Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/217452
final word | by Tom Jackson TJackson@randallreilly.com The RINOs charge: Republicans return to the middle How much government do we want and how best do we achieve that? M ost construction contractors bleed red when it comes to politics. Being bootstrap, private enterprise kind of guys, they're often dismissive of what they see as a bloated and inefficient government. But therein lies an irony and a dilemma. Tax-generated, public money comprised 33 percent of all construction dollars spent last year: $279 billion out of $843 billion (according to the tax-supported, government-run U.S. Census Bureau). Public construction will probably total 29 percent of all construction put in place this year. So it is ironic when contractors support anti-tax groups like the Tea Party and Grover Norquist's American's for Tax Reform, seeing how taxes fund almost a third of the construction industry. The dilemma is what to do, because there is a lot of bloat, waste and inefficiency in the government, even if it isn't in the public construction sector, which is all low-margin, competitively bid work. "Hope is not a plan," was one of the conservative memes ricocheting around the Internet a while back, and that's absolutely true. Here's another truth: Being against everything is not a plan, either. With Chris Christie earning his second term as governor of New Jersey and Bradley Byrne winning his first election to the House of Representatives from Alabama's District 1 in November, what we may be seeing is resurgence of moderate Republicans (sometimes dismissively referred to as RINOs, Republicans in name only). And this may spell the beginning of the end for the Tea Party. If the trend continues it 78 October 2013 | EquipmentWorld.com could bring a chance of passing a legitimate highway bill. Remember the multi-year infrastructure funding process we had for half a century, right up until Congress went crazy with their continuing resolution gridlock showdowns about five years ago? Much as the Tea Party would like, we can't shrink the government to zero. The issue we have to settle first, before any discussion of taxes, is the question: how much government do we want and how best do we achieve that? If the Republicans can distance themselves from their ideological firebrands, perhaps the Democrats can repress their Bolshevik tendencies and meet them in the middle. Bradley Byrne is a smart politician. He's not as liberal as many pundits think. He took on the education lobby and tackled some thorny problems in his brief career in Alabama politics. His district, Mobile, is one of the top job-creating industrial powerhouses in the Southeast. And this is the most conservative state in the union. The Tea Party opposed him and lost. I don't want to see the Tea Party go away. Nobody else in the country is holding the government's feet to the fire. The national media are nothing but cheerleaders for one side or the other. But the Tea Party has to come to the realization that the majority of people are not going to be for you if your ideology is to opposed to everything the government does. Give us a plan. Not a reason to vote against, but a reason to vote for. Tell us what you would cut and what you would keep. If you want a country with no government, move to Somalia. EW