Strickland Unlikely Vice-President Candidate

Strickland Unlikely Vice-President Candidate

by Mark Luedtke

Each year every country is ranked in 10 facets of economic freedom to determine an overall ranking of economic freedom. Economic freedom is tied directly to individual prosperity, health, happiness, and social tolerance. The United States is the 4^th most economically free country at 82% free, and that rating is dropping. "The land of the free and the home of the brave” should accept nothing less than 1^st in the world with a much higher rating. The 4 worst factors that drag down our rating are, in worst first order, poor freedom from government, poor trade freedom, poor fiscal (tax) freedom, and corruption.

That's a perfect description of what is wrong with the United States economy in black and white. In order to return to a trajectory of greatness and remain the greatest nation the world has ever seen, we must reduce the size and scope of government, promote free trade, lower taxes, and stamp out the corruption enabled by titanic government.

In the face of this illuminating report, Democrats plan to nominate Hillary Clinton for President. Mrs. Clinton runs on a platform of grandly increasing the size and scope of government, increasing protectionism, and raising taxes. And she's already been co-president in what was arguably the most corrupt administration in history. Hillary Clinton will make each of the major fundamental problems with America's economy worse.

We have the same problems here in Ohio. In 1980, the State of Ohio's revenue was less than $5 billion. In 2006, it was over $26 billion. In 1980, Ohio had the 3^rd smallest tax burden of any state. This year we have the 5^th highest tax burden of any state. Ohio is tied for 39^th in economic freedom of the 50 states. That means if you want to make money, and we all do, there are 38 better states to live in. Because of this astronomical growth in state government and taxes, Ohio has hemorrhaged jobs for years. We lost another 6,800 jobs in October. We won't stop losing jobs until we reduce the size of government and lower our taxes.

And we're all aware of the corruption problems in Columbus that are enabled by this explosive growth in government. It was because of corruption we elected Ted Strickland governor. Mr. Strickland enjoys a 69% approval rating for one major reason – he's not Bob Taft.

He's certainly not popular for his policies. His biggest achievement so far is he didn't raise taxes. I suppose that's high praise for a Democrat, but Ohio needs tax cuts to recover, not continued high taxes.

Ted Strickland is a proud progressive. Mr. Strickland's government, not free people, will determine who can build what kind of power plant where. He won't allow parents to choose what school they send their kids to despite the success and popularity of school vouchers. We need to reduce government regulation, not increase it.

But Ted Strickland has the demeanor of a moderate. He acknowledges the individual's natural right to keep and bear arms enumerated in the 2^nd Amendment. He took a much needed stand for private property rights on Lake Erie in the Kelo age of eminent domain. He works with Republicans and treats them with respect. He's pleasant and by all accounts a man of good character. The perception, and I hope it's accurate, is that Ted Strickland is reducing corruption in Columbus. So he is addressing 1 of our 3 fundamental economic problems.

Ted Strickland's popularity in the most important swing state of the last 2 elections makes him an attractive vice-presidential candidate for Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Strickland's personal character would also aid Hillary. He's a pleasant man while she's the antithesis of pleasant. He's a uniter while she's the most polarizing figure in politics. He builds bridges. She burns them.

Despite Hillary Clinton's attempts to remake her image over the last 15 years, none of us can forget the real Hillary who wants to imprison Americans for going to their own doctor instead of slavishly following her dictates in her original socialized medicine program. None of us can forget that she reportedly shrieked at her own allies and refused to budge when they suggested she soften that position. Howard Feinman of Newsweek charitably calls Mrs. Clinton a control freak. Hillary could use Ted Strickland to help disguise her true personality and character.

But why would Ted Strickland subject himself to 4 years of a repeat of the Clinton psychodrama? At least 16 of the Clintons' partners in their corrupt scams ended up in prison. Does Ted Strickland want to be involved in illegally snatching raw FBI files to blackmail everybody in Washington? Does he want to be involved in forcing IRS audits to intimidate political opponents? Does he want to be involved in smearing all the women who tell their stories about how Bill Clinton molested them?

I doubt it. If Ted Strickland is the man of character he appears, he won't subject himself to the Clintons' corruption. He seems satisfied as Ohio governor, and he can probably win another term despite his big-government policies. He says he's not interested in the vice-president position. Only somebody more interested in their own presidential ambitions than right and wrong and what's good for the country would take the job.