Monday, July 06, 2009
Special Session
The legislature's special session began a few minutes ago. They're ostensibly there to work on the budget, maybe even to work out a genuine compromise with the governor. Imagine that! No word yet on whether or not they'll take up some of those stranded bills in addition to revisions to the budget.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Independence Day in Tucson: A celebration of civil society.
Quite a few Tucsonans, having heard that the City government will not fund a fireworks display this year, think that the city will not see a major fireworks display on Independence Day. They're in for a surprise tonight: according to the Daily Star, Tucson Electric Power, the Arizona Builders Alliance, Cox Communications, the Tohono O'Odham Nation, the Pasqua Yaqui tribe, and several anonymous donors, on hearing this news, contributed more than enough to fund the the traditional fireworks show at Sentinel Peak.
It's long been known that government crowds out civil society. (See Russ Roberts's Concise Encyclopedia of Economics article on "charity" for a plain-language introduction, and its bibliography for rigorous development.) If nothing else, when government is allowed to attempt to do "good" beyond a limited scope, the individual's sense of obligation is removed. No longer can one assume that if one doesn't support one's causes, the causes will not receive support. It even becomes cheaper to lobby for government expense on the things one values than to self-fund.
But as the scope of government grows, encroaching on the many functions of civil society, government, charity, and civic life are all broken. Throwing money around substitutes for genuine civic interest and compassion for the poor. The level to which causes and interests are funded becomes dependent not on genuine persuasion of those who pay but rather on appeal to the prejudices of a few opinionmakers in the press and decisionmakers in government. And the number of political issues grows to the point where voting is corrupted and ineffective. The voter concerned about civil liberties, the effectiveness of the criminal justice system or the health of the environment may be canceled out by someone who supports the incumbent because he voted to give a few thousand dollars from the public treasury to support basket-weaving or folk dancing or his favorite charitable aid organization.
Civil society's decline, and the associated corruption of the voting mechanism, can be reversed by a controlled withdrawal of government from activities that aren't governance. We've been seeing that happen out of necessity in Arizona. The private takeover of responsibility for the Independence Day fireworks was but the first conspicuous reclamation of civic life by civil society. As reported on the Desert Lamp, (mining firm) Freeport McMoRan stepped up to fund the University of Arizona Mineral Museum. More examples are certainly to come.
After over a year of war, on 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from a government which no longer served what, to them, was its purpose. This was no mere separation; the Congress's statements and actions, even as they fall squarely within the English liberal or whiggish tradition, were motivated by radical ideas, such as the republicanism popularized by Thomas Paine. The break was not just with Parliament and the King, but also with Man's past. Strongmen, chieftains, and military commanders became monarchs and nobles, over and over. In the new republic, there were no nobles; all were equal before the law.
Nobility throughout history (and before) was privilege and power, certainly, but it would be inaccurate to say that it was nothing but privilege and power. Military service was expected, as were displays of generosity, support for the arts and sciences, and civic festival and ceremony. Send the tax collectors to terrorize, then hand out denarii at the parade. The expectation of conspicuous generosity from strongmen, chieftains, nobles, and the like is so universal that some have it as a human instinct that continues to influence our voting behavior and our thoughts on leadership.
This expectation carried the day at the Arizona Daily Star, which speaks of a duty of the city government to take action for boost civic bragging rights, and plays up the relatively low cost of a fireworks display, as though it were shaming a stingy nobleman. Instinct or not, this line of thought, lamenting that rulers do not do for us what we can do for ourselves in civil society, is servile.
Among what we threw out on 4 July 1776 was the expectation that civic life would be provided for us by the government. That Tucson's festivities are, even accidentally, in accord with the spirit of the day makes the celebration so much sweeter.
I wish the readers of Goldwater State a safe, happy, and free Independence Day. (Take Evan Lisull's advice if you encounter any swarms of officers!)
It's long been known that government crowds out civil society. (See Russ Roberts's Concise Encyclopedia of Economics article on "charity" for a plain-language introduction, and its bibliography for rigorous development.) If nothing else, when government is allowed to attempt to do "good" beyond a limited scope, the individual's sense of obligation is removed. No longer can one assume that if one doesn't support one's causes, the causes will not receive support. It even becomes cheaper to lobby for government expense on the things one values than to self-fund.
