The North Country’s tea party movement has largely avoided flirtations with the zanier end of the conservative spectrum.<\/p>\n
Activists here have repeated a simple and legitimate concern about the direction of the Federal government, the amount of debt we are accruing, and our over-dependence on Big Government for our needs.<\/p>\n
That agenda has gotten tangled up in the increasingly complicated feud between Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman — once seen as the tea party’s standard bearer — and Republican Matt Doheny.<\/p>\n
At least one group, Plattsburgh’s UNYTEA, has tied itself in knots trying to figure out who to support down the stretch.<\/p>\n
I’m sure tea partiers will want to play a significant role in our politics through Election Day, but my hope is that activists will pivot then and begin formulating ideas to match their passion.<\/p>\n
Here’s what I mean.<\/p>\n
Americans like to think of Big Government and overspending as something that happens somewhere else.\u00a0 Rural white people like to complain about Welfare Queens — a kind of code for poor, inner city people of color.<\/p>\n
Suburban conservatives mutter about big farm subsidies — a kind of code for the massive amounts of pork that flows to America’s small towns.<\/p>\n
Everybody points the finger at the next guy.\u00a0 The truth, of course, is that we’re all culpable.\u00a0 Very few places in America suck up more taxpayer pork than the North Country.<\/p>\n
Our region is massively dependent on government for everything from our jobs to the capital that we use to spruce up our businesses.<\/p>\n
To cite one example, the western side of the 23rd House district is booming these days, not because of any private sector, entrepreneurial inspiration, but because of hundreds of millions of Federal dollars flow to Fort Drum.<\/p>\n
In our hearts, we all know that’s unsustainable.\u00a0 It’s not ideology, it’s simple math.\u00a0 You can’t have Big Government without an even bigger private sector to fund it through taxes.<\/p>\n
But when you go to the region’s local leaders and citizens, there is almost zero willingness to acknowledge this dangerous addiction.\u00a0\u00a0 And there is very little thinking or planning for a more independent future.<\/p>\n
Here’s where the tea party can come in.<\/p>\n
Tea partiers should begin an effort to educate their neighbors about the dangers of over-reliance on government.\u00a0 They should ask every North Country resident to do some simple accounting, something like this:<\/p>\n
How much do you pay each year in taxes, and how much do you receive back in direct payments or services?\u00a0 If you’re getting more than you pay for, then yes, you’re part of the problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The tea party should work to spark an open debate over what a post-Big Government future might look like.<\/p>\n
They should also encourage lawmakers to focus on bringing home money that will actually foster new economic activity, and not simply prop up failing communities.<\/p>\n
Obviously, we need to make hard choices.\u00a0 What tax money can be used as seed corn, and what tax money is simply more unsustainable pork?<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that the tea party’s knee-jerk agenda — a sudden downsizing of state and Federal spending — would be disastrous to the North Country.<\/p>\n
Such a move would plunge us into an economic depression unlike any we’ve seen before.<\/p>\n
But the goal of smaller, more sustainable government is still laudable, and even vital.<\/p>\n
Once the sound and fury of the election season is over, groups like UNYTEA should turn to the hard work of actually moving us in that direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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