The state of my home state
Is it just an excuse to plan out how to spend more money?
Since the calendar has turned to a new year, it’s time for our leaders to publicly assess their success. You know, once upon a time in our great nation the state of the union was expressed in a written message handed to Congress, but now it’s become a major televised event. (At least it’s the one place where the President follows the Constitution - Article II, Section 3.) It’s a method that’s been copied by states and cities around the country as a way for the executive in charge to reveal their budgetary priorities for the next year moreso than the actual condition their jurisdiction is in. (Regardless of actual condition, they always assess it as “strong.”)
This week it was Delaware’s turn, and as a governor who is now concentrating on legacy-building as he enters the final two years of his second and last term, John Carney decreed that he’s ready to spend a lot more federal money that comes in, perhaps thanks to the relationship we have with the current POTUS whose classified document-stashing garage lies in the state.
But there was another previous “success” I found a bit troubling given our current political climate and suspicions about who had access to Biden’s garage. Back in 2021 it was announced that Delaware would become home for a manufacturing plant, an accomplishment I would ordinarily cheer. However, this plant is a pharmaceutical plant for Chinese-owned WuXi STA, which has established its American presence over the last 15 years by buying up smaller American-based firms as well as others around the globe. (They also have a facility in Wuhan - coincidence?)
Sam Faddis has been a dog on that bone for some time, so I’ll defer to him on the overall details of how China takes advantage of our desire for more manufactuing jobs. I’m not sure I would be that quick to take credit for it when we look back in ten years.
Be that as it may, since the state only granted the company $19 million to build it, we’ll go on. (It makes the $5.1 million the state chipped in to purchase the Nylon Capital Shopping Center in Seaford that will benefit a private investor, another “achievement” Carney spoke about, look like crumbs.)
Even though our state’s budget has surged from $4.1 billion (with a $590 million capital budget) in FY2018 (Carney’s first) to a shade under $5 billion (with a whopping $1.3 billion capital budget) in FY2023, of course he wants even more. It’s a 22% increase over five years in the operating budget, with a corresponding over-doubling of the capital budget. And why not, because he sees Uncle Sam as a piggy bank.
In his speech, Carney claimed the residents of the state wanted a focus on “issues that matter in their everyday lives: access to good jobs, excellent public schools, a safe and affordable place to live, and vibrant communities where they can raise their children.” I would agree on the first three, with the deletion of the word “public” when it comes to schools. On the fourth, I need a better definition of “vibrant community” before I sign on.
Regardless, there are solutions to all of these which don’t require massive infusions of cash from Uncle Sam or from Delaware taxpayers (but I repeat myself.)
Good jobs are created where there’s a market which encourages them, and since consumer spending is still the largest part of our economy wouldn’t it make sense to allow people to keep more of their money via a lower tax bill and drive the market where they want it to go rather than try to bend and shape the market to the way your handlers want it through mandates, carveouts, and subsidies?
To get “excellent… schools” maybe we should reward the ones that work in teaching children how to think rather than what to think and make the other ones improve by letting money (which comes from taxpayers like me) follow the child to whichever source of education parents find best for them: public and charter schools can be part of the solution, but so should private schools and homeschooling.
To achieve a safe and affordable place to live, we need to work on punishing those who act to make it unsafe. They talk about prosecuting gun crime, but too often they drop those charges yet try and make criminals out of law-abiding citizens utilizing their Second Amendment rights through legislation that criminals would laugh at anyway.
Without their definition of “vibrant community” I can’t suggest anything, but my preference would be for a community with a conscience that follows traditional Judeo-Christian values. “Woke” is not vibrant.
As for the loyal opposition, the Republicans gave a somewhat tepid response. (Full disclosure: I read the summary rather than watched it, but what they chose to highlight wasn’t especially inspiring.) I’d love to have the personal response from my favorite state legislator, Richard Collins, because I think it may be more in tune with what right-thinking Delawareans believe about this.
On the whole, it would be refreshing to someday see a State of the whatever address that said something along the line of “we’re going to make the state of this (whatever) stronger by stepping back and entrusting you with more of life’s decisions.” But with our current lack of selflessness and when absolute power corrupts absolutely, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.