Welcome to the April Business of Wine issue of NorthBay biz. This is a rather new cover theme for the magazine. It explores some of the aspects of the wine industry that are so vital to our economic strength. We hope this issue provides some insights and broadens your knowledge of the agricultural juggernaut chugging along in our midst every day. So please enjoy all the stories, special features and columns in the North Bay’s only locally owned business publication—NorthBay biz.
Two years ago in my April column, “Rule Number One,” I opined: “…the administration has wasted no time in its efforts to use this financial crisis as a means to nationalize entire segments of the economy in an astounding shift of power. Suddenly endangered now is an America where individuals control and determine their own routes to happiness and suc-cess—where ‘free markets’ are free to work—where citizens possess power. Instead, we’re on a road that envisions a very real and different destination—a vision in which politicians and their minions are at the center of American life—where every decision about what’s best for you is made in Washington. Trust in government, not in your own ability, is their mantra.” Nothing has happened in the past two years to alter that perception. If anything, that reality has been reinforced. So, I’d like to expound on this theme further.
America is at war with itself. One competing faction favors big, omnipresent government while the other favors smaller, limited government. America’s future way of life is embedded in this struggle. This argument can be framed another way: Is it more American to believe individuals have responsibility for their actions and therefore are accountable for outcomes, or is it more American to believe individual responsibility is passé and instead government, in its many manifestations, should be responsible for personal outcomes?
Once upon a time, not that long ago, this wasn’t even a debatable or controversial question. However, once enough people decided it was a pretty good deal to trade their personal freedoms for government handouts, a tipping point was reached and the nanny state was born. Currently, 35 percent of Americans are on the public dole compared with 21 percent in 2001. One in three people are being supported by their neighbors. The national debt has exploded, the dollar weakened, millions have lost their home and unemployment runs roughshod over the land. Not a sustainable environment.
Politicians covet power—the more the better. Deciding what car you drive, how much water you can use, what insurance you need, where and in what kind of house you can live are just some of the decisions they want to make for you—all in the name of, “we know better” and “it’s only fair.” And that’s just for starters. What’s not openly stated is their desire to totally control every aspect of your life—lightbulbs, toilet paper; ultimately nothing will be too small to escape their purview. They really believe you can’t be trusted to know what’s in your own best interest. It serves the greater good if you just fall in line and become a willing ward of the state.
The joke here is that, in their rush to accumulate power and control of every facet of your life in the name of fairness, everyone’s equal but them. Instead of raising people up, this move to homogenize society shifts all toward the lowest com-mon denominator. The powerful few control the many—a totalitarian state. The person who works two jobs to better his or her family should gladly let the government confiscate his or her hard won wages to support others who choose to not work. The person who chooses to buy insurance should pay the insurance bills of those who don’t. It’s only fair.
Which brings us to the current standoff in Wisconsin, pitting the newly elected Governor and legislature against the teacher’s union in a quest to balance the state’s budget. As President Obama said, not so long ago, “Elections have consequences.” And in the recently concluded elections of 2010, the entire country, with the notable exception of California, took a decided turn to the right. People voted for a return to fiscal sanity—no more spending, no more debt. What’s happening in Wisconsin is just a precursor of what has to happen across most of the rest of the country, including California. Elected officials need to do the job they were elected to do, not run away and hide when people, once again, call for change. Just because this time you don’t agree and have lost the majority, you can’t take your sand bucket and refuse to play anymore. It’s impossible to “win the future” when your best tactic is to run away from the present.
Politicians claim society owes the individual—and it does owe everyone equal opportunity. It’s impossible, however, to legislate equal outcomes. That’s where individuals must know they’re responsible for themselves. Politicians, however, prey on those who respond to entitlements, persuading the willing to believe the handouts they’re being given are actually owed to them. These are the people willing to cede personal freedom and, in doing so, are endangering the survival of a truly free society. As “takers” outnumber the “makers,” the America we grew up in is changed fundamentally. Its greatness lost. That you can believe in.
That’s it for now. Sure wanted to get into the whole $4 per gallon of gas thing, but I guess that has to be another time. Enjoy this month’s magazine.
