Governing Down To Expectations

Well, that was quick. Whatever hope conservatives had for the Corbett administration is pretty much over. After presenting a sensible, but none too conservative, budget it appears all momentum to restore virtue, liberty, and independence in the Commonwealth has evaporated.

Consider the following: The current talk is all about how much more is going to get put back into the state budget. Most legislators, including those in Corbett's own party, are speaking about the so-called draconian cuts to higher education and how they will mitigate them in the coming months. (Why can't adults pay full price for the benefits they receive—how do they justify their belief that somebody else should pay for their own education?) K-12 which received a hefty increase in funding from state taxpayers in Corbett's budget is also expected to get even more.

Meanwhile, unions appear to have won the socialist battle. The state-store system does not seem in danger of being de-socialized. Corbett isn't even bothering to make the case that managing the liquor business is an improper role for government. He is making the case that we can use the funds from its sale for repairs to our bridges, but that is truly awful government. A society functions best when those who get the benefits of an action or program pay the costs—what does liquor consumption have to do with the structural soundness of bridges? Nothing is more important now for America and Pennsylvania than for someone to make the case of what the proper role of government is and why the ruin of our heritage and society will follow if we continue to use government for illegitimate purposes. Not a concern for Mr. Corbett.

Another apparent victory for the forces of compulsion is the absence of a bill to advance the freedom of workers in Pennsylvania. Making Pennsylvania a right-to-work state is the single best thing legislators can do to revive the state's economy long-term and attract business and people to a state desperately in need of both. Yet, no one in the Corbett administration is talking about this and no bill has been introduced in either house in Harrisburg.

What is the issue, besides the budget, that has everyone's attention? Marcellus Shale and how it will be taxed. This should be a relatively simple matter where taxes are limited to the costs of extraction born by state taxpayers. Instead, all sorts of plans are being made for the use of revenues independent of the cost-benefit connection vital to economic efficiency that was mentioned above.

I had little hope that Governor Corbett was an authentic conservative and a leader of consequence. He's governing down to my expectations.