialist platform which is to increase taxes and expand government. Beto’s platform would strip away at Texans opportunities, rights, and liberties which would hurt minorities the most.

Education

In one of the largest meta-analysis done on school choice it was found that school choice works. School choice allows parents especially those living in low-income areas who are confined to   under performing schools in the district to take their children and place them in better performing schools of their choice.  Public school teachers  specifically those in Democrat cities send their children to private schools at 2-4  times the national average. If Democrats like Beto and public school teachers are so confident about the public school system, why not send their own children through? Why do they send their children to private schools with your tax dollars via their tax funded paychecks then tell you NO, your child shouldn’t be afforded the same opportunity.

The government’s monopoly on education has little to no accountability to parents.  Economist Thomas Sowell outlined with facts, the benefits of school choice  notably for minorities. His arguments still hold true forty years later. He brought up  the point “in what harm would come in allowing parents to choose their child’s education over that of some distant bureaucrat.” To put it in perspective who knows what is best for your child, Beto or you?

Beto continuously boasts of not having received any Political Action Committee (PAC) money. What Beto never mentions is how for decades public sector unions like those of the teachers unions collected union fees by force. Which they funneled into influencing public policy. Usually in the form of Democratic policy and politicians. These same policies, politicians, and unions which in turn made subpar performance the standard not the exception at public schools. They placed teachers tenure over performance. It was government officials expanding the role of government by force. Beto rarely mentions his endorsement from teachers unions or that his wife championed for and directed a charter school. Beto’s voting record is inconsistent with his stance and proposed platform.

Economy 

Beto had the opportunity to work with congress in achieving all four of the issues outlined in his economic platform. Beto voted NO to both the rollback on the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) and the GOP Tax Plan.  Both which provided four million   American workers thus far with bonuses, 401k hikes, raises, and most with pay increases. Those legislation’s along with a booming economy, and low unemployment is setting record lows for people of color. Record lows which haven’t been seen in decades. I personally had friends and family who received end of year bonuses upwards of $1,500.00 due to the new legislation. Beto wants economic policy “that encourage companies to focus on returning investments back to their consumer, their employees, and to the community” yet Beto voted NO to the policies that provided it.

According to the Hoover Institutions working paper titled The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Small Business.  It was found that the Dodd-Frank Act reduced Cost & Industrial loans at large bank by nine percentage points and it was twice that at small banks. Hurting small banks and businesses the most. When it came time to “lower the barrier for entry for small business” Beto voted NO.

Beto said in his debate “we need a US senator that will stand up to this President where we must and work with him where we can.” Beto has already proved with his voting record, that he is the party of resist. Why should you believe that him as a US Senator will be any different.

Housing

Democrats like Beto continue to push for redistribution of wealth, more taxes, regulations, and restrictions despite its impact on their communities and constituents. Look at homeownership rates in Democrat vs Republican areas. Home ownership which is one of the most important steps for building wealth. The home ownership rates for people of color are higher in the south which is predominantly Republican, yet Democrats continue to over regulate and restrict housing growth affecting minorities the most.

Law Enforcement

When liberals like Beto and left leaning media continue to make misleading claims regarding African-Americans and police shootings, it only deepens the divide. Police departments all across the nation have lowered age requirements, are willing to overlook certain past law violations to include drug offenses, and have initiatives for recruiting more minorities. Part of the solution should be encouraging more people of color to join law enforcement not protest them with misleading claims.

People of Color

Beto argues “that America’s large prison population disproportionately comprised of people of color then we have something wrong.” Obama’s Father’s day remarks from June 2008. “We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are twenty times more likely to end up in prison.”

We have seen the continuous rise in out of wedlock births for Latinos, Hispanics, and African-Americans. Yet we still look to externalizations for the cause of the issues and not the home. We shouldn’t allow bad behavior to delve to the point where it becomes criminal activity and then wonder why people of color are being incarcerated in such high numbers.

Some of the worst run cities where large segments of the population are Hispanics, Latinos, and African-Americans living under horrible conditions have been under Democratic control for decades.

Choice

Beto has embraced far left ideology on multiple occasions from abolishing ICE (which is composed of 50% Latinos), to universal healthcare, gun control, and expanding government.  If Texans want to chip away at their livelihood, liberties, rights, and property then Beto is the man for the job. Just don’t be upset when your taxes rise, government gets bigger, and you get smaller.

Governor Ige’s Private School Hypocrisy

Governor David Ige staunchly opposes school choice stating that public tax dollars should not be used to fund your children’s private school tuition, while simultaneously having sent his own children to private school with your tax dollars.

Governor Ige proudly proclaims he is the result of the public school education system yet conveniently leaves out the fact his children attended private school.

Why is that Governor Ige has placed such an emphasis on increasing education spending when more spending does not necessarily equate to better results? Why is that Governor Ige regularly speaks of special interests yet never mentions the special interests of the teachers unions? Do teachers unions really have the interests of students over that of their own?

We’ve seen how public unions especially those of the teachers have forcibly collected union fees to push political causes and candidates that their own constituents do not even support.

