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For the next few days the nation will be paying attention to New Hampshire as the presidential candidates and their supporters flood the state making their final attempts to win over the voters in the first in the nation primary. Come January 11, 2012 New Hampshire's status as host of the first in nation primary if maintained could become totally irrelevant come 2016;
The cause; the deals Mr. O'Brien was required to make with the with the far-right, Tea Partiers, and other fringe members in his party in order to secure enough caucus votes to defeat former Speaker Chandler for the Republican nomination. Rumor has it he only won by 4 votes. The win came at a very heavy price to the people of New Hampshire.
I believe it is important that the people of New Hampshire understand that despite the fact that New Hampshire has a long and proud history of conducting the first in the nation presidential primary and has provided numerous future presidents an opportunity unavailable elsewhere it has no constitutional or God-given right to maintain that privilege.
Despite the fact that New Hampshire law directs that the Secretary of State ensure that New Hampshire conducts the first in the nation primary neither the national Republican nor Democratic Party have any legal requirement to do so, nor are they required to punish any state (s) that attempts to jump ahead of New Hampshire or create a Super Tuesday within seven days of New Hampshire. For a number of years states such as South Carolina, Florida, and Michigan have made it well known that they not New Hampshire deserve the 1st in the nation primary.
They and others have repeatedly made it known that New Hampshire is a very small state, with one of the whitest, wealthiest, oldest, best educated and least membership in organized religion population in the nation. That New Hampshire isn't a natural resource rich state like other 3 or 4 Electoral College vote states like Wyoming, West Virginia or North Dakota. New Hampshire isn't home to some major military complex, nor is New Hampshire the home of major high-tech industries like Massachusetts' Route 128 corridor. Competitors for the first in the nation primary have repeatedly made it known that in no way does New Hampshire represent the nation as a whole, nor does it deserves to maintain its status as the home of nation's first primary.
The only thing that New Hampshire had its favor was its proud tradition of providing presidential candidates and the media to common sense, independent minded people and access to thousands of local and state level elected officials. As a result of the Republican election landslides in 2010 the NH House of Speaker O'Brien has moved to the extreme far-right, making NH one of if not the most far-right state in the nation.
Since William O'Brien became Speaker it appears that he and some members of his leadership team are far too often acting out of self-interest, or as Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story stated in 1845 "How easily men satisfy themselves that the Constitution is exactly what they wish it to be;" deciding that they and they along are the true authority on defining the United States Constitution. Passing bills such as HB 590 allowing the Republican Party to determine which federal programs were constitutional. Saying that New Hampshire shouldn't accept any fuel assistance for low-income people because it is their responsibility to come-up with funds to pay for their own heat regardless how brutal the winter may be. Members of Speaker O'Brien leadership team stated that New Hampshire shouldn't accept funds for low-income citizens because they should be required to go to their local charities or churches for help like they had too before the Great Depression as their welfare is not the government's responsibility. Other Members of Speaker O'Brien leadership team stated that education is a local responsibility and have made numerous attempts to place constitutional amendments on the ballot hoping to gut funding for K-12 education, this after made major cuts in funding to the state University System; Fighting for 50th position in both categories.
Over the past year it appears that Speaker O'Brien played not only to his own future self-interest but to the interests of well financed out-of-state organizations. Organizations that know and played to their advantage that very few House members have the time, energy or resources to gather the necessary factual information; So they take it upon themselves not only to frame the question but often "do us a favor by providing the facts" in a manner that agrees with many members' predetermined definition of the truth. These out-of-state organizations expected Speaker O'Brien with his overwhelming and veto-proof majority to delivery for them.
Under Speaker O'Brien's often abrupt leadership style the NH House became the butt of numerous late night and cable TV show jokes. Instead of addressing important and pressing issues such as job creation, balancing the budget in a responsible manner, the NH House cut cigarette taxes by 10 cent a pack, reduced funding to the hospitals for Medicaid patients resulting in hundreds of medical providers losing their jobs, and patients losing access to medical treatment. Voted for unlicensed conceal weapons, weapons on college campuses, lower high school drop-out age, making NH a right-to-work state, expanding the death penalty, against work-force housing, to prevent local communities from requiring sprinkler system, to require courts to provide a gun and bullets to any woman granted a restraining order, limit college students ability to vote where they attend college.
Despite the fact that the majority of the citizens of New Hampshire either support or hold no negative opinion concerning New Hampshire's Marriage Equality Law, Speaker O'Brien and his leadership team have failed to listen to the wisdom of Isaac Asimov, "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what is right." and are very willing to risk the reputation of the state of New Hampshire, possibility making us the laughing shock to the nation, in order to play to the wishes of numerous well-financial and vocal out-of-state organizations. These organizations believe that the state of New Hampshire can be brought and can be brought very cheaply. If that is so, New Hampshire surely will cause itself to become irrelevant on the national stage.
If the state of New Hampshire becomes become irrelevant on the national stage it will be self-induced. When Speaker O'Brien and Majority leader Bettencourt first looked over the House, there was no doubt that they were willing to do whatever they believed was necessary to change the direction of New Hampshire's future. If they continue bring far-right legislation to the House floor, if they continue playing too far-right organizations, if they continue playing too far-right religious groups, their legacy will be the "The men that made NH irrelevant on the national stage.
One has to be a realist and ask why would a candidate risk running in a New Hampshire primary that could cost them the opportunity to win future primaries. Far-right candidates may get their own cable show, or sell a lot of books but they don't win national elections.
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