Accountability, strings attached, ... and ‘you didn’t build that’
Jonathan Small
Gov. Kevin Stitt’s first State of the State address set a great tone as Oklahoma begins the 2019 legislative session.
His first priority is untangling Oklahoma’s executive branch. President Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk: “The buck stops here.” Oklahoma governors need that kind of authority so they can run state government on behalf of the people who elect them.
Our new governor also pointed out some of the risks built into our state budget. One is the past tendency to talk only about the appropriated budget and ignore the other two-thirds of state spending. If a family has three sources of income, it would be unwise to ignore two of them when drawing up the family budget.
Another risk is our dependence on federal funds. What Congress gives, Congress can take away. And Congress and federal agencies attach all kinds of strings and red tape to those supposedly “free” federal dollars. (Of course, every federal dollar ultimately comes from a taxpayer, and spending often adds to the national debt.)
A third risk is the state’s dependence on oil and gas. Oil and gas prices fluctuate significantly. Given that uncertainty, it would be irresponsible to use all the current growth revenue to expand government operations. Gov. Stitt’s proposed budget recommends saving some current growth and spending some on one-time needs.
Governor Stitt also pointed out that “government does not create wealth, only the private sector can.” This attracted the ire of House Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman, who called it “untrue” and “disrespectful” to government employees.
Rep. Virgin, like former President Barack Obama when he lectured Americans “you didn’t build that,” is wrong twice over. First, only voluntary transactions create wealth, at least in any measurable economic sense. Even if you think forced wealth redistribution is morally right, it does not create wealth, it just moves it around.
More fundamentally, Rep. Virgin’s comment suggests that money is a measure of the worth of a human being. Why else would she find it “disrespectful” to talk about whether a particular job creates wealth? There are many wonderful state workers doing important jobs every day. They suffer when policymakers forget that government is only possible because of wealth created in the private sector.
Nevertheless, Stitt’s speech highlighted common sense and brought optimism to the state Capitol.
Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs ( www.ocpathink.org).