There’s a new state General
Assembly sitting in Harrisburg and a new Congress in Washington. Republicans
have regained both houses in the state and of the U.S. House of
Representatives. Democrats still have the U.S. Senate, but they don’t have that
60-40 majority.

But will anything really change
other than some of the names and committee positions?

In the state, new Republican
Gov. Tom Corbett wants to sell off the state stores. It’s estimated that such a
sale would bring in $2 billion to the state coffers. Some estimates say the
sale could bring in $6 billion.

Former Republican governors
wanted to do the same thing, but Democrats blocked the attempt.

A GOP controlled state
legislature could make that happen, but only if the Republican members are
actually free marketeers and realize the state has no business being in the
booze business.

They must also be willing to
give up the reported $500 million in revenue the stores bring in, something the
Democrats say should be kept. Democratic Party members of the legislature also
want to keep paying out high salaries to state store employees.

How will the state Republicans
handle the proposal? Will they stand up for what they say they stand for, or
will they cave into maintaining a status quo?

In the U.S. House, Pat Meehan,
the newly sworn in congressman representing Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional
District, has joined with other Republican representatives to require house
members to cite specific constitutional authority when they introduce
legislation.

Democrats call it a symbolic
gesture at best. They might be right if all any representative does is trot out
the Commerce Clause that been used to justify almost anything members want to
do.

The clause is the one that says
Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, yet it’s been used to
justify making laws that prevent farmers from growing wheat that doesn’t leave
the farm and to justify federal rules against growing medicinal marijuana in
states with laws permitting such activity.

The clause has also been used
to justify the mandate in Obamacare to force people to buy health insurance
even though there is no interstate commerce in such policies.

What may prove to be more
important is whether U.S. House Republicans will vote to maintain or increase
the federal debt ceiling. That ceiling is now $14.3 trillion. The debt now is $14 trillion. President Obama wants it increased in order to keep on
spending and digging a deeper financial hole for which future generations will
have to pay.

Republicans in the federal and
state legislatures have an opportunity to prove themselves to be different from
Democrats, that they do, in fact, believe in a less intrusive government that
honors the principles of the U.S. Constitution, sound financial practices and
the liberty of the free market.

The Easter Bunny and the Tooth
Fairy are waiting in the wings.