How Do Virginia’s National Politicians Respect Economic and Personal Liberty?

Guest post by Charles Frohman

Since 1989 the Liberty Index (http://www.scribd.com/doc/199483758/Liberty-Index-2013) has rated politicians based on fiscal issues such as cutting taxes and regulations, and personal social issues such as respecting privacy and due process, among other issues.  One might think Republicans may do better economically and believe Democrats would succeed on the social issues.  Let’s look at Virginia’s members of Congress and see how well they keep government out of our wallets and personal lives, remaining aware over the weakness of this and all surveys:   the limitation imposed by the available votes.

That is, votes were scheduled on only a limited number of issues under each category.  Had more votes been available on a wider range of issues, scores could have changed at least marginally.  Click the link above to look at the actual votes.  Meanwhile, for the votes the politicians actually submitted, they could have made better choices, as reflected in the overall low scores of Virginia’s politicians.  Remember these scores next time you vote at the ballot box.  Overall, House Republicans scored a solid 86, with their counterparts in the Senate disappointing with a 42, while Democrats in both houses came in at zero, on average.  In Virginia our top scorer was Congressman Griffith, representing southwest Virginia, at 84.  The rest of our congress-critters deserve primary challenges.

Name                           Econ Liberty   Personal Liberty         Average=Score

Senators

Kaine, Tim                              15                                       5                                  10

Warner, Mark                        15                                      24                                19

Representatives

Cantor, Eric                           95                                     26                                61

Connolly, Gerry                     20                                     35                                28

Forbes, Randy                        80                                    40                                60

Goodlatte, Bob                        95                                    50                                73

Griffith, Morgan                     90                                    79                                84

Hurt, Robert                          100                                    53                                76

Moran, Jim                                0                                    55                                28

Rigell, Scott                           100                                    53                                76

Scott, Robert                           10                                    68                                39

Wittman, Rob                         95                                    40                                68

Wolf, Frank                             85                                    47                                66

Again, click the link above to look at the limited number and range of votes on which our congress members are ranked.  But also wonder why when given a vote, they chose government control over personal liberty.  Virginia, the home of our nation’s founders, deserves better.

Charles Frohman, from Suffolk and now in Williamsburg, worked in DC politics for 2 decades including Governor Gary Johnson’s 2012 presidential campaign.  He is a regional fundraiser for the Our America Initiative, the only national grassroots movement for fiscally responsible activists who also are socially open-minded.  To reach Charles, email CFroh@yahoo.com.