Now we have progressives like Kanela Ing, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders within the Democratic Party looking to indoctrinate children in socialist ideology.

Hawaii’s Democratic regressive policies only continue to hurt the hardworking people of Hawaii. The high tax burden coupled with the restrictive housing policies leave many individuals and families having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet or leaving the state entirely. Between heavy taxation and bureaucratic legislation the people of Hawaii have furthered the Government’s reach into everyday life, especially that of education.

One would think that with the heavy taxation in Hawaii that taxpayers would be allowed more flexibility in how their tax dollars could be used. As said by Ige himself, ” I support early childhood education but I am opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment that allows taxpayer dollars to be spent on private preschools.” What this translates into is that Governor Ige opposes school choice.

Like most in congress ,  and public school teachers, Governor Ige tells the taxpayers NO to school choice and enrolls his children in private schools. If the public education system is so great, why not send his own children?

Governor Ige rejects school choice; which allows parents to take their children out of underperforming schools and place them in better performing schools with their very own tax dollars.

If it’s your children’s future and your tax dollars, why would you want to elect a leader who thinks he knows what’s best for your children? Yet Governor Ige did not send his own children to those same schools he supports so adamantly.

Not only do parents continue to support the monopoly the government holds on education, they do not question its grasp. Democrats are adamant about not allowing school choice to progress but they themselves  do not always send their children to public schools.

What is even more disturbing is the Democratic Socialists of America are now targeting the public education system to indoctrinate children in socialist ideology.

Hawaii’s most important and valuable asset is its people, especially the Keiki.  Do you want a political leader that is already talking about increasing taxes, who has already restricted the housing supply, and who has limited your children’s education under the guise of Democracy?

LimeBike

How authoritative nonsense replaced common sense  

Hawaii’s politicians have finally done it. They have put the nail in the coffin for common sense, private business, and legislative action. If you were to ask residents of Hawaii what are issues they find most concerning? Some responses you’d probably hear would be homelessness, crime, drugs, housing, education . For the politicians of Hawaii LimeBike or in Hawaii’s case Lime scooters are top priority.

This is not a complex issue. You have politicians wasting billions of tax payer dollars for an eggs in one basket approach to reduce car use, traffic, and congestion. Multimodal transportation is one of the the ways in which we can reduce these issues.  Obviously we are not going to be riding a lime scooter with 4 people from Waimanalo to Waianae.

What Lime is providing, however, is a private business solution at an extremely low cost and at no cost to us the taxpayers. They are providing a solution  for the last mile dilemma, and for short trips that otherwise might have used a car. They are cheap, easy to use, and don’t require government subsidies, grants, or taxes.

Hawaii’s legislation has driven small and private business out of the islands in favor of regulations and taxes. Regulations and taxes that only hurt the very people they are intended to help. Regulations and taxes that favor government intervention, state control, and big business.

Due to rising costs the rail should not go beyond Kalihi as those cost will rise tremendously within urban Honolulu. We can begin to take steps, measures, and legislative action within the current budget and framework to reduce, improve, and ease traffic and congestion. The issue however is that we have a political body that does not seek to do the aforementioned but instead only looks to increase taxes and be ineffective with layers of legislation and regulation.

We need to fix Hawaii’s roads, expand them, add more bike lanes, redesign the  bus network. Houston, Texas along with its rail project redesigned its bus network at a 4% increase equaling $12 million to its bus operations budget along with ridership increasing.  Nashville voted against building rail due to the heavy tax burden. This goes back to not just electric scooters but also bike share programs.

Its simple, we can allow politicians to spend millions in fixing the roads, improving the infrastructure, allowing private businesses to provide solutions for cheaper at no cost to the taxpayer. Or we can continue to spend billions on a failed rail projects and government grants for Biki.

Why this is critical to the Lime issue is because if we allow politicians and a vocal minority  to hijack and navigate the conversation in a negative way then we will continue to get bad results.

Elected officials cite ADA concerns at bus stops, safety issues, regulations, licensing, and the legality of Lime. They are using police resources to pickup inanimate objects. Think about it. When crime was rising in Waikiki Mayor Kirk Caldwell simply said Waikiki is a safe place. When homeless camps pop up overnight in public parks do we see this fast of a response? Or the citing of legality and safety in order to justify the use of police resources? When people find dirty needles in public parks and spaces do we see this type of swift action?

The bicycle registration was enacted in response to a surge in bicycle thefts, rather than simply taking a hard stance on crime. Rather than punishing the criminals the political body punished the hardworking taxpayers by implementing a costly useless registration. Politicians raised the threshold level for felony theft. Did it lower thefts? Have the millions collected from car, bike, motorcycle, and moped registration gone to more policing, improving roads, punishing criminals?

Lime is crucial because it’s were the people of Hawaii can draw the line with the regressive ideology that plagues Hawaii’s political landscape. Contact your local representative wether you are for or against Lime or any of the issues mentioned. Let you representative know that there are more pressing issues than electric scooters. That police resources should go towards protecting & policing neighborhoods not penalizing and jailing people for riding a scooter.