With Mike Morrell: The Effects of Progressivism Part 2

ALL>> As much as the policies of progressivism impact how our government operates and whether it can meet obligations like providing for infrastructure, education, and public safety, its effects are also felt by businesses that provide jobs in the private sector. Sacramento and Washington, D.C. frequently fail to demonstrate that they have business owners’ best interests at heart. This year, for the 12th consecutive time, Chief Executive Magazine ranked California the worst state in which to do business, based on a survey of more than 500 CEOs from across the country. Commonly cited reasons included for this rating is the state’s high tax levels and excessive regulations. Yet when asked where they would like to live, people frequently rank California near the top. Here in the southern part of our state, with our great weather, you can be in the mountains one day, golf in the desert the next, or spend a day at the beach with our Mediterranean-like climate. One high-profile company to relocate its headquarters out of the Golden State is CKE Restaurants, parent company of restaurant chain Carl’s Jr. In personal conversations I had with the CEO, he pointed to the state’s regulatory environment as a top reason for heading elsewhere. Government’s heavy involvement in the private sector, telling businesses what and how much they can produce and placing new regulatory requirements on them, is sending jobs out-of-state. The problem, however, is that many business owners cannot afford to leave. They spend savings and make sacrifices to get their businesses off the ground only to become discouraged and disheartened by the mandates the government continues to impose, forcing them into difficult decisions like laying off employees, cutting hours, or simply closing up shop altogether. The economy flourishes when the private business sector flourishes, but it is difficult to do so with progressive policies in place that interfere with the free market, in large part because progressivism impacts the workforce available for businesses to draw from when expanding. Consider Detroit. One of the centers of big government policies, it has experienced disastrous results. Once one of the most prosperous cities in America with almost two million residents, today, it is near 700,000. They lost more than a million people and tens of thousands of jobs because of policies that put the city into debt and forced cuts to critical services. Even some homes are now on sale for as little as $5,000, if they are not being bulldozed. Crime is also rampant. A central tenet of progressivism is that the government knows best when it comes to dictating the lives and livelihoods of our citizens. History has clearly proven that this outlook produces more poverty. Free market economist Milton Friedman put it this way, “Indeed, a major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” If we are to truly be a free society – one that places the individual above the state and raises people up to their full potential – it requires a commitment to encouraging private sector job creation and setting enterprising men and women up for success. This objective is at the core of what it means to live in a country that prizes its liberty and freedom above all else. Senator Morrell represents the 23rd State Senate District, which covers portions of Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties.