The Ohio Plan-the seed

This entry will be rather short for two reasons. The first is that this plan requires further development before it can be successfully implemented, and I wanted some feedback from you about its potential efficacy. The second impetus for this abbreviated column is that we are developing a new format for “Littlestuff-minoosha” that will feature an executive summary at the beginning that will be followed by the “fleshed out” portion. Symbols and words have meaning. In our efforts to communicate concepts and ideas, we often rely on symbols to capture the essence of our thought processes. Symbolic action serves a similar purpose. When undertaken free of cynicism or hypocrisy, a symbolic gesture can create a tone or provide a worthy example for those who observe it.

One of our more recent examples of symbolic action would be when the President of the United States jets overnight to serve a holiday meal to our troops in harm’s way. The action itself has no intrinsic value because there are military professionals who can do a much better job of carving turkey or ladling gravy. The value lies in the symbolic nature of the President’s empathy for the troops in the field. We know it’s stupid. We know that it is unnecessarily costly. We know that at its base, it is a meaningless endeavor, but, nevertheless, we experience an element of “feel good” that the leader of our nation engaged in the symbolic action.

This lengthy preamble is the “set up” for my germinating idea that members of the Ohio General Assembly must take the lead for restoring liberty and fiscal sanity to our state. My nearly two-year old grandson has provided me with some valuable insights about human nature. When there is limited structure, his curious mind and busy hands will seek something to explore. Legislators are similar. They will continually search for little problems-real or imaginary- to be solved. “Idle hands are the Devil’s tools.’ Personally, I believe that the expansion of the Buckeye version of Big Brother coincided with the “need” for a “full-time” General Assembly. If we are ever to put the bloated monster back into its rightful place, then let’s begin by placing the Legislature back on a “part-time” basis.

Modern technology has provided the means for State House members and State Senators to “stay home” while fulfilling their legislative duties. They can be gainfully employed in the private sector while using the technology to complete their legislative tasks. In my view they should be limited to one week per month, and nine months per year of assembly in Columbus. The remainder of the time could be spent in their districts with the electronic umbilical cords uniting them in common purpose (geesh!). Clearly, some constitutional and legal hurdles must be overcome, but the welfare of our state is at stake.

In addition to encouraging them to communicate electronically, I would reduce their pay from the current $60,584 per year to $24,000 annually. As each member is elected and assumes office, the taxpayers would provide her or him with the $5000 package of technology and software to allow them to function. Just on the salaries alone minus the start-up costs, the savings would approach $9million every two years. This is without adjusting the benefit packages and the mileage reimbursements. Admittedly, $9 million is peanuts, but the symbol would be priceless. The greatest advantage, though, is the dispersal of the legislative body from the central location where they are accessible to lobbyists and other entities who survive on the government teat. This is merely a seed of thought and requires more development, but check the link for the current pay scale and mileage reimbursement.

An Ohio Plan.docx

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