Frightened for the future of Ohio, and my own.

[ArchTeryx]

I must say that this morning's Columbus Dispatch was a 1-2-3 gut punch for me, the likes of which I have never read before. Not even after the election.

First, the lead article describes just how in the tank the economy is in this state. While that doesn't affect me right now, it will when I graduate from Ohio State with my PhD and start looking for work.

Second, the snippet from Insight describing the radical-right shift in the Ohio Supreme Court in the last 12 years, corresponding to the period of biggest economic decline.

And finally, most frightening, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights that Ken Blackwell is proposing, which would force radical cuts in state services, decimate Ohio State and quite possibly threaten my ability to get my degree. Here's a snip from the Dispatch about it:

Blackwell’s plan would gut services for Ohioans
Sunday, January 23, 2005
JOE HALLETT

Nothing would be more just than if J. Kenneth Blackwell were elected to run the government he threatens to ruin.

The Ohio secretary of state is running for governor on a platform that ultimately might render him the most unpopular chief executive in Ohio history. It is worse than gimmicky. It is dangerous to the health and welfare of Ohio’s citizens.

Before he holds one more fund-raiser, issues one more press release or appears on one more TV show in his quest for the governor’s office, the ubiquitous Blackwell has an obligation to answer one question:

How would you cut $8.5 billion out of state spending?

Would you close state prisons and allow felons to go free?

Would you pull the plug on state support for universities, thus requiring students to pay the full cost of tuition and forgo the 48 percent share the state now pays?

Would you close the state’s parks?

Would you close local libraries?

Would you scrap the program which provides in-home care for thousands of elderly Ohioans?

Would you eliminate the local government fund and tell Columbus and other cities they’re going to have to lay off police and firefighters?

If, Secretary Blackwell, you did all of that, you would save $4.7 billion. You still would have to find another $3.8 billion to cut.

Would you, then, close many of Ohio’s schools, crowding children into fewer of them?

Would you slash Medicaid and deny medical care for poor children...?

I can hardly wait to get my degree and get the hell off this sinking ship.

-- ArchTeryx

[realisticphish]

1. i, too, am an OSU student

and i will fight harder then ever to keep that bastard from getting his hands on my state. don't they understand that if they lower taxes, then WE HAVE TO PAY MORE TUITION. i fucking hate it when i hear parents bitch about tuition, and then bitch about taxes! which is going to be???


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[ArchTeryx]

2. Not a bad observation, but...

It isn't quite as simple as that.

Lowering taxes doesn't lead to a raise in tuition. Lowering taxes reduces revenue. Ohio has put higher education as a very low priority, so when the budget needs to be cut, it's the first thing that's slashed. This does not have to be, but it's the reality in this state.

The big worry, too, isn't that Blackwell gets elected governor. The big worry is that he gets this piece of demagogic garbage passed in a misguided attempt to further that goal...which could very well blow up straight in his face. But the worst part of it is that it very directly pits rural Ohio against urban Ohio...which would be all but destroyed by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Not to mention the catastrophic tuition increases that would be required to cover NO state support. OSU would essentially become a private college!

-- ArchTeryx

[realisticphish]

3. granted

i was preassuming that taft, blackwell, or another douchebag was in charge, and that they continued to shit on education. frankly, if they stopped state support, i would have to drop out; there is absolutely no way i could afford to go through college, unless i lived in a box on High Street

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[ArchTeryx]

4. Don't give up yet!

After all, the thing hasn't yet been put on the ballot, and the Repubs in charge of the state have come down almost lockstep against it. Its presence will be creating some serious rifts.

Trouble is, Blackwell's really good at demagoguery. He did a great job of getting Issue 1 passed by a wide margin, and I expect if this goes on the ballot, it'll pass by an even bigger one.

If this monstrosity makes it so far as to hit the November ballot, I'd start seriously making escape-hatch plans for a transfer out of OSU.

-- ArchTeryx

[realisticphish]

5. my parents live 20 minutes from OSUN

so thats a possibility; but i havent looked to see whether there is a psych major there...if not, i may have to go to education, not what i wanted, but i might have to do it


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

6. Well, as someone once told me....

everyone wants government services, but don't want to pay a damn penny for them

[Kolesar]

7. I don't want a prison system that has septupled, or charter schools

The prison system has either tripled or septupled in 25 years, depending on whose numbers you believe. The prison guard organization always lobbies against milder penalties for nonviolent offenders.

I don't want charter schools or vouchers.
I don't want state grants going to private schools for rich kids.
I don't want another massive freeway project in Dayton.