SANFORD SHOULD TURN DOWN FEDERAL BAILOUT MONEY, ACT CONSERVATIVE NOT JUST WAX CONSERVATIVE

Gov. Mark Sanford always talks a big game. In the end, however, he usually collapses like a house of cards.

And so it is with the massive economic “stimulus” package that President Barack Obama rammed through Congress last week. Sanford was bouncing around from one television station to the next hitting all the right talking points about the repercussions of bailing out poorly-run institutions from the consequences of their actions; he even unveiled the catchy “savior-based economy” term.

But, alas, the Sanford meme is just too big to fail.

If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama’s economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money. After all, if you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don’t take federal money.

Gov. Sanford can lead the way. South Carolina should decline to accept any federal funds for transportation, education, health care, clean energy or any of the other ideas President Obama is advocating to fix the economy. And the rest of the GOP can follow suit.

Justice Louis Brandeis famously called states “laboratories of democracy.” So let’s experiment. Gov. Sanford can be the guinea pig. His Palmetto State already gets $1.35 back from Washington for every dollar it pays in federal taxes, according to 2005 numbers, the latest calculated by the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax research group.

South Carolina is a ward of the federal government. It’s been on welfare for years. If Gov. Sanford is so all-fired opposed to federal spending, let’s start by cutting federal spending in South Carolina. Otherwise, he’s got about as much credibility on fiscal conservatism as A-Rod has on steroids.

Under the Bush-Sanford economic theories, South Carolina’s unemployment rate has reached 9.5 percent — among the highest in the nation. But if Gov. Sanford wants to continue those policies, good luck to him. [CNN]

Granted, those words were written by Paul Begala, who equates to little more that a slimy socialist. But even a slimy socialist can make a good point every now and then. And this time he has.

If Sanford truly wants to stand tall as a conservative leader, then, for once, he needs to do more than talk the talk. He needs to actually walk the walk.

His words will again ring hollow unless he tells the federal government that he’s done turning South Carolina into a welfare state and that he will finally allow fiscal conservatism to flourish here.

Sanford has an opportunity to not only wax conservative, but act conservative. For the sake of South Carolina, I hope he does the right thing and tells Washington we don’t want the government owning our state any more.