| Tom Smith for US Senate |
Pennsylvania was the home of Hollywood legend James Stewart (From Indiana, PA), the tall and lanky leading man who played "Jefferson Smith" in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." In that seminal film, Stewart played a freshman senator who takes on an appointment to replace a deceased Senator. He comes to Washington to make a difference and make an impact for a boy's group that he heads, only to find graft and corruption pillaging his ideal of the otherwise august institution.
Undeterred, Mr. Smith stands up to the Establishment Party bosses, crooked politicians who want money, power, and prestige, refusing to stand up for the principles of the federal government or the best interests of the voters. Even his once esteemed mentor reveals himself to be one more politician swept up in the corruption, yet even he takes a stand at the last minute for the falsely accused Mr. Smith.
Now another Smith from Pennsylvania, this time Tom Smith of Armstrong Country, PA, is poised for an upset against Bob Casey, a pro-life Democrat who has voted against the life, liberty, and property of the very voters whom he claims to represent.
Mr. Tom Smith started out as a coal miner of no small repute, a self-made man of sorts who mortgaged his home only to expand coal operations and employee many in Armstrong Country.
In 2010, Pennsylvania rejected an incumbent Democrat-turned-Republican-returned Democrat (Arlen Specter) who claimed to be a centrist, when in truth he was an opportunist and spend-thrift politician who followed polls instead of principles. Joe Sestak stood up and defeated Specter in the primary, yet despite campaigning long and hard across the Keystone State, he did not have a ghost of a chance against Tea Party favorite Pat Toomey.
The times and circumstances are stacked against Mr. Casey, who may run as a moderate, yet like a growing number of Democratic senators in swing states, he swings with the Beltway on many issues which have created more cause for alarm instead of applause.
Tom Smith challenged incumbent Senator Bob Casey to provide a viable economic plan of his own, which Casey has yet to furnish for the voters of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Smith's Five Point Plan includes ending the frivolous lawsuits which drive up healthcare costs while driving physicians out of the profession and driving hospitals into insolvency and closure. Smith favors a flat tax rate in order to simplify the tax code and eliminate corporate loopholes. He wants to reduce spending to 20% of GDP, a measure of reduction which would put taxpayer dollars where they belong — in the wallets of the individual and invested in the private sector, promoting expansion and job growth.
Mr. Smith three big "Repeal" measures, which should appeal to voters: ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbanes-Oxley, all three of which have expanded the size of the regulatory state without fixing the very problems which the laws set out to tackle. All other regulatory nightmares would fall under rigorous scrutiny of Senator Smith, to facilitate job growth without exploding waste, fraud, and bureaucracy.
Smith would eliminate the death tax and capital gains tax. Death and taxes may be a sure thing for everyone, but to be taxed for dying — well, that's just cruel and unusual punishment. Regarding capital gains taxes, it is immoral and unnecessary to tax a man for making money on income that has already been taxed. These reforms have received widespread support before, so Mr. Smith would find very little to stifle his efforts for financial reform.
Other fiscal and legislative reforms supported by Mr. Smith include a Balanced Budget Amendment, a No Budget-No Pay provision to force Congress to pass an operating national budget on time. Ending earmarks and reducing the federal workforce through attrition also highlight Smith's reforms. For energy independence, Smith supports the XL Keystone Pipeline extension and ending the overbearing overreach of the EPA.
In contrast to the specific and engaging reforms offered by private businessman Tom Smith, US Senate Bob Casey has been an uninspiring Senator who has voted in line with the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda of tax, spend, regulate, and frustrate. He voted for the wasteful Obama Stimulus of 2009, which stimulate nothing but paybacks to political supporters. He has voted against Earmark Moratoriums, but he supported the wasteful "Cash for Clunkers". His most notorious vote, one which should provide reason enough to send Casey packing, Casey supported ObamaCare, the same legislation which pushed three hospitals to close.
On a more somber note, Bob Casey has surrendered his pro-life credentials in favor of his party, even supporting ObamaCare before the President issued an executive order to assure pro-life Democrats in the House that the legislation would maintain the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. The choice is clear for Pennsylvania voters. Casey has struck out time and again for his constituents, while Mr. Smith is ready to go to Washington with a pro-growth, limited government plan.
In a growing sign of trouble for the Casey campaign, FreedomWorks for America invested another $200,000 in Smith's campaign. Contrary to the empty cries of "Tea Party Extremism" which have fallen hollow on the Republican Candidate, Mr. Smith is continuing his drive to go to Washington and represent the people of the state of Pennsylvania, not the tax-and-spend statism of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, all of which have all but given up on legislating and leading, resorting instead to complaining and campaigning.
To the voters of Pennsylvania, send Mr. Smith to Washington! Vote for Tom Smith for US Senate!