Stop Digging!

Stop Digging!

by Delegate Mike McDermott

As Americans, we understand that people can make mistakes. As we grow up, we learn from our mistakes so that we do not stumble a second time. Wise people do not often make the same mistake twice.

There is an old proverb which states, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Governor O’Malley and Senator Mathias are not exceptions to this rule.

Eight years ago when these two men took office together, Maryland enjoyed a billion dollar surplus at the end of Republican Bob Ehrlich’s first term as governor. Our state played host to 11 Fortune 500 companies. We were #25 on the list of “Business Friendly States”, poultry operations were expanding, and the future of agriculture in Maryland looked bright. Our people were happy to live here and most had no thoughts of moving away.

Eight years with O’Malley and Mathias have shown the devastating effects of their big government economic policies and made it clear that they do not learn from their past or their mistakes. Their shared philosophy promoting government as the answer to any problem has turned our surplus into deficits. While every state experienced the recession, Maryland has struggled to regain its footing, and some of our counties are simply not recovering. It is a failure of policy, not our people.

Of those 11 Fortune 500 companies...only 1 remains in Maryland and that is McCormick Inc. Based on recent news accounts, even the folks who gave us “Old Bay” seasoning are soon to relocate to Pennsylvania. These companies have not gone out of business, they just cannot afford to operate in a state run by folks who do not know how to be “business friendly”.

Being known as a “Business Friendly” state should be our goal. O’Malley, and his apologists like Mathias, have moved us from #25 all the way down to #42. We are surrounded by businesses that have closed shop, companies that simply do not exist anymore, and large retailers that have boarded up and moved away. Business has a thin bottom line that liberal lawmakers have never understood. Every increase to the cost of doing business must be passed on to consumers who have less money to spend. Liberals apparently skipped their Economics 101 class to attend Advanced Hole Digging 301.

We lose market share on the shore if we are not building at least 30 new chicken houses a year. This administration has allowed us to go through an 18-month span where nothing was permitted to be built. The new requirements placed upon our farmers by this administration nearly demands an Engineering and Planning Degree just to fill out the forms. The same holds true for other business ventures, and, in a world where time is money, companies and entrepreneurs do not have the “time” to wait for Maryland.

That old adage and advice: “If you find yourself in a hole, the first rule is to stop digging”, is clearly not hanging in the office of the governor or the Maryland Senate. When these guys hit brick walls  with neon signs telling them, “NOT THIS WAY...GO BACK!”, they assume the rules of logic and economics simply did not apply to them...and they keep on digging. Four years ago we lost conservative seats in the Senate, and O’Malley never looked back. His bold agenda included:

• A new definition for marriage,
• The “Bathroom Bill” for transgender rights,
• The Gun Bill,
• Eliminating the Death Penalty,
• The Septic Bill,
• Watershed Improvement Plans,
• Nutrient Management,
• Taxpayer subsidized wind turbines,
• Income Tax increases,
• Sales Tax increases,
• Taxpayer subsidized  college tuition for Illegal Aliens,
• Common Core curriculum changes,
• 80 additional Tax and Fee Increases,

...and the dirt keeps flying out of the hole, and yet there’s more!

The Obama-O’Malley-Mathias Care implementation has given our taxpayers one of the biggest dirt clods of all! First they expand those who can get on the Medicaid rolls without a funding source which cost us untold millions. Then they create a State-run Health Care Exchange (bill sponsored by Jim Mathias) run by LT Governor Brown that soaks up hundreds of millions of your dollars and produces a sour lemon that had to be abandoned after multiple attempts to “correct the problem”. Then, the same senators that gave us this nightmare voted for us to pay another couple hundred million to acquire yet another system from another state...which is now having problems of its own! And for those who could not get through to sign up but simply say, “I tried but the phone was busy…”, Maryland Taxpayers will pay the full amount of any medical bills they incurred through April of this year. They could not even give us an estimate on the cost for this bill, they simply voted to give the governor a blank check!

Keep digging fellas...you’ll get there yet!

I believe Maryland is a state that can prosper. If we follow sound economic principles, believe in our people, and change our policies, in the near future we could be debating what to do with our surplus revenues. Here are some action items myself and other conservatives have proposed during the past two years:

• Cut Income Taxes. This is where small businesses pay the bulk of their taxes. This alone would spur our economy and put more discretionary dollars back in our families pocket books. Slash the rates or eliminate them over time and watch us grow!
• Cut Corporate Tax Rates by 50% and get ready for those Fortune 500 companies to see Maryland as their headquarters once again.
• Streamline bureaucracy and follow the recommendations in multiple studies done in the past 10-years that would promote Maryland as sporting a “Business Friendly Climate”.
• Lift the regulatory burden. Have an attitude as a state that our job is to “permit” not “deny”. State employees exist to help and assist our business community prosper, not to act as punitive tax collectors.
• Allow the first $50,000.00 in Retirement Income to be tax free and make us a state where people want to retire rather than flee in their latter years.
• Trust your people and do not trample their 2nd Amendment Rights. The right to protect and defend our families should be considered a “good and substantial reason” to wear and carry a firearm if one chooses to do so.
• Stop demanding more money for the Bay or more regulations on our farmers and families until the issues surrounding the Conowingo Dam are addressed and resolved.
• Base all decisions and regulations governing our farmers and watermen on sound science and not “best guess” political solutions.

Had these 8-steps been implemented as proposed by myself and others, our State revenues would have increased significantly, entrepreneurs would be flourishing, corporations would be expanding and migrating into our state, retirees would remain and continue to contribute to our economy while others looked to Maryland as a place to retire, crime would have continued to decrease and our streets would be safer, we would be well on our way to solving the real problem facing the Bay, and our watermen and farming families would be prosperous once again.

Opportunity is knocking loud in November. Be sure you answer the door!

Marylander, take back your state!