State priorities out of order

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By Scott Beasley | June 1, 2008 |

With the recent budget shortfall the state is facing, I find it extremely ironic that the state government has prioritized a honky tonk party bunker before education. Perhaps the Governor fears a nuclear attack in Nashville. Perhaps he wishes Nashville to have a ballroom to host the next “Dancing with the Stars”. Perhaps he just wants a place where he can whine and dine future business prospects in the hopes of getting them liquored up enough to open up shop here. Who knows?

The nearly $20 million price tag, is only the projected budget, anyone want to bet it goes over? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for attracting businesses to the state, but what kind of a message are we sending here? The first highly hypocritical aspect is the state being forced to cut 2,000 jobs to meet the budget constraints next year. Would someone please tell me how this is supposed to work? We cut jobs, so we can spend $20 million on a banquet hall, so we can attract development in hopes of creating jobs?

If that’s the purpose, we could start by rehiring the 2,000 jobs cut, that’s creates 2,000 jobs right there. Well, perhaps these 2,000 jobs aren’t necessary, and if that’s the case that should have been done years ago by an efficient government. I guess it will all work out, for now the Governor can add the fact that we have 2,000 more people in the unemployment sector to entice new business. I suppose he could use the angle that Tennesseans are hungry to work, literally.

The next area to be cut is higher education which will be cut by $55 million, but not to worry, a tuition hike is the remedey for that. I recall a $315 million dollar surplus a couple of years ago and it seemed our elected officials couldn’t wait to spend it. Now the projected budget exceeds the projected revenue and cuts are being made to compensate. I would like to propse the concept of prioritization to our elected officials. Make a list, in order of priority, the most essential services the government provides. When you start getting close to the bottom of the list, especially in years of increased costs and lower revenues, the underground party bunkers can be put on hold or eliminated completely.

I truly believe most Tennesseans believe that’s a better solution than higher taxes or cutting education budgets. Why should the kids, or any other group for that matter, have to suffer from what appears to be a tyrannical state government, unwilling to consider the immediate interests of its people? Instead, we get a ballroom with promises of luring big businesses here in hopes of creating high dollar jobs. Personally, I’d rather have a job than than hope one is just around the corner, and I think many Tennesseans share that sentiment.