Wednesday, February 25, 2015

The Fault Lies...

At a governors' conference, a reporter asked Gov. Tom Wolf what he sees as Pennsylvania's biggest problem.  Wolf's response was low self esteem.

Let's look at that for a moment.

There's some merit to the statement.  Pennsylvania is a rust belt state, and conventional wisdom is its best days are long gone.

There's corruption all over the place.  We saw it in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties.  We saw it on the state level.  A state treasurer killed himself in front of the cameras rather than go to jail.  An attorney general went to jail.  The current attorney general is under investigation, and the state needs a new treasurer because the old one admitted to attempted extortion.  The "Kids for Ca$h" documentary made the entire country knew about a shameful episode in local history.

Penn State, Sandusky, etc...  a former newspaper reporter called PSU "The Kremlin" on CBS's "Face the Nation" because it's a closed society and won't release information.

Scranton is near bankruptcy.  Harrisburg flirted with insolvency.

We have a huge and highly paid legislature.  Yet, very little gets done.

Our voice in the Electoral College is weakening due to population shifts.  We have less influence on national politics.

On the other hand, it's a beautiful state with some quality higher education.

Somehow, the balance is out of whack, and I can totally understand where the governor is coming from.