Freedom Now

As I travel across Ohio, I am reminded again and again about the phenomenal diversity that we enjoy here. From our mountains in the east (little ones, to be sure) to our prairies in the west, our massive river in the east and south, our bountiful lake in the north all together comprise a topographical and geographical wonderland. Within the boundaries of our roughly-square state are many rivers and lakes, fertile fields, lush valleys and mineral-laden hills. If we were any where else in the world, we would have the foundation for a vibrant little country.


Our diversity is multiplied by the nature of our people and their roots. Each of our large cities and other geographic areas throughout Ohio represent enclaves of many different immigrant groups. Ours is a state that truly does reflect a cross-section of America. Eastern and Western Europeans, Africans, Asians, and South Americans have come to Ohio and thrived. Some have had more success than others, but all have come here with a dream. The great smoke-belching factories, the fertile farmland and the innovative entrepreneurs of Ohio have projected a promise of potential prosperity to all who settled here. The Wright brothers and Charles Kettering were Ohioans. The Libbeys, Proctor and Gamble and the Higbees built their legacies here. Dirty hands provide the evidence of Ohio’s strength—whether the dirt be grease or soil. Times have changed. Ohio has changed. We have changed.

Ohio is struggling now. Our great industrial base is a shadow of what it once was. Our agricultural productivity is being challenged by suburban sprawl, increasing regulation, and, as usual, uncertain markets, high input costs and shrinking opportunities. Ohio’s great retail base has eroded because of the disappearance of companies and jobs. My personal sense is that the “can-do” spirit and innovative creativity that has been so much a part of Ohio’s past has been blunted and stunted. It seems as if Ohio were presently surviving on life support. That’s not all bad. Look to our north. Michigan is on the autopsy table. The operative portion of life support is “life.” We still have a glimmer of life. We can, by following the proper corrective procedures, restore the state. We can restructure the economy. We can rebuild the optimism. We can restore the spirit.

How do we do this you may ask? The easy answer is that we limit the government’s interference in our daily lives and our economic activity. How do we go about achieving a more limited government? The first step is to recognize that there is a problem (AA is right). One can do an economic analysis of regions, states and countries and discern that there is a direct correlation between the influence of the prevailing government and the robust activity in the proscribed area. Now we know that correlation does not necessarily translate into causation, but when one is searching for a remedy for economic stagnation, a correlation may provide a valuable clue. Finding a cure for Ohio’s economic woes is compounded by the fact that we an integral component of the Great Lakes/Midwest region and are one state out of fifty in the United States. It seems reasonable, therefore that any measures taken by Ohioans will be impacted by regional and national considerations. An example would be the plethora of Federal mandates and nation-wide rulemaking that undermines economic energy in Ohio. Our goal should be to do as much as is possible with the tools in our kit, and then, to circumvent or reject the negative impact of the region and the national government.

First of all, the radical realist in me knows/believes that statewide tweaking and half-measures will be fruitless. They would offer a glimmer of hope without delivering the reality. Instead of a scalpel for trimming the edges of a large bloated state government apparatus (the GOP approach), we should fire up a chain saw and reduce the overgrown tree of Ohio government to a stump of basic, fundamental and necessary government. Concurrent with our radical reorganization of Ohio, we should adamantly and forcefully embrace the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as well as utilizing nullification strategies wherever possible. Personal experience should have taught each of us that half-measures corrupt the ideal, and even if the ideal is by definition unachievable, half –measures distort the ideal into something that becomes unimaginable. If you take a squirt gun into a knife fight, you will soon discover that winning is not a practical objective. You may also learn that survival is doubtful. Enter that same confrontation while packing a 45, and you will note that your perspective about the outcome has changed. So it is with rebuilding, restoring or renewing Ohio. If we use the squirt gun, we will drown in our own blood. If we use the handgun (metaphorically speaking), then we can forcefully open the portals of freedom. We can construct an island of opportunity and freedom right here in the crossroads of the nation. With a new attitude about the role of state government (should be rarely seen and even more rarely heard), businesses and visionaries from surrounding leviathans will flock to our climate of encouragement.

“Outside the box” has become a metaphor for creative thinking and problem solving. Already it is somewhat of a cliché, but if one examines the trajectory of prosperity in Ohio, one might note that we are inexorably drifting toward an inescapable box…a coffin. Our major economic sectors are gasping for air. Our workforce is aging. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our political leadership is AWOL. The primary key, as I see it, for escaping this inevitable slide is to develop a system that allows individuals to thrive. Historically, the GOP has been perceived as too friendly to corporate interests although the Democrats have their own favorite corporate buddies. The Democrats have been identified as the party of “groups.” Labor, minorities, women…find a group, and the Democrats will promote it, but the Republicans have their own organized groupies.

Governments at every level must recognize the value of the individual if this nation, and this state, wish to reverse our slide into mediocrity…and finally, insignificance. The gift of grace is a promise to the individual. Why can’t governments recognize, acknowledge and encourage individual initiative? Why cannot governments cherish and promote individual freedom? Why do governments seem compelled to constrain, restrain and deny an individual’s dream? Those who represent the government may believe that whatever they do is in the best interest of those they govern, but they often fail to understand that every little speed bump, every tiny hurdle or every arbitrary rule inhibits the free exercise of the creative force of the individual. A community suffers a loss, a state loses a benefit and a nation loses power when the spark of ingenuity is squelched in an individual. Multiply that effect by many people and a nation will suffer the consequences of broken dreams and shattered hopes. The source of wondrous development is not the bosom of government, but it resides in the hearts and minds of people who dream…big dreams and little dreams. Let us dream, let us build, let us be free to be all we can be. Let us fail, for we can get up and try again, and our new efforts will be better than our previous ones. Allow us to consume the heady air of triumph or wallow in the despair of defeat, because we do not need you, Government, to insure our success. Help us by providing a limited set of rules and by your enforcing them, then turn us loose and watch us grow…as will you. Government of the people means that if you allow us to flourish, then you will thrive as well. If you stifle our spirits and our creative impulses, then we will all wither and fade away. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.

Comment or email: cnpearl@woh.rr.com