Is Hawaii Really a Liberal State?

Being a big fan of Fox News, I generally agree with their points of view. However, recently they described Hawaii as the most liberal state in the nation. I guess from a political perspective you can say that. We have only had one Republican governor in our history and Linda Lingle really was a moderate one at that. Beyond that, our two U.S. Senators and two Represnetatives have always been democrat. Currently our 25 seat State Senate has 24 Democrats with Sam Slom being the only Republican. The State House has 44 democrats and only 7 republicans. So you can call this state the most liberal if you solely base it on politics.

However, if you look at the definition of the word liberal (open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values). Anybody who lives in Hawaii knows that this state is resistant to any change. Any new business that wants to come in gets protested and shut down. The general mindset is to keep things the same here. That is not liberal by definition.

With that in mind, I think that the reason the democrats stay in power has nothing to do with ideology but with the conservative voters resistance to change. How ironic is that?

What really stands out is that if you read the Maui News, you will see lots of people complaining about the County Council. Their continual pay raises is one issue that comes up. Yet not one of them was voted out. Not even the sole Republican Don Couch.

Daniel Innouye served for 49 years in the U.S. Senate. His partner Dan Akaka served for 23. That is not in any way representative of a state that wants change. What I find really fascinating is that the sole Republican State Senator Sam Slom has been in office for 17 years. That tells me that it really has less to do with keeping the democrat in but keeping the incumbent in. People cry for change but are scared to vote for it.

Hawaii is a democrat state. But ironically it is conservative minded voters and not liberal ones who keep it that way. It doesn't seem to matter how poor this state gets either.

Do The Really Have the Nerve to Call Themselves Progressive?

One term that democrats often are associated with is progressive. It is a nice term suggesting that they are about progress. The word actually has five definitions.

1.

favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters: a progressive mayor.

2.

making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas,new or experimental methods, etc.: a progressive community.

3.

characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.

4.

( initial capital letter  ) of or pertaining to any of the Progressive parties in politics.

5.

going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.

I won't speak for the rest of the country but anybody who follows local politics knows that that doesn't describe Hawaii Democrats at all.

Starting with #1, Whenever a new business comes in such as the Hawaii Superferry or the new Mega Mall in Kihei, the environmental groups that are all aligned with the democrats do everything they can to shut it down. They say they want to keep Hawaii as it is without all these new businesses. So I guess they aren't progressive this way.

So let's look at #2. Most people I know are working two or more jobs just to barely have enough. That is not exactly better conditions and the only new ideas I see are new taxes. Do soda drinks ring a bell? Fail again.

On to #3, I have seen no improvements. All I see is the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. In Hawaii, it is Democrat policy that has led to that. Here is an example. To get a business permit, one must go on a waiting list that is years long because of a limit on the number of permits allowed. That alone goes against the idea of free enterprise. 

To make matters worse, if a permit becomes available the highest bidder gets it and they can keep it whether they are using it or not. No continuous improvement here for the small business owners. I guess they aren't as for the little man as much as they say.

I guess they can qualify under #4 but does that really count? 

Finally, I see no moving forward as #5 indicates. As long as they keep adding taxes, shutting down businesses, and limiting permits it will stay that way.

Therefore, they can use the word progressive all they want. However, if you would like some real progress, vote for a Republican Hawaii.