Freedom in Alaska: A Report Card
By Kassie Andrews -- September 5, 2024Ed. note: The author, who has long chronicled the slippage of free market energy policies in Alaska, offers a holistic look at the problem in her state with this voting scorecard. She identifies one principled politician pointing the way for positive reform, Rep. David Eastman.
As we head into the general election, voting guides can be critical for those who would like to make an informed decision. This scoring matrix came to light. This is a look back in time on how representatives voted on certain bills. According to the website, “The Freedom Index rates members of congress based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.” Put simply, an analysis of their legislative actions.
For context in the scoring, from 0-100 with 100 being the best score possible in the way of freedom, the highest democrat score in Alaska is Senator Donny Olson at 36, so I will leave the Democrats off of the scoring entirely. There is a caveat to this as all “independent” representatives in Alaska are democrats in hiding. There is one independent in Alaska with a relatively high freedom score of 50, Representative Rebecca Himschoot.
Rebecca set herself apart from the rest of the independent democrats and all but two republicans in an amendment regarding protected rights, she voted correctly to remove a segment of the bill that allows the government to shut down gun stores if they equally shut down every other store at the same time. Classical liberalism is a thing of the past; you may find few Republicans with this mindset but certainly no Democrats.
An analysis of the Alaska State House of Representatives and their overall freedom score is very illuminating. If you compare these scores with how some of the representatives are portrayed in the public light by radio pundits and other conservative commentators, there is a glaring mismatch.
Shockingly, in a good way, is Representative David Eastman’s freedom score of 100. Representative Eastman is subjected to never-ending ridicule, which he receives from pundits, activists and elected officials on both sides. As seen in the link provided, there are far-left attempts to keep him from serving in office.
The costume-conservative representatives censure Eastman and play fraudulent lawfare in their persistent attempts to discredit and make him look bad. It is interesting when you consider that no matter all of this, he is reelected by his constituents overwhelmingly time and time again.
As voters, what is most important? How an elected official represents you in terms of their record on the very policies that will affect you as Alaskans for all of time, or what is said about them by the caucus establishment?
As for the rest of the Republicans, they have a long way to go to correct the damage done. As grossly evident by their legislative actions and behaviors, many republican legislators who are considered champions of conservatism are proven to wear that designation like a sad, sick Kabuki costume while actually working for environmentalist, globalist, statist special interests, and NGOs.
The 50%ers have spent most of their time and limited relationship with their constituents either not listening to or gaslighting their constituents and voting against their wishes. As voters, will you replace the 50%ers with representatives that will vote on the side of freedom and liberty? If reelected, will the 50%ers of today strive to correct the damage done to our freedoms?
Sadly, it takes extreme courage to be the lone vote with David, and alarmingly, representatives simply refuse to do the right thing because they don’t want to “be that guy” who votes alongside of him.
In the classic story Lord of the Flies, all civility is lost when the mob decides to kill Piggy. The dangers of mob mentality are on full display, to the detriment of us all. This is your representative republic at work in Juneau and We the People are Piggy. It is up to the citizens to play the position of the adults returning to restore order to the savage children of the caucus.
Remember James Madison:
“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
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Kassie Andrews is a principal at MasterResource. This post comes from her Substack here.