Here's what the rest of the nation can look forward to if Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota - or anyone like him - should win the 2012 presidential election:
Cuts would fall on poor, old, disabled and sick
Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to cut a net of $347 million from programs for sick, aged, disabled and jobless people is akin to the advice an ailing George Washington got from his doctors 210 years ago, one critic said Monday: Bleed him, in hope of a cure.
Tim Pawlenty strongly opposed President Obama's stimulus plan. Yet his budget proposal relies on the very federal money he opposes.
The governor actually proposed $734 million in cuts but assumed the state will receive $387 million in federal Medicare funds if Congress votes to extend last year's economic stimulus legislation.
And more:
Money for social services and aid to local governments would be slashed. But business would see tax cuts.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget is bad news for low-income Minnesotans who rely on state health care and for mayors already struggling to balance their own budgets, but good news for corporations paying high taxes.
The plan, released Monday, would erase a $1.2 billion state deficit largely through deep cuts in aid to local governments, in funding for health and human services and with an average 6 percent across-the-board cut to state agencies, likely to result in layoffs. Nearly one-third of the governor's budget fix would rely on $387 million in federal stimulus money. That money isn't yet in the bank and, if it doesn't come through, the cuts could be far deeper.
From the state's largest cities to its smallest burgs, the reaction to Pawlenty's proposal to cut $250 million in aid to local governments was the same: This will be devastating.
Compassionate Conservatism in action.
On Minnesota Public Radio, Governor Pawlenty said that the state's MinnesotaCare program was actually too generous prior to his cuts - one of the best in the nation, in fact - and he's just bringing it more in line with other states.
Now there's something only a Republican could aspire to - make health care harder to afford for those who already can't afford it. Let's not be one of the best in the nation! Why bother?
Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman had this to say:
If the Governor’s budget proposal becomes law, the quality of life that Minnesotans have come to expect will cease to exist. The Governor’s proposed cuts will touch every Minnesotan in a very visible way — from snow plowing to parks to police and fire. It is now time for legislators from both parties to stand up and block the dangerous path to the bottom that the Governor’s budget proposal represents. Nothing short of Minnesota’s future is at stake.
For those of you who aren't aware, Tim Pawlenty is considered one of the top three candidates for President in 2012. He has visited 25 states in the past year, started his own PAC and is clearly laying the groundwork for a presidential run.
If he, or someone like him, should win, nothing short of the country's future will be at stake.
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