Why Ohio should not have a King
Giving the Governor so much power is not at all what the founding father's intended. Empowering one person so absolutely begets absolute corruption.
The founding fathers were not very eager to imbue their leaders with King like powers. They really wanted to have checks and balances on power. For instance they did not empower one person (a King) to make laws. They split that duty between the legislature (two chambers) and the President (the executive branch). The President, under their system, did not even have the ability to introduce legislation. Executive orders were not the status quo that they are today. Executive orders mainly pertained to policies of how the government operated and were not used to impose tyranny.
Engrained into the lexicon of Ohio’s lawyers that advise and intimidate our legislators is the belief that “If you win as governor that you get to decide how the state is ran”, elections have consequences as they surmise. To a point, they are right, with victory should come some ability to shape policy and elections do have consequences. Unfortunately, this mantra has been taken to an extreme. Ohio is not the only State that has fell victim to this wrongheaded mantra that has proliferated among legal experts, many States and many legislators have fallen victim to this wrongheaded and pernicious philosophy. This was not the philosophy that our country was built on - the American philosophy was to distribute power - not concentrate it - and then provide checks and balance.
Business owners and Ohioans naturally gravitate towards stability, dependability, and predictability. Without wild swings in the economy, it is easier to make investment decisions and take risks. Uncertainty has always been the bane of free-market expansion. When uncertainty is high - investment is low, that is just a law of the market. It is much harder to shape policy when you have to win arguments on ideas - rather than by shaping policies through political juxtaposition, rhetoric, and smears.
Typically, when power is more equally divided between a State’s House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the Governor - there is greater stability, dependability, and predictability. Policies are much more vigorously debated before implementation and it is much more likely that bad policies are struck down with a more even distribution of power. Additionally, officeholders need to be able to work together to gain enough consensus to pass bills into laws.
We’ve seen what happens when moderate Republicans gain power in Ohio - we have the second most complex set of laws in the Nation only being out done by California and only surpassing New York in 2021. Every law has an associated cost - and that is but one of a myriad of reasons why so few business stay in Ohio.
Almost all boards and commissions created by the Ohio legislature over the last 30 years have empowered the Governor alone to make a tremendous amount of appointments to fill these positions. Not only does the governor get to make these appointments, but they also have the ability to fire (remove) these individuals at-will. As appointments have increased - the power of the governor over our day-to-day lives has increased dramatically. These political appointees run the State government and their job is dependent upon embracing the whims of the Governor. There is no room for an objective opinion nor an objecting opinion. The elimination of dissent has broad and expected implications - and that is everyone is afraid to tell the top dog in Ohio that they are wrong. Quite literally we are creating the “Emperor has no clothes” fallacy.
The Ohio Governor makes far more appointments than the Texas and California Governors. I am certain if more States made available the data on the number of Gubernatorial appointees - that Ohio would most-likely top the list. Appointments are how you (wink, wink, nod, nod) payback volunteers for their efforts. Volunteers are not expected to have a mind of their own and are expected to toe the line.
With differing administrations - we have different policy goals and different ways of thinking. There becomes a massive upheaval every time we have a new Governor due to differences in goals and thinking, and if the Governor is from a different party, well then the upheaval is magnified by at least a magnitude of four. This rollercoaster ride does not provide a stable business environment and as such - Ohio has the least dynamic economy in the nation. The lack of dynamism means Ohioans are the first to go into recession and the last to recover. Dynamism is largely a measure of an economies ability to produce, incubate, and foster new businesses. A low new business startup rate nearly always correlates to low economic dynamism and a lack of substantive business diversity. While Ohio may appear to have a robust economy on the surface, when you peel back the top layer, you see that the economy and Ohioans are suffering in a multitude of ways - high unemployment, high GSI (Grocery Store Inflation), low wages, opioid epidemic, human trafficking epidemic, violent crime at an all time high, and government spending that is as perverse as it is large.
Businesses do not want to naturally come to Ohio for a number of reasons but one of the chief reasons is the rollercoaster ride of the extremes and ever-changing business environment. This has been the last 30 years of the legislature making the Governor a King.
And no, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President are not prevented from making appointments - only the entire House of Representative and entire Senate are prevented from making appointments. Our founding fathers never advocated for such power to be placed in one persons hands.
Schools (K-12) are a good example of political abuse and all manner of indoctrination. Do we really want Mike DeWine or Nan Whaley determining the future of our schools. Eleven popularly elected members and eight members that are appointed by the governor. Why should the Governor have this much control? Socialized education is a progressive idea. The US Department of Education as it is currently conceived was an invention of Jimmy Carter. Ohio’s currently established Department of Education is as ill-conceived as the US. Department of Education and was pushed into existence by progressives in both the Democrat and Republican Parties. Ohio’s schools are an unmitigated disaster for urban communities and the lack of school choice condemns students that are not free-to-choose where they get their education from. Ohio’s school originally had a lot of autonomy and schools chose their own standards for graduating students. Schools actually competed to attract the best students by implementing higher and higher standards. Most all that went out the door under Lyndon B. Johnson and only got worse under Carter and States taking their cues from the Federal Government rather than opposing the growing socialism and declining grades. Now, our Ohio Schools already decimated have the specter of Nan Whaley being elected governor. Will the legislatures stand by and let her make eight appointments - or will they turn control back over to the school districts where it rightly belongs?
Many conservatives that are disgusted with the Republican and Democrat party see a benefit to either Nan Whaley (D) or Niel Petersen (I) being elected to Ohio’s head office. With either one being elected it is expected that the legislature will move heaven and earth to repeal the powers that have been given to the Ohio Governor over the last 30 years. Surrounding a liberal with moderates and conservatives can have its benefits. Or having a true conservative in power has its benefit as well.
State Central Committee members have not provided guidance to members to end the policy of empowering the Governor to the extent that they are a King. Largely because the State Central Committee is controlled by the Governor through appointments or through threat of termination. This is one of the roles of the SCC is to push for policy when there is no will by the legislature but it is the right thing to do. The SCC is supposed to be the entity that has the 100,000 foot view and can see the forest through the trees. We have had the last 30 years with the SCC just being head nodders in some damn country club to make their resume’ look better. They are actually supposed to be the entity that has an overarching view of what is going on and they help facilitate getting the big things done when legislators will not step up to the plate to get things done.
The SCC accomplishes this by adopting a platform and setting goals. If legislators do not support the platform or goals - they do not get supported for re-election. It is a very simple concept. The SCC and County Central Committees help to draft a platform of where we want to be and where we want to get to. They then hold candidates accountable to accomplishing those goals. It is in this way that we have political representation through the process. When the SCC fails to adopt a platform there is no coordination of activity to do what is right at a high level - and it is par for the course that the party is sold to the highest bidding special interests. The Party staff then fail to represent its constituents - rather they live and work to placate the special interests. Many Republicans will agree - this is where Ohio is today. This is why it is so important that you vote for conservatives on August 2nd for the Ohio Republican State Central Committee. To learn more, go to Ohio Promise Keepers and find your conservative candidates.