Suck it up, fellow Marylanders, and help Gov. Martin O?Malley lift us out of a deficit quagmire that otherwise will consume our state?s future.
Sure, O?Malley proposed the lowest increase in a decade when he unveiled his first budget last week only because an extra billion in the Rainy Day fund left by Republican Robert Ehrlich will pick up about half the tab for his proposed spending.
But for a traditional Democrat like O?Malley to leave the City of Baltimore with an apparent surplus after seven years as mayor, and open his first day as governor with a “restrained” 2.5 percent budget increase, should give every Marylander reason to hope.
Of course, the better solution would be to hold spending to last year?s level or ? gasp ? to cut it, especially with the state?s looming structural deficit.
But that would be ? in the words of Vizzini in “The Princess Bride” ? “inconceivable.”
Those who govern us must learn how to slash costs, however. The single deadliest inhibitor of economic growth is taxation. It sucks the vitality out of our economy. And all taxes at every level destroy productivity, weaken incentive, undermine growth and stifle enterprise. But save real budget restraint, legislators will force Marylanders to pay more of them.
O?Malley must continuously drive those points home to his Democrat-controlled legislature.
No one in government, Republican or Democrat, must ever forget where that and all other government money comes from: We the People.
Thankfully, the new governor is not kidding himself or anyone else about this budget being a long-term solution to Maryland?s endemic fiscal problems.
O?Malley pledged to begin work on reducing the state “structural deficit.”
We all must help him.
House Republican Leader Anthony O?Donnell said, “He?s taken a slow, measured approach. I think that is wise.” Let Republicans be wise also, put politics aside and support the Governor when he needs votes to pass measures the might not be popular with some members of his own party.
Let Democrats be wise in realizing that the lid still is on the cookie jar even though one of their own is in charge.
And let all state employees pledge themselves to work harder and do more with less to increase the efficiency of state government for the citizens they serve.
How about a pay freeze?
Those in the private sector must face them when revenue does not match expenditures.
Finally, let us all, We the People, do our part by showing restraint as well as support.
We must understand we can?t always get what we want.
We may get what we need, but sometimes the state cannot even give us that.
O?Malley set the right direction and tone with his first budget last week.
He cannot do it alone.
