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Show Page 6 The Utah Independent April 15, 1976 ISSUES automatically now gives a pay increase to every Congressman every time the cost of living goes up. It would have been nice if theyd thought of some arrangement like that for the rest of us. They could, for example, correct a great unfairness that now exists in our tax system. Today, when you get a cost of living pay , raise one that just keeps you even with purchasing power it often moves you up into a higher tax bracket. This means you pay a higher percentage in tax, but you reduce your purchasing power. Last year, because of this inequity, the government took in $7 billion in undeserved profit in the income tax alone, and this year theyll do even better. Now isnt it time Congress looked after your welfare as well as its own? Those whose spending policies cause inflation to begin with should be made to feel the painful effect just as you and I do. Repeal of Congress automatic pay raise might leave it with more incentive to do something to curb inflation. Now, lets look at Social Security. Mr. Ford says he wants to preserve the integrity of Social Security. Well, I differ with him on one word. I would like to res- of Social Security. Those who depend on it see a continual reduction in their standard of living. Inflation strips the increase in their benefits. The maximum benefit today buys 80 fewer loaves of bread than it did when that maximum payment was only S8S a month. In the meantime, the Social Security payroll tax has become the most unfair tax any worker pays. Women are discriminated against. Particularly, working wives. And, people who reach Social Security age and want to continue working, should be allowed to do so and without losing their benefits. I believe a Presidential commission of experts should be appointed to study and present a plan to strengthen and improve Social Security while theres still time so that no person who has contributed to Social Security will ever lose a dime. Before leaving this subject of our economic problems lets talk about unemployment. Ending inflation is the only long range and lasting answer to the problem of unemployment. The Washington Establishment is not the answer. Its the problem. Its tax policies, its harassing regulation, its confiscation of investment capital to pay for its tore the integrity and industry from expanding to meet your needs and to provide the jobs we all need. No one who lived through the Great Depression can ever look deficits keeps business upon an unemployed person with anything but compassion. To me, there is no greater tragedy than a breadwinner willing to work, with a job skill, but unable to find a market for that job skill. Back in those dark depression days I saw my father on a Christmas eve open what he thought was a Christmas greeting from his boss. Instead it was a blue slip telling him he no longer had a job. The memory of him sitting there holding that slip of paper and then saying in a halfwhisper, Thats quite a Christmas present it will stay with me as long as I live. Other problems go unsolved. Take eneigy. Only a short time ago we were lined up at the gas station. We turned our thermostats down as Washington announced ProWe were ject Independence. going to become able to provide for our own energy needs. At the time we were only importing a small percentage of our oil. Yet, the Arab boycott caused half a million Americans to lose their jobs when plants closed down for lack of fuel. Today, its almost three years later and Project has become ProIndependence ject Dependence. Congress has adopted an energy bill so bad we were led to believe Mr. Ford would veto it. Instead he signed it. And, almost instantly, drilling rigs all over our land started shutting down. Now, for the first time in self-sufficie- nt, . our history we are importing more oil than we produce. How many Americans will be laid off ifthere is another boycott? The energy bill is a disaster that never should have been signed. And effort has been made in this campaign to suggest that there arent any real differences between Mr. Ford and myself. I believe there are, and these differences are fundamental One of them has to do with our approach to government. Before Richard Nixon appointed him Vice President, Mr. Ford was a Congressman for 25 years. His concern was the welfare of his congressional district. For most of his adult life he has been a part of the Washington Establishment. Most of my adult life has been spent outside of government. My experience in government was the eight years I served as Governor of California. If it were a nation, California would be the 7th ranking economic power in the world today. When I became Governor, I inherited a state government that was in almost the same situation as New York City. The state payroll had been growing for a dozen years at a rate of from 5 to 7000 new emState ployees each year. was from a spending government million to a million and a half dollars more each day than it was taking in. The State's great water project was unfinished and underfunded by a half a billion dollars. My predecessor had spent the entire years budget for Medicaid in the first six months of the fiscal year. And, we learned that the teachers retirement fund A four billion was unfunded. dollar liability hanging over every property owner in the state. I didnt know whether Id been elected Governor or appointed receiver. California was faced with insolvency and on the verge of bankruptcy. We had to increase taxes. Well, this came veiy hard for me because I felt taxes were already too great a burden. I told the people the increase in my mind was temporary and that, as soon as we could, wed return their money to them. had never in my life thought of seeking or holding public office and Im still not quite sure how it all happened. In my own mind, I was a citizen representing my fellow citizens against the institution of government. I turned to the people, not to politicians for help. Instead of a committee to screen applicants for jobs, I had a citizens' recruiting I committee, and I told this committee I wanted an administration made up of men and women who did not want government careers and who would be the first to tell .me if their government job was And I had that unnecessary. happen. A young man from the aerospace industry dissolved his department - in four months, handed me the key to this office and told me wed never need the department. And to this day, I not only never missed it I dont know where it was. There was a reason for my seeking people who didn't want government careers. Dr. Parkinson summed it all up in his book on He said, Government hires a rat catcher and the first thing you know, hes bureaucracy. become a rodent control officer. In those entire eight years, most of us never lost the feeling that we were there representing the people against what Cicero once called the arrogance of officialdom. We had a kind of watchword we used on each other. When we begin thinking of government as we instead of they, weve been here too long. Well, I believe that attitude would be beneficial in Washington. We didnt stop with just getting our administrators from the ranks of the people. We also asked for help from expert people in a great many fields, and more than 250 of our citizens volunteered, to form into task forces. They went into every department and agency of state government to see how modem business practices could make