Ken Marrero, the Blue Collar Muse blogger, alerted us to this:
The John Birch Society has released its annual Freedom Index showing how Constitutional the votes of all members of Congress are on selected key issues. Find out how your reps and senators did …
bluecollarmuse.com
There are many fine people and organizations who have served as “watchmen on the walls,” as Ezekiel puts it; warning and scolding America and her leaders when they stray from the confines placed on them by the finest political document ever penned. The John Birch Society is one such organization. For almost 25 years they have published what they title a Freedom Index. The Freedom Index lists what they believe to be the crucial and vital votes that transpire across a federal legislative session and then record how each member of Congress votes on the issues. The resultant score gives a feel for how well the Society believes legislators adhere to the Constitution.
Their report for the first half of the 112th Congress has just been released and I found it fascinating.
While there were 10 votes tracked for both the House and the Senate, they were a different set of 10 votes with some overlap.
The House votes were:
The Repeal of ObamaCare – HR2
The non-payment of dues the the United Nations – HR1
The repeal of ObamaCare’s 1099 reporting requirement – HR4
The NPR funding ban – HR1076
Greenhouse Gas Regulation – HR910
Defunding ObamaCare – Concurrent Resolution 35
Defunding Planned Parenthood Concurrent Resolution 36
Offshore Drilling Leases – HR1229
Extension of the Patriot Act – S990
Libyan Troop Withdrawal – Concurrent Resolution 51
The Senate votes were:
The Repeal of ObamaCare – HR2
Subsidized Airline Service – S223
The repeal of ObamaCare’s 1099 reporting requirement – HR4
Authority for Military Action – S493
Greenhouse Gas Regulation – S493
Defunding ObamaCare – Concurrent Resolution 35
Defunding Planned Parenthood Concurrent Resolution 36
Ban use of Patriot Act for Firearms Purchase Records – S990
Extension of the Patriot Act – S990
Ethanol Subsidies Repeal – S782
Each legislator could score from 0% to 100% based on his voting record. With 10 votes to evaluate, most scored in increments of 10%. In a few cases, where a legislator missed one of the votes in question, there would be a score between the 10s. I rounded those up or down according to my public school math training. Due to vacant seats or due to a legislator not being seated for a significant number of votes not all 535 legislative seats are represented. There were scores for 429 House seats and 98 Senate seats. I have listed only Democrats and Republicans in the totals. Independents and Bernie Sanders were included in the group with which they are most philosophically aligned.
The numbers are broken down by state and according to each vote so anyone can see how their legislator or their state’s delegation voted on each of the 10 issues.
Overall the scores were what one would expect. Republicans did a far better job than did Democrats on voting along Constitutional lines. Still there was an expected spread within the parties.
THE HOUSE
For the GOP, 24 House members scored a perfect 100%. 64 scored a 90%; 107 scored 80% and 38 scored 70%. Just 7 Republican House members scored below 70%. LaTourrette of OH, Dold and Biggert of IL, Freylinghuyser of NJ and Dent of PA scored 60%. Hanna of NY scored a 56% and the lowest scoring GOP member was Reichert of WA who scored a 50%.
The Democrats were grouped at the bottom of the list. 19 House Democrats scored a perfect 0%. 67 scored 10%, 70 scored 20% and 23 scored 30%. The Democrats had a few more folks in the middle of the pack. Donnelly of IN, Schrader of OR and Perlmutter of CO scored 40%. Costello of IL, Peterson of IN and Critz of PA scored 50%. AR’s M. Ross scored a 60% and McIntyre of NC and Boren of OK scored 70%.
THE SENATE
For the GOP, just 2 Senators scored a perfect 100% – Rand Paul of KY and Lee of UT. There were only 2 Republicans that scored 90% as well – Jim DeMint of SC and Marco Rubio of FL. 6 GOP Senators scored 80% and 15 scored 70%. 13 scored 60% and 8 scored 50%.
1 Democrat scored 0% – Carl Levin of MI. 12 scored 10%, 20 scored 20% and 16 scored 30%. The highest Democrat score was 40% and there were 3 with this score. Baucus and Tester, both from MT and Menendez from NJ.
Just out of curiosity, here are the scores from some of the more newsworthy races over the last couple of years. To quote TN’s Lt Governor Ron Ramsey, “It matters who governs!” These results certainly bear that out.
In NY-23 of Scozzafava-Hoffman-Owens fame, winner Bill Owens scored a 22%. Michigan’s Benishek came in at 90%. Allen West scored an impressive 100%. His recent detractor, Debbie Wasserman Schultz scored an equally impressive 0%. Presidential candidates Michelle Bachman scored 90% to Ron Paul’s 100%. Nancy Pelosi scored just 10% while Eric Cantor came in at 70%. Paul Ryan? 70%. The Blue Dogs … you know Conservative Democrats – of the 25 listed members of the 112th Congress, only 6 scored over 30% – Donnelly of IN and Schrader of OR at 40%, IN’s Peterson at 50%, Ross of AR at 60% and McIntyre of NC and Boren of OK at 70%. 3 of the highest scoring Dems aren’t even listed as Blue Dogs. While many of the rest scored at 30%, there were some 20 percenters and even a couple at 10%. The 10% group includes my Congressman, Jim Cooper of Tennessee. No one here would call him a Blue Dog, though …
Over in the Senate, Lisa Murkowski ran up a 60% tally. Scott Brown came in at just 50%. Pat Toomey put up an 80%, Marco Rubio a 90% and Lee from UT along with Rand Paul from KY were the only 100% Senate scores – props to the Freshmen! Harry Reid posted a 10% making him one of 13 Democrats who actually scored lower than Bernie Sanders’ 20%. Chris Coons, who defeated Christine O’Donnell, scored just 30%. Kirk, the Republican who holds President Obama’s old seat scored a 50%. John McCain put up a 70% which was matched by Lindsey Graham while NY’s Gillibrand who replace Hillary Clinton posted just a 20%. Mitch McConnell put up a 60% to DeMint’s 90%.
Moving specifically to the Tennessee delegation, Senators Corker and Alexander scored 70% and 60% respectively. Top to bottom the 9 Congressmen were Roe and Duncan who brought home 2 of the House’s 24 100% votes and then Stephen Fincher who put up a 90%. Blackburn, Black, DesJarlais and Fleischmann all posted 80%. All are Republicans. The remaining two Democrats in Tennessee’s Federal delegation are Steve Cohen with a 22% and Jim Cooper at 10%.
While I have not yet delved in to the years past, I’ll be doing so as we get closer to the 2012 elections. 10 of the 11 members of Tennessee’s delegation are up for re-election. It will be interesting to look at their records over time. In the meantime, head over to the John Birch site and scope out their ratings on your favorite Senator or Congressman. You’ll find a wealth of information.
