Poker Perambulation

The off year election is behind us and it wasn't a glowing endorsement of the Obama White House. But, it wasn't really about that either. What seems apparent is that neither party is providing much of a vision. It boils down to personalities that may or may not lead well. We have seen great campaigns degenerating into governing mediocrity. President wise, who'd you class as a great president over the last few decades? State politics isn't any better and don't get me started on county politics.

Actually, we're pretty lucky in Indiana.  We've got one hell of a Governor who has conservatively  led well and even provided improved health care across the board. Surprise! Surprise!  We even still have a budget surplus. And, he's on his way out due to term limits.  Term limits – damned if you do and damned if you don't.

That's not to say that my state is blameless.  One of our movers and shakers in the legislature put a last minute RDA funding offer -- thankfully tied to a referendum of sorts.  It tried give our area an 'infrastructure' that would compete with our neighbors in Illinois who have Metra and Pace that haul warm bodies to work in Chicago.  It is a constant battle there over the funding that needs to be added to it each year to keep it functioning.  Our state wanted a similar boondoggle with construction cost through the roof that would make it even less competitive than those entities.

Our area has grown dramatically over the last two decades.  We've populated it with folks moving from Illinois.  They were fleeing the taxes  that skyrocketed.  In the last ten years, our property taxes doubled.  We needed more schools and they don't build little brick schoolhouses any more.  We have weight rooms nicer than the health clubs.  Teachers lounges aren't converted store rooms.  Everybody deserves better and better so long as it isn't coming out of their personal account.  You can throw in roads and new county complexes and expanded jails and all those things that the expansion needs.  More traffic lights and building wider roads keep folks from getting from here to there.  Shazam! Taxes rise and quality of life doesn't.

The thing that has changed is the adversarial  relationship that was a part of the past.  That started with the Constitution.  That document was created by and argued over by men who did not trust government.  They tried to hobble government in every way they could come up with. Over the years we've found ways to cripple those constraints.  It has created an electorate that expects their free lunch.  That's passed out from local pols to the top.  But, government is not efficient.  So, it ends up costing more than it should.  That will never change.  The only savings would come from less government.

The real referendum here isn't about government.  It is about you and me.  We are the only ones responsible for our fate.  Any others getting involved that aren't true friends are the problem as much or more than the solution.  That is true entitlement.  All the rest we seem to expect come at a premium.

TANSTAAFL.  I wish there were.  I'd be writing this from my yacht that is motoring to my private island with its own weight room and masseuse.

By today's standards I lived in a much tougher time.  People struggled more.  True for my dad and true for his dad. People sold not only their labor but their health in many instances.  But, there was also a self reliance that seems to have slipped away.  That has been filled by the government providing new services at a cost.  It is great when we can afford the cost.  Will we be able to determine when it has become too costly?

Our little local referendum dodged the bullet on this one.  But it wasn't a referendum that really asked the hard questions.

No related posts.