Change of Focus

Saturday Night at the Barbour County Lincoln Day Dinner I had the opportunity to hear Doug McKinney speak. This is about the 3rd time in 2 weeks I have had that opportunity, and each time I am impressed. I like the change in focus that Doug is presenting.

For years the West Virginia GOP has pushed the fact that we are the Pro-life, Pro-marriage, Pro-gun party, but isn't that what is expected of the GOP? Unless you have been living on Mars, you know those are the core social values of the party and they will not change. Doug sees an opportunity for the party to make headway in the state by pushing the fiscal conservative values of the party. The values that will make the states economy grow.

Forbes Magazine ranks West Virginia the 49th best place to do business, while our parent state, Virginia, ranks 1st on the same list. The simple reason is Virginia has less regulation, less licensing, and less taxes on business. This makes it easier to do business in Virginia and as a result they have a growing economy.

At our peak in 1950 West Virginia had a population of 2 million. While the rest of the nation grew, we declined to our present 1.8 million. This is mainly the result of bad fiscal policies made by a Democrat controlled state government. The namesake of Marshall University, Chief Justice John Marshall had it right when he said, "The power to tax involves the power to destroy." The powers in Charleston have definitely destroyed the states economy over the past 50+ years proving his point. In 1950 we were strong enough to have the representation of 2 US Senators, and 6 US Congressman. To put that in perspective, we would need a population of around 3.8 million in 2010 to have that kind of power. In 60 years we have been more than cut in half. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Doug is right, now is the time to change the focus of the GOP onto the fiscal values of the party. It will be hard for the Democrats to hide from 50+ years of destruction of the states economy through ever increasing bad tax policy. Every family in the state has been touched by members that have had to leave to find work, and that presents an opportunity for the GOP. Through economic education the party can gain ground, and begin to reverse the destruction of the states economy that has occurred over the last 50 years.