What Conservative Isn't

Spurred by a fundraising letter from Governor Mike Rounds, Sibby has an insightful post on his blog.

Governor Rounds talks about conservatism and electing conservatives to government, but as Steve points out

Sounds good, but I don’t remember any tax cuts during the Rounds administration so far. And in regard to "less government" and "disciplined spending", I think this April 1, 2007 post reveals the true Mike Rounds:

State government has swelled under Gov. Mike Rounds - both in spending and employees.

Depending upon whom you ask, it represents either steady but needed growth or an aggressive surge in the public payroll in an era when local governments and other states have curtailed costs.

From fiscal year 2003, the final year of former Gov. Bill Janklow's last term, to fiscal 2007, the end of the Republican Rounds' first term, the overall state budget grew from about $2.5 billion to a budgeted $3.2 billion. The just-passed general appropriations bill tops $3.3 billion.

I found it ironic that for the first several months of 2007, many of the weekly columns I wrote for the Rapid City Journal took issue with some initiative or another being pushed by Rounds. From taxpayer funding to vaccinate young girls against STDs to a minimum wage increase to taxpayer funded preschool..I wouldn't exactly put these in the category of conservatism, which usually means smaller government, free market, and personal responsibility.

Governor Rounds has been better than the alternative, but too often his policies have served as examples of what conservatism is NOT.