Visionaries or Living in the Valley of the Blind?
By: Russ Stilwell
Everywhere you look, you hear that government is not working, that government needs to get out of the way and that government should not dictate to us how we lead our lives. My oh my, do we ever live in a strange world!
Let’s look at some of the more noticeable examples right here in our Hoosier state. It’s a political gold mine for the political junkie unless you are a visionary.
While calling for less government and for government to get out of the way, the Indiana General Assembly is passing laws to insure that the government sneaks into your bedroom, stays out of your gun safe and makes sure local units of government are banned from local decision making.
They are a busy group as they are also making every effort to dismantle public education, take away local school board decision making and insuring that one day in the not-too-distant future we can boast of being a union-free right-to-work state. Talk about a race to the bottom for Hoosier working class paychecks.
And then there are the others. Now, thanks to the Senate, we can carry a concealed weapon into public meetings at the local level (wonder why they left out the state level?). The House is debating a bill that would raise marriage license fees four-fold, unless you completed a state premarital course. And if we are lucky, we will have a constitutional right to fish, hunt, and harvest game and who-knows-what-else by the time this session ends.
Since Indiana law on the ban of gay marriage (1997) hasn’t been challenged or even talked about for years, I’m sure that Hoosiers will be pleased to know that the General Assembly will spend countless hours making sure we add this to our constitution as well. And for good measure, we’ll just make sure that civil unions and any conveyance or marriage are felonious as well. Make sure you pull the bedcovers up tight tonight!
Education? I’ m afraid to even bring it up. But . . . seems we are headed for lots of change, even change most candidates did not even talk about. Let’s make sure, as Governor Daniels likes to say, “Kids come first.”
Let us expand charter schools and take existing money from our already financially strapped public schools. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s let public school kids take their state money and enroll in a private school. I’ll bet our private schools don’t just take the emotionally, physically and mentally disadvantaged challenged. Wanna bet they want the others? Let the public schools teach ‘those’ kids! And then we can say we told you so when our public schools erode further.
The list goes on. In the Senate, cuts for education benefits for disabled veteran’s kids are on the chopping block while another committee is having hearings to cut business taxes by $140 Million.
And one of my favorites is the continual bragging by our governor that Indiana has the fewest state employee per capita in nation. And we pay them at the bottom as well. I wonder if this included FSSA and the ill-fated private for-profit firm that created one of the most colossal erosions of fairness for poor people in the history of our state. Probably not.
Yep, it’s a fun time if you are a political junkie, but I don’t think that fun will be felt by teachers, construction workers and countless others in our Hoosier State.
How, in only a few short weeks, can the party of less government place government under the sheets, insert it into every decision of local decision makers and tell the fastest growing segment of our population (Hispanic) to hang on while we pass the most invasive immigration bill of all the 50 states? You can if Visionaries are leading the state.
Got time for my last point? Sometimes I just can’t help myself. A quick observation about the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Let’s review Obama’s concession to the national Republican leadership to allow these cuts to continue, despite adding $700 billion in debt at a time of record budget deficits.
It amazes me how 2% of the American people (the wealthiest) can get the rest of the us to believe it is in our best interest to reward them with $700 Billion.
Talk about salesmanship! Surly, the proponents of this exclusive club of rich Americans must be visionaries too.
Recently, while watching a 60 Minutes rerun, Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas mega-rich visionary who transformed that city, when asked if he was a visionary said,” a visionary can be a one-eyed man with failing eyesight if he is walking through a valley of the blind.” It is all in the eye of the beholder.
We need to balance the budget, cut spending and quit bailing out the banks and auto industry. But it’s ok to give the super rich a continuation of a $700 Billion tax break?
And right here in Indiana we need to balance the budget, keep government from intruding into our lives and insure that Hoosiers have quality public education. But it’s ok to send our public tax monies to private schools enact restrictive measures for local government and carry heat anywhere you want.
I must surely live in the valley of the blind.
