Dust and ashes, dead and done with, Venice spent what Venice earned. The soul, doubtless, is immortal — where a soul can be discerned. Those lines are from one of my favorite poems, A Toccata of Galuppi’s by Robert Browning. They’ve been running through my mind for weeks now every time I think about the stimulus and the future of my country. They were on my mind today as I read Gov. Palin’s decision on the stimulus. Her position has been consistent. Her concerns about the stimulus have never changed. She was very clear in her March 20th press statement: "I will not request stimulus package funds that subject Alaska to more federal control and ever-increasing federal mandates. And that’s why we’re seeking more information on every line item that we’d have to include if we were to request more from the feds. That’s what the open, legislative, public process will provide – more opportunity for more information." As I noted at the time, Alaska lawmakers are concerned about the sustainability of their budget. In an article in the Alaska Journal of Commerce, Rep. Mike Hawker (R-Anchorage) was quoted as saying: "This is a responsible budget, but not a sustainable budget….It meets the needs of Alaska, but also needs to be the beginning of a new discussion about what we expect from government and how we are going to pay for it. The continuing decline in oil production on the North Slope is Alaska’s greatest challenge, and we must engage in a frank public discussion of this reality and our alternate courses of action." Those are frightening words. The state’s current level of spending is not sustainable if the price of oil declines. They can’t afford to grow government. It’s as simple as that. With regards to the stimulus package, Gov. Palin’s concerns can be separated into two categories: concerns for Alaska and concerns for the nation as a whole. The crux of her concern for Alaska regarding the stimulus has always been "budget sustainability and federal ‘strings’ that would dictate state policy" in the future. The crux of her concern for the nation has always been the fact that we can’t borrow ourselves out of recession and the fear that we’re sacrificing our long-term fiscal sovereignty. She spoke briefly and passionately about this in her speech in Indiana: This isn’t free money, folks. Our nation is 11 trillion dollars in debt. This is borrowed money. We’re borrowing from China. We may find ourselves someday enslaved to countries that hold our notes — countries that don’t necessarily have America’s best interest in mind. She also articulated her fears for Alaska (and for all the states) in that speech: Being enslaved to bigger, more centralized government as a result of blindly taking these federal dollars as bailout money and funding local government to grow to sustain the services that this temporary one-time funding will pay for — ultimately that takes away opportunities to develop and to progress and be self-sufficient and be free. The need to be free to develop is something near and dear to every Alaskan’s heart. The federal government still controls most of the land and resources in Alaska. There is something terribly servile and humiliating about the way in which the powerful and un-elected Interior Secretary jets into Alaska like a visiting monarch, and all the Alaskan officials must line up to kiss his ring. This powerful and un-elected official from a distant capital that doesn’t understand or even really care about Alaska has the power to prevent the state from developing its own resources. It’s a master/slave relationship. For years, Alaska behaved as a petulant teenager. The federal government refused to let them grow up, so they simply demanded more allowance money. Give us pork! And why not? They are hardworking and industrious people, they want to use their own land, and Big Daddy Government in D.C. won’t let them. Sarah Palin came in and decided that this parent/teenager relationship was unhealthy. She cut back the pork requests because pork is "Turkish Delight" — only the first taste is free. There are strings attached. Sarah Palin wants Alaska to grown up and clean up. Eventually the feds will allow Alaska to control more of its own resources. It will happen someday — though it may take an Alaskan in the White House to do it. I think the idea of an Alaska more beholden to the federal government is distasteful to Sarah Palin. It was distasteful to another western conservative, who once said: This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. In her press conference on the stimulus, Gov. Palin quoted Thomas Jefferson on the dangers of an all-powerful central government: When all government domestic and foreign in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as a center of all power it will render powerless the checks of one branch of government on another, and it will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. So, when it comes to the stimulus package, Palin’s concerns for Alaska are "sustainability" and "strings." She refuses to grow government or to accept money that comes with strings attached that will give "a far-distant capital" more control over Alaskans. That has always been her reasoning. She was skeptical of taking the funds, so she opened the issue to public debate. "We provided the public with the opportunity to weigh in and for them to understand the complicated and evolving federal requirements in this package," Governor Palin said. "My concern remains that we must acknowledge these are one-time, temporary funds…" Basically she told lawmakers and the public, "Prove to me that there are no unsustainable ‘strings’ attached to this stimulus. Show me that you understand...
↧