Economics for Dummies

Economic Conservatives in Pennsylvania threw the incumbents out. It didn't happen overnight, small government advocates had been organizing for some time to hold their Republican legislative leadership accountable. To their credit, here in Illinois, not one Republican vote helped the Democrats pass their ruinous budget, though it was probably more due to being locked out of power. But while Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of racing Illinois to the bottom in the dismal statistics stakes, ranking 49th in job creation to our 46th, it comes out on top for its voters' political courage. WSJ:

In a Mt. Lebanon race, 21-year-old-college student Mark Harris delivered a stunning defeat to long-time big-government incumbent Tom Stevenson. Mr. Stevenson tried to save his job by attacking Mr. Harris as too young and inexperienced to hold office, but Mr. Harris responded by sending the incumbent a copy of "Economics for Dummies." That tactic evidently sealed Mr. Stevenson's fate. (We can think of many Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who would benefit from that book.)

"All the incumbent Republicans who lost were complicit in the advancement of [Democratic Governor] Ed Rendell's borrow, tax and spend agenda" notes Matt Brouillette, the president of the conservative Commonwealth Foundation. Over the past three years the GOP majorities in the House and Senate have expanded the budget by twice the inflation rate and rubber-stamped an unpopular Rendell income tax hike. The final straw for voters in this economically struggling industrial state (it ranks 49th in job creation over the past 20 years) was that, in an act of remarkable arrogance, the Republicans violated the state constitution against a midterm pay raise by voting at 2 a.m. to hike their own salaries as much as 50%. It's clear now Pennsylvanians don't think these raises were for a job well done.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Senate has punted its pay raise until after the fall elections. Sounds like it should be an election issue. And maybe we should forward a few copies of that book to Springfield.