Georgia State Senate Sez: “We LOVE to violate the Ga Constitution, and rape and pillage the taxpayers.”
by Bill Simon
There’s a little bitty story in this week’s edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle that caught my eye.
For the 2nd legislative session in a row (the first being in 2012), there was an attempt to pass a bill and fund a taxpayer-seeded “venture capital fund.”
I recall arguing against this in 2012, but thanks to all the other crappola going on in the 2013 session, the Senate snuck it in in the 2013 Session.
Thankfully (for the moment, anyway) the State House opted to not fund it and it didn’t pass the bill. (Note to the State House: Yes, I, and other, actual taxpayers in this state…as opposed to abated tax taxpayers…am so proud of you to actually do something “good” for the taxpayers…albeit, I’m fairly certain, this will be a temporary condition.)
Now, I am not sure if the writer of the ABC article was accurate in whether or not the VC fund entity actually exists, and just has an empty bank account, or it still does not exist.
That being said, according to my simple-man’s understanding of the precise, unambiguous wording of Article VII, Section IV, Paragraph VIII of the Georgia Constitution, that publicly-funded “VC fund” is specifically prohibited from being born. This is what that paragraph says:
“State aid forbidden. Except as provided in this Constitution, the credit of the state shall not be pledged or loaned to any individual, company, corporation, or association. The state shall not become a joint owner or stockholder in or with any individual, company, association, or corporation.”
Let me know, Legislators, if there is located, somewhere else in the Ga. Constitution, that provides for the state becoming a stockholder or a loan/credit-provider to a venture-funded entity…?
So, if you cannot become a “stockholder” in the entity, or give ANY kind of financial aid, then it ain’t a “venture-capital fund,” is it? (Note: I don’t expect people like LG Casey Cagle or Ben Fry to actually be able to understand this concept because, being the political-hacks that they are, they likely have never quite cared to understand how free-market capitalism actually works since their job as political hacks is to seek more taxpayer dollars from those who work for their money, and then spend it the way they see fit. That ain’t “capitalism.” That is Obama-nomics.)
The purpose of this clause in the Georgia Constitution is pretty freaking clear: It is not the role of Georgia State Government to directly finance any kind of start-up, either a private for-profit, or an association, or an individual.
It is not your role (whether you are a state legislator OR the Governor) to take our taxpayer dollars, and use them to seed a venture capital fund to fund someone’s VC dream.
And, please, stop this bullshit about “it’s for creating jobs!” That is not the role of government in a capitalistic society. It is the role of government to not interfere with the creation of jobs, but it is not to actually be ‘responsible’ for creating jobs. There is a marked difference between these two concepts.
True, free-market conservatives will understand this difference. Anyone who doesn’t see the difference is clearly not a “conservative”, although, I’m sure, they will claim they are, repeatedly. (‘Cause, if you repeat a lie often enough, it will become truth to the masses.* )
The confiscation of privately-earned money by any government to transfer wealth to someone else, whether it is a $535M “loan” to a company like Solyndra, or the decision by 4 tax-and-spend Republicans on the Cobb County Commission for the joint-venture Braves’ stadium project, or the creation of a taxpayer-funded venture capital fund, specifically violates the concept of a ‘free market, capitalistic society,’ where money earned by people is kept by them to use to create their own ideas for a business enterprise.
The fact that the states of Florida and Tennessee have this VC concept in their government doesn’t mean that Georgia must have it too. Because, well, there just happens to be two very crucial, key differences between those two states, and Georgia. Anyone know what it is? Anyone at all?
Yeah, those two states, in particular, do not have an income tax on their residents. And, they also don’t have a clause in their state constitutions specifically-prohibiting them from doing so either. Ya think that might be a wee bit different of a situation? (“Gee, Beavis…I…dunno….with the education quality of Georgia being in the bottom 10-percentile of the entire nation for the past 100 years or so, these differences are not likely to be understood by those state senators and state representatives intent on violating a document they likely wake-up every morning and spend their time thinking-up new ways to piss all over it, will it?”…”Nahh, Butthead, it won’t”…)
It’s becoming increasingly clear that there really is only one major political party in Georgia, maybe not by name, but by their actions: The Democratic Party.
This Party has two distinct wings: The Liberal Wing, that is all about the liberal-social agendas, and anti-gun, pro-abortion (i.e., The Georgia Democratic Party, Inc.) …and, the Conservative Wing, that being a controlling majority of the elected Republicans in the state legislature (and in county commissions like Cobb & Gwinnett), who are social conservatives, pro-gun, and anti-abortion.
When it comes to taxing and spending, making government bigger and bigger, and taking more freedom away from the people (by creating projects that will require current and future funding by taxpayers), there is not a shred of distinction between what the Democrats did when they were in control of Georgia, and what the Republicans do now in this state.
Not one shred of difference. At. All.
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* This concept of ‘repeating a lie’ is taken from this full-quote by Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of Germany, who actually said this in full: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
