Most of my articles have focused on matters arising here on Kaua‘i and directly affecting our island and its people. In this article I will offer some observations I have had on the problems, limitations and failures of the political
Most of my articles have focused on matters arising here on Kaua‘i and directly affecting our island and its people. In this article I will offer some observations I have had on the problems, limitations and failures of the political process both national and local.
Since I am venturing outside our nominally non-partisan structure for Kaua‘i, I should mention that I have avoided affiliation with any political party as I have found features of both major parties with which I am not comfortable. I am disturbed when party discipline overrides individual conviction. I am disposed to believe that we are best served by a limited and responsible government.
In our society government should exist to provide the essential services necessary for the common good and welfare. But under the present political process pressures persist to expand the scope and depth of governmental involvement in our social order. There are always people clamoring to obtain or improve benefits they believe they should receive from their government. Our elected political leaders too frequently succumb to and accommodate these cries.
We should always keep in mind two fundamental realities. Commercial activity creates wealth, government uses it, and what government gives to one it takes from another. Our economy must be and remain vigorous enough to provide the resources which are used by government to offer necessary benefits and services to our populace.
On Kaua‘i and in Hawai‘i governments are restrained by constitutional requirements of having a balanced budget. This is a powerful control as it prevents governmental bodies from spending sums that they are not willing to tax citizens to pay.
It is said that the political process works best at the local level because government officials have a closer relationship with and can be more responsive to the will of the citizens. On Kaua‘i this maxim is blunted because the mayor-council form we have is less efficient and less accountable than the manager-council system which prevails in most other comparable locations. Kaua‘i also has fewer citizen activists than it should have for the important issues facing the county. It is illustrative that over 10 times more citizens attended council meetings considering the allowance of dogs on the Eastside path than were present during discussion of the nearly-$250-million 2011 county operating and capital budgets. Because of the limited public involvement in major matters our Kaua‘i government leaders tend to stray on the dangerous path of ignoring public guidance.
At the national level the political process has sharply deteriorated. The Congressional membership seems to be more oriented to serving partisan needs than serving their constituent’s interest. This focus contributes to the antagonism that exists between the major political parties. The recently-adopted health care measure was a testimonial to draconian party loyalty as it was the first time a significant social entitlement was ever enacted without broad public support and on a strict party-line vote.
Politicians regularly seek to serve their constituents or segments of them by providing entitlements or benefits. Our process facilitates these purposes in a variety of ways. In our federal government these predilections have resulted in a massive expansion of our social programs with their inevitable costs. Without the restraining limitation of a balanced-budget requirement, expenditures for these entitlements have escalated unacceptably. At this time fixed obligations such as Social Security, Medicare, health care and prescription-drug coverage together with interest on existing national debt now held principally by foreign governments foretell unsustainable federal deficits for the foreseeable future. The federal deficit for 2010 is expected to be a staggering $1.5 trillion. And at this writing the federal debt totals nearly $13 trillion or almost $42,000 per person.
It seems to be an integral part of their nature that our elected officials of all affiliations are quick to disclaim any responsibility for the burden on our economy that the existing indebtedness constitutes. Democrats argue that our difficulties arise from conduct by greedy entrepreneurs and Republicans find fault with governmental fiscal irresponsibility. It is of limited value to dispute the causes for current condition. The key objective is to evaluate whether the situation is tenable and, if not, the optimum solution. Again the prevailing political process fails us with Democrats talking about redistributing wealth and Republicans wanting to lower taxes. With the indebtedness acutely burdensome and the continuing deficits alarming an obvious solution is to reduce spending. But politicians find it highly difficult to do that. Their eyes are on the present not the future. They seem oblivious to the consequences to future generations of continuing on the existing path.
Another illustration of how our political process is failing us arises in the issues relating to illegal aliens. There is general acceptance that corrections need to be made, but the parties differ on the steps to be taken. A result of the federal failure to act is the understandable but regrettable Arizona enactment to empower local authorities. It seems apparent that a reasonable solution might be to for our federal government to effectively control our southern border to end the easy current access and then seek to find answers of amnesty nature for the productive elements of the illegal population. But a political stalemate seem to be preventing this outcome.
From my perspective our citizens must become aware of the limitations of our political process. They need to avoid placing or retaining in our national elective offices those who blindly follow their party leaders and are more concerned about their elect-ability than the national welfare. Our nation is at a critical stage. We need to recognize that our political process is impaired and it is urgent that we elect the people who will put the interests of our county, state or country ahead of partisan welfare and who recognize the importance of protecting the future of our children and their children.
• Walter Lewis is a resident of Princeville and writes a biweekly column for The Garden Island.