government more efficient, economical and responsive. They gave an average of 1 17 days apiece full time, away from their own jobs and careers. At no cost to the They made 1800 taxpayers. specific recommendations. We implemented more than 1600 of those recommendations. This was govemment-by-the-peop- le proving that it works when the people work at it. When we ended our eight years, we turned over to the incoming administration a balanced budget. A $500 million surplus. And, virtually the same number of employees wed started with eight years before. Even though the increase in population had given insome departments a two-thircrease in work load. The water project was completed with $165 million left over. Our bonds had a triple A rating, the highest credit rating you can get. And the teachers retirement program was fully funded on a sound actuarial basis. And, we ds kept our word to the returned to them in taxpayers rebates and tax cuts, $5 billion, we $761 million. I believe that what we did in California can be done in Washington if government will have faith in the people and let them bring their common sense to bear on the problems bureaucracy hasnt solved. I believe in the people. Now, Mr. Ford places his faith in the Washington Establishment. This has been evident in his appointment of former Congressmen and long time government workers to positions in his Administratioa Well, I don't believe that those who have been part of the problem are necessarily the best qualified to solve them. The truth is, Washington has taken over functions that dont truly belong to it. In almost every case it has been a failure. Understand, Im speaking of those programs which logically should be administered at state and local levels. Welfare is a classic example. Voices that are raised now and then urging a federalization of welfare dont realize that the failure of welfare is due to federal interference. Washington doesn't even know how many people are on welfare. How many cheaters are getting more than one check. It only knows how many checks its sending out. Its own rules keep it from finding out how many are getting more than one check. Well, California had a welfare problem. 16 of all welfare recipients in the country were drawing their checks in our state. We were sending welfare checks to families who decided to live abroad. One family was receiving its check in Russia. Our caseload was increasing by 40.000 people a month. After a few years of trying to control this runaway program and being frustrated by bureaucrats here in California and in Washington, we turned again to a citizens' task force. The result was the most comprehensive welfare reform ever attempted. And in less than three years we reduced the rolls by more than Saved the 300.000 people. billion. $2 And, intaxpayers creased the grants to the truly deserving needy by an average of 43. We also carried out a successful experiment which I believe is an answer to much of the welfare problem in' the nation. We welfare recipients put to work at useful community projects in return for their welfare grants. Now, lets look at housing. Washington has tried to solve this problem for the poor by building t houses. So far it has torn down three and a half homes for every one it has built. In America, we Schools. created at the local level and administered at the local level for many years the greatest public school system in the world. Now through something called federal aid to education, we have - able-bodi- ed low-cos- something called federal interference and education has been the loser. Quality has declined as federal intervention has increased. Nothing has created more bitterness for example than forced busing to achieve racial balance. It was bom of a hope that we could increase understanding and reduce prejudice and antagonism. Im sure we all approved of that goal. But busing has failed to achieve that goal. Instead, it has increased the bitterness and animosity it was supposed to reduce. Californias Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wilson Riles (himself a black), says, The concept, that black children cant learn unless they are sitting with white children is utter and complete nonsense." Well, I agree. The money now being wasted on this social experiment could be better spent to provide the kind of school facilities Forced every child deserves. busing should be ended by if possible. . legislation By constitutional amendment if neces sary. And, control of education should be returned to local school districts. The other day Mr. Ford came out against gun control. But, back in Washington, D.C., his Attorney General has proposed a seven-poiprogram that amounts to just that; gun control. I dont think that making it difficult for law abiding citizens to obtain guns will lower the crime rate. Not when the criminals will always find a way to get them. In California I think we found an answer. We put into law what is practical gun control. Anyone convicted of having a gun in his possession while he committed a crime: add 5 to 15 years to the prison sentence.. nt Sometimes bureaucracys excesses are so great that we laugh at them. But they are costly laughs. Twenty-fiv- e years ago the Hoover Commission discovered that files a million Washington reports a year just reporting that there is nothing to report. Independent business people, shopkeepers and farmers file billions of reports every year required of them by Washington. It amounts to some 10 billion a year to the cost of doing business. Washington has been loud in its promise to do something about this blizzard of paperwork. And they made good. Last year they increased it by 20. But there is one problem which must be solved or everything else is meaningless. I am speaking of the problem of our national security. Our nation is in danger, and the danger grows greater with each passing day. . Like an echo from the past, the voice of Winston Churchills grandson was heard recently in Britains House of Commons warning that the spread of totalitarianism threatens the world once again and the democracies are wandering without aim. without aim Wandering describes U.S. foreign policy. Angola is a case in point. We gave just enough support to one side to encourage it to fight and die but too little to give them a chance of winning. And now were disliked by the winner, distrusted by the loser and viewed by the world as weak and unsure. . If detente were the two-wa- y street its supposed to be, we could have told the Soviet Union to stop its troublemaking and leave Angola to the Angolans. But it didnt work out that way. Now, we are told Washington is dropping the word detente but keeping the policy. But whatever its called, the policy is what's at fault. What is our policy? Mr. Fords new Ambassador to the U.N. attacks our long-tim- e ally, Israel. In Asia our new relationship with mainland China can have practical benefits for both sides. But that doesnt mean it should include yielding to demands by them as the administration has, to reduce our military presence on Taiwan where we have a long-tim- e friend and ally, .the Republic of China. And, it is also revealed now that we seek to establish friendly relations with Hanoi. To make it more palatable, we are told this might help us learn the fate of the men still listed as Missing in Action. There is ho doubt our government has an obligation to end the agony of parents, wives and children who have lived so long with uncertainty. But, this should . |