Opinion

Swathed in an elegant suit of red, white and blue and enveloped by a huge crowd of the same beautiful hues, President Donald J. Trump announced his re-election campaign Tuesday night.

After reviewing the failures and treachery of his opposition and the Fake News, he counted at length the accomplishments of the American people and his administration. He ushered in the summer of our politics, economy and culture and outlined the challenges we face and how we will Keep America Great.

This is my final column on the sad legacy we Boomers are leaving our children.

The first one defined the public interest as mainly maximizing economic growth. That piece and the next showed that the economic policies, practices and institutions that maximize growth also promote fairness among individuals. They also debunked obsessions with income inequality. The third part focused on the 21st Century revival of progressivism and statist liberalism, plus the addition of political correctness (PC).

Here I offer directions for some solutions.

This is the third in my series on the sad legacy we Boomers are leaving our children.

The first column defined the public interest as mainly maximizing economic growth. That piece and the second showed that the economic policies, practices and institutions that maximize growth also promote fairness among individuals. They also debunked obsessions with income inequality.

Here I focus on the revival of progressivism and liberal statism, plus the addition of political correctness (PC).

In my last column I raised the sorry legacy my generation, the Boomers, are leaving our children and grandchildren.

I outlined the main problems, especially the increasing embrace over the last 150 years of statist liberalism, progressivism and now even socialism – or, in general, the slide away from our essential founding values, social institutions, practices and policies to coercive collectivism. Another problem area has been the embrace of certain exotic goals and their derivative ideologies as being central to our politics instead of the special interests they are.

The last vacation I took was more than five years ago in Las Vegas. Being the country boy that I am, my arrival to the “Entertainment Capital of the World” was filled with both excitement and angst.

Join us on our free leader-led hikes each week to enjoy Nevada outdoors around Carson City! Meet in the dirt area opposite Murphy Drive on Combs Canyon Road to carpool to the trailhead. Water and sturdy closed-toe shoes required. Hat, sunscreen and hiking poles recommended.

Bring a friend and/or friendly dogs. All hikes are 2-4 miles with duration of about 90 minutes, sometimes with elevation gains of 500’ or more.

Holman W. Jenkins, a great columnist, recently speculated something I had also imagined: Some organ of the lamestream media will soon decide it has made a cosmic mistake in following