Volume 3, Issue 4
I never thought in a million years that I would ever quote Governor Brown or hold him up as an example of rational thought. But I find myself inspired by his frankness, and based upon the above quotes from Twain and Churchill, it is appropriate that I do so, for Governor Brown is both the youngest governor to serve the state of California, and now the oldest governor to serve that state. He was once nicknamed Governor Moonbeam for his ideas on how to transform society. He has now reached an age where reality, practicality, and common sense are the driving forces in his thought process.
When asked on Meet the Press several weeks ago whether or not he would advocate the legalization of marijuana in California, he replied in reference paraphrasing: Are you nuts? Do you think I want the police force and first responders using marijuana? It would have a negative impact on critical government services.
Most recently on Meet the Press, he was asked what are the three things he expects the next President of the United States to do to focus on policy. Again, he replied without hesitation, “Balance the budget, fix the infrastructure, deal with the drought.” This was a clear and cogent response. Now the issue in California that got him on Meet the Press was the ongoing drought. Governor Brown’s statement was much deeper than it appears on its face and, in my opinion, went right over the head of Chuck Todd, Meet the Press’ moderator. What Governor Brown basically said is that the federal government is not paying attention to its primary purpose -- balance the budget and live within your means, invest in the infrastructure which benefits all states, and through states’ rights at their request, deal with the individual problems to help where it can. Quit trying to make one shoe fit all sizes. Some states don’t even need new shoes. The drought is California’s specific, current, critical need. Therefore, the statement for federal government focus could have been “balance the budget, fix the infrastructure, and _______ (fill in the blank)”, depending upon the state and its needs.
Each of the fifty states has a similar unique problem that needs to be addressed. In my home state of Oklahoma, our unique situation is that we are one-third more rural per capita than any other state in the union because we were a land run state. Oklahoma was populated by the allure of free land, not normal economic development. Because we are more rural than most states, we have a problem with providing health care to rural communities. Rural hospitals are not large enough to provide the economy of scale required to provide critical services, maintain costs, and produce a break-even budget. We debate whether or not to accept the expansion of services of the Affordable Care Act. It is not a good idea, yet we do not address the problem of how to restructure our state’s health care system to service the way of life of the rural areas. And the debate goes on.
The federal government today is completely off the track of its Constitutional purposes. Congress and the Federal Reserve are implementing programs that feed their own habits -- deficit spending to maintain power, and lower interest rates to maintain deficits. This is not only unsustainable, it is just plain wrong. States’ needs are not being met, and therefore, the people are not being served.
What if the Founding Fathers attempted to solve the policy disputes facing the Confederation of the United States of America by advocating policy that divided them rather than principles that united them? Would the quarrels between New York, a manufacturing state, and South Carolina, an agriculture state, ever have been resolved? Instead, the leadership proposed a new Constitution. A Constitution establishing the Federation of the United States of America wherein each state agreed to the principles of freedom and free enterprise to determine how a rural agriculture state would coexist with a metropolitan manufacturing state. A federation in which both would prosper greater in freedom than standing alone against each other in policy disputes. I would suggest to you that had the new Constitution not been ratified, establishing principles that unite us, allowing us all to prosper pursuant to our individual gifts and talents, we would now be the Un-United States of America.
Governor Brown has made the transition to advocating policy that is based upon principles of reality; that certain truths are eternal; that the federal government should restrict itself to its designed role; that states should manage their own affairs and work with the federal government to address problems that they determine are critical for their individual needs. It is time for citizens to rise up and demand discipline from their government leaders at all levels and demand principle based policy. It is time to demand that the next President of the United States be committed to balancing the budget, fixing the infrastructure, and ______ (fill in the blank).
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?