But as the scope of government grows, encroaching on the many functions of civil society, government, charity, and civic life are all broken. Throwing money around substitutes for genuine civic interest and compassion for the poor. The level to which causes and interests are funded becomes dependent not on genuine persuasion of those who pay but rather on appeal to the prejudices of a few opinionmakers in the press and decisionmakers in government. And the number of political issues grows to the point where voting is corrupted and ineffective. The voter concerned about civil liberties, the effectiveness of the criminal justice system or the health of the environment may be canceled out by someone who supports the incumbent because he voted to give a few thousand dollars from the public treasury to support basket-weaving or folk dancing or his favorite charitable aid organization.
Civil society's decline, and the associated corruption of the voting mechanism, can be reversed by a controlled withdrawal of government from activities that aren't governance. We've been seeing that happen out of necessity in Arizona. The private takeover of responsibility for the Independence Day fireworks was but the first conspicuous reclamation of civic life by civil society. As reported on the Desert Lamp, (mining firm) Freeport McMoRan stepped up to fund the University of Arizona Mineral Museum. More examples are certainly to come.
After over a year of war, on 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from a government which no longer served what, to them, was its purpose. This was no mere separation; the Congress's statements and actions, even as they fall squarely within the English liberal or whiggish tradition, were motivated by radical ideas, such as the republicanism popularized by Thomas Paine. The break was not just with Parliament and the King, but also with Man's past. Strongmen, chieftains, and military commanders became monarchs and nobles, over and over. In the new republic, there were no nobles; all were equal before the law.
Nobility throughout history (and before) was privilege and power, certainly, but it would be inaccurate to say that it was nothing but privilege and power. Military service was expected, as were displays of generosity, support for the arts and sciences, and civic festival and ceremony. Send the tax collectors to terrorize, then hand out denarii at the parade. The expectation of conspicuous generosity from strongmen, chieftains, nobles, and the like is so universal that some have it as a human instinct that continues to influence our voting behavior and our thoughts on leadership.
This expectation carried the day at the Arizona Daily Star, which speaks of a duty of the city government to take action for boost civic bragging rights, and plays up the relatively low cost of a fireworks display, as though it were shaming a stingy nobleman. Instinct or not, this line of thought, lamenting that rulers do not do for us what we can do for ourselves in civil society, is servile.
Among what we threw out on 4 July 1776 was the expectation that civic life would be provided for us by the government. That Tucson's festivities are, even accidentally, in accord with the spirit of the day makes the celebration so much sweeter.
I wish the readers of Goldwater State a safe, happy, and free Independence Day. (Take Evan Lisull's advice if you encounter any swarms of officers!)
Friday, July 03, 2009
What isn't going to happen?
Regular commenter Thane Eichenauer asks below:
Aside from framing problems, he has it correct. However, if this webpage's numbers are current, there are well over a million students in Arizona's public grade schools, middle schools, and high schools. That's hardly "nothing to notice".
Eichenauer, by the way, 'blogs at This, that, and the other thing, with a rather interesting choice of URL. It took me a while to figure that out. He'll be added to the 'blogroll soon. The 'blogosphere is at its best when it is conversational. We can thank, among others, Glenn Reynolds, Matt Yglesias, and Megan McArdle for greatly improving 'blogs of nationwide focus. Arizona's 'blogosphere lags behind. It's clear that people are reading each other, but posts about and trackbacks from others' content are in order. This is one more on the "radar screen". Look forward to a unilateral increase in cross-talk in the weeks to come.
I am curious as to what _isn't_ going to happen if the legislature refuses to pass the Brewer 18% sales tax hike.
From what I've read so far all the department budgets except for government education were signed. Government education might stop but if the rest of the Arizona state government rolls along like usual there will be nothing to notice.
Aside from framing problems, he has it correct. However, if this webpage's numbers are current, there are well over a million students in Arizona's public grade schools, middle schools, and high schools. That's hardly "nothing to notice".
Eichenauer, by the way, 'blogs at This, that, and the other thing, with a rather interesting choice of URL. It took me a while to figure that out. He'll be added to the 'blogroll soon. The 'blogosphere is at its best when it is conversational. We can thank, among others, Glenn Reynolds, Matt Yglesias, and Megan McArdle for greatly improving 'blogs of nationwide focus. Arizona's 'blogosphere lags behind. It's clear that people are reading each other, but posts about and trackbacks from others' content are in order. This is one more on the "radar screen". Look forward to a unilateral increase in cross-talk in the weeks to come.
