This article illustrates the idiocy of one of the few votes Dan Liljenquist could be bothered to make in his short stint with the Utah Legislature – a sin tax increase on cigarettes.
The fact that he bothered to show up for this vote means he thought it was important. The fact that he got it wrong illustrates (a) that he isn’t as conservative as he likes to pretend (b) that in spite of his economics degree, the man understands little about tax policy and (b) we can trust him to ignore the law of unintended consequences (every policy change has consequences.
If any of you are wondering why so many true economic conservatives are still opposed to Liljenquist, this article explains why. Many who dislike Hatch and consider him a ‘moderate’ are just as quick to point out that Dan Liljenquist, for all his rhetoric, would be no significant improvement. This is in fact the reason why FreedomWorks failed to endorse Dan Liljenquist sooner and is I think part of the reason why Ultra right-wingers like Don Guymon don’t drop to their knees for the man.
Tomorrow many voices will be heard, but among them will be those who are truly conservative to the core and who aren’t impressed with right-wing rhetoric when it comes from a man who’s short record doesn’t correlate.