My political philosophy is an eclectic mix of
traditional conservatism (in the mold of Edmund Burke), neo-conservatism (like
Irving Kristol, I was once a “liberal mugged by reality”), and the libertarian
instincts of James Madison or Adam Smith.
My odyssey in life began in a political galaxy “far,
far away” from conservatism. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where
conservatives are a rare breed. It’s
taken me years to get to where I am now. The journey has been very rewarding.
I’m a conservative and I’m proud to say that I am.
The election is just a few weeks ago and I’m in the
throes of deciding how to cast my ballot. I used the term “how to cast” rather
than “who to vote for.” While I realize the ballot will have names fixed on it,
I’ll be voting for conservative principles and deciding which candidates best
embody those principles.
The first issue of importance to me in this election
concerns the size, scope, and competence of government. Conservatives have
always held that limited government is the best government. When government
grows beyond its necessary limits, it becomes a bloated, bureaucratic giant.
Then, the bigger it gets the more incompetent and inefficient it becomes. Worst
of all, it becomes autocratic, corrupt, and despotic.
What does this mean for the average American or the
average Kansan?
Almost everyone in this country has heard about the
scourge of Ebola. About three weeks ago we all heard the assurances from
government bureaucrats that it was almost impossible, given our systems and
agencies, for Ebola to come to our shores. Then, when the cases did appear, the
Centers for Disease Control assured us that “protocols” were in place to
protect us. We now know that was a lie. We’re being told that more money would
have solved the problem. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes
of Health recently complained, “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year
slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for
this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.”
How can this be? The truth is, it can’t. If there’s
enough money in the coffers to pay for studies on why chimpanzees throw things,
the impact of cocaine on the sex drive of Japanese quail, or the impact of
televisions and gas generators on small Vietnamese villages, surely there’s
enough money to develop vaccines and protocols in the fight against Ebola. We
even have an “Ebola Czar.” Her name is Nicole Lurie. Her profile describes her
as having “responsibility for getting the nation prepared for
public health emergencies.” She’s been
almost invisible, but she’s been busy enough in the back rooms to shepherd a
$443 million no-bid contract for an unnecessary smallpox drug to Siga, a
company whose “controlling shareholder” was Ron Perelman, a major Democratic
Party donor. While the wheeling and dealing was going on, Chimerix, a competing
drug company, was left holding the bag by N.I.H. What made it all so tragic was
that Chimerix was actually working on anti-viral treatments for Ebola.
That’s what almost always happens when government
gets too big.
What does this have to do with Kansas? I’ve been
looking at the size of Kansas government for years. It’s really bloated. The
best way to gauge how bad it’s been is comparing the number of public sector
employees per capita in Kansas with the rest of the states. Based on a 2012
census of the states taken by Governing Magazine, Kansas has the eighth highest
number of public sector employees per 10,000 of population (273) in the
non-education segment. When elementary, secondary, and higher education
employees are added to the mix, Kansas has the dubious distinction of have the
second highest per 10,000 (667). If it weren’t for Wyoming, we’d be wearing the
brass ring.
Sam Brownback has been accused of doing everything
under the sun to destroy jobs in Kansas. It’s a clever, deceptive half-truth.
Private sector employment is on the rise. It’s government jobs that are being
cut. And, they should be. This problem has festered far too long. In a 2011
interview with Watchdog.org, Malcom Harris a professor of finance at Friends
University in Wichita was asked about our public sector employment problem. His
response was quite telling: “It’s an indicator of a bigger problem. It tells me
we’ve got a lot of resources going into government.” When asked why that was
important, he replied, “Government spending squeezes resources that might be
available for increasing productivity. It makes us less competitive.”
Like William Tecumseh Sherman marching through
Georgia, Sam Brownback has the bureaucrats howling. It’s about time. The
pendulum in Kansas is finally swinging in the right direction and we need to
keep it swinging that way.
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