Independence Day Double Feature: Winchester '73 and 33 Minutes
It's becoming a yearly tradition, for films with a classical-liberal (or, worst case, paleocon, e.g. Aaron Russo) thesis or themes to be shown at The Loft in Tucson on Independence Day.
This year, Emil Franzi of Inside Track and Charles Heller of Liberty Watch Radio are presenting a double feature: the Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann classic Winchester '73 and a new Hertiage Foundation opinion piece (erroneously called a "documentary") on missile defense called 33 Minutes.
Word is that Franzi and Heller will be raffling off a (reproduction) Winchester Model 1973 rifle, $10/ticket, with proceeds going to charities of their choice. Given what the American Physical Society, among others, had to say about missile defense, and given the flaky, somewhat dishonest, often anti-scientific source chances are that 33 Minutes is a load of rubbish, but should be interesting rubbish nonetheless.
I'll be in the audience, then headed out to Garden Canyon, Fort Huachuca, for hiking and photography.
Cut-and-pasted event details:
This year, Emil Franzi of Inside Track and Charles Heller of Liberty Watch Radio are presenting a double feature: the Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann classic Winchester '73 and a new Hertiage Foundation opinion piece (erroneously called a "documentary") on missile defense called 33 Minutes.
Word is that Franzi and Heller will be raffling off a (reproduction) Winchester Model 1973 rifle, $10/ticket, with proceeds going to charities of their choice. Given what the American Physical Society, among others, had to say about missile defense, and given the flaky, somewhat dishonest, often anti-scientific source chances are that 33 Minutes is a load of rubbish, but should be interesting rubbish nonetheless.
I'll be in the audience, then headed out to Garden Canyon, Fort Huachuca, for hiking and photography.
Cut-and-pasted event details:
Saturday, July 4th at 11:00 a.m.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m.
Admission: $6.00 general; $4.75 Loft Cinema members
Join Charles Heller of Liberty Watch Radio and Emil Franzi of Inside Track for a special Independence Day screening of the classic 1950 western WINCHESTER '73, starring James Stewart (and shot right here in Tucson)! PLUS, see the new one-hour documentary 33 MINUTES: PROTECTING AMERICA IN THE NEW MISSILE AGE! Enjoy tasty "Freedom Dogs," "Uncle Samburgers" and cool drinks on the Loft patio, and enter a raffle to win a Winchester '73 rifle (made by Uberti)! Raffle tickets are $10 each, and only 225 tickets will be sold, so once they're gone ... they're gone! (Proceeds from raffle sales will benefit selected non-profit groups). To purchase raffle tickets in advance, please call DAN DEWEY at 520-747-5709!
33 MINUTES starts at 11:00 a.m.
WINCHESTER '73 starts at 12:00 p.m.
Double Feature admission, or admission to WINCHESTER '73 or 33 MINUTES only, is $6.00
Sine die
I gave it a few days to see if the legislature's adjournment sine die was merely a maneuver to avoid next-day response to the governor's vetoes. That is probably the reason for such abrupt adjournment, but the special session has yet to be scheduled, and there's no word yet on whether many of the bills left hanging, some of which merely needed to be re-heard in the House or Senate after being amended in the other body, will be considered in addition to budget matters.
So ends the "legislative session from hell", from the standpoint of public oversight and participation. In an ordinary year, hearings are scheduled well in advance and posted to Web calendars, allowing comments to be placed via the ALIS system, citizen testimony before committees, phone calls to be made, letters to be sent, and 'bloggers to provide analysis. Not this session. This year we saw committee meetings canceled or postponed for months while the legislators squabbled with each other and with the Governor on the budget, and then a two and a half week blitz in which bills were heard with 24 hours' notice. To top it off, by the end, they still couldn't come up with a final compromise.
I'd call this session our flirtation with Banana Republicanism, but bananas don't grow here like they do in Venezuela or Nicaragua.
More on a couple good but stranded bills to follow in the next few days.
So ends the "legislative session from hell", from the standpoint of public oversight and participation. In an ordinary year, hearings are scheduled well in advance and posted to Web calendars, allowing comments to be placed via the ALIS system, citizen testimony before committees, phone calls to be made, letters to be sent, and 'bloggers to provide analysis. Not this session. This year we saw committee meetings canceled or postponed for months while the legislators squabbled with each other and with the Governor on the budget, and then a two and a half week blitz in which bills were heard with 24 hours' notice. To top it off, by the end, they still couldn't come up with a final compromise.
I'd call this session our flirtation with Banana Republicanism, but bananas don't grow here like they do in Venezuela or Nicaragua.
More on a couple good but stranded bills to follow in the next few days.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Governor Brewer's line-item vetoes and statements on the Arizona budget
The governor's office issued eight (!) releases today, seven of which pertain to the state budget:
One would think that in 2009 and in the era of LaTeX, PostScript, and word processors the governor's staff could do better than crooked scans of paper documents.
But back on topic: When Brewer took office there was quite a bit of worry that she'd be a weak governor who would rubber-stamp everything that came from the sometimes wacky legislature. If it wasn't already clear, it should be clear today that this is not the case. This morning, she called their bluff, quite effectively. There'll be no state shutdown, and they will have to more meaningfully compromise.
That having been said, some of (vetoed) the lump sum reductions of allocations to the universities were probably in order. Tuition fees are still too low, and the universities are still lobbying against the rights of their employees and spending taxpayer money on molycoddling--with a special office apiece!--organized ethnic groups. On the other hand, Brewer's statements say that these vetoes come because the legislature went beyond the compromise levels agreed to by her office, so perhaps the reductions were indeed not in order.
Also vetoed are cuts to K-12 education. Like the rest of the country, Arizona could benefit from real education reform--universal parent choice and gradual withdrawal of government from the education services "market". "Starving the beast", so to speak, isn't a means to effect that, but it can certainly deprive students who are already short-changed by being in public schools to begin with. That isn't to say that there isn't room for savings. There is, but the chances the public schools will achieve these savings in a manner that leaves kids still in the public schools at worst no worse off are slim. The incentives aren't there.
SB 1188 is 131 pages long, far too long for me to give it a thorough reading. The amount of Federal money the legislature on pp. 127-129 is counting on to balance the budget amounts to nearly a hundred dollars per Arizonan. If you spot anything interesting, bring it up on the comment thread or e-mail me backchannell.
- Governor Brewer's Statement on Budget, Call for Special Session
- Governor Brewer's Call for Special Session
- House Bill 2643
- Senate Bill 1188
- Senate Bill 1188 - Part A
- Senate Bill 1188 - Part B
- Vetoed Bills - For Special Session
One would think that in 2009 and in the era of LaTeX, PostScript, and word processors the governor's staff could do better than crooked scans of paper documents.
But back on topic: When Brewer took office there was quite a bit of worry that she'd be a weak governor who would rubber-stamp everything that came from the sometimes wacky legislature. If it wasn't already clear, it should be clear today that this is not the case. This morning, she called their bluff, quite effectively. There'll be no state shutdown, and they will have to more meaningfully compromise.
That having been said, some of (vetoed) the lump sum reductions of allocations to the universities were probably in order. Tuition fees are still too low, and the universities are still lobbying against the rights of their employees and spending taxpayer money on molycoddling--with a special office apiece!--organized ethnic groups. On the other hand, Brewer's statements say that these vetoes come because the legislature went beyond the compromise levels agreed to by her office, so perhaps the reductions were indeed not in order.
Also vetoed are cuts to K-12 education. Like the rest of the country, Arizona could benefit from real education reform--universal parent choice and gradual withdrawal of government from the education services "market". "Starving the beast", so to speak, isn't a means to effect that, but it can certainly deprive students who are already short-changed by being in public schools to begin with. That isn't to say that there isn't room for savings. There is, but the chances the public schools will achieve these savings in a manner that leaves kids still in the public schools at worst no worse off are slim. The incentives aren't there.
SB 1188 is 131 pages long, far too long for me to give it a thorough reading. The amount of Federal money the legislature on pp. 127-129 is counting on to balance the budget amounts to nearly a hundred dollars per Arizonan. If you spot anything interesting, bring it up on the comment thread or e-mail me backchannell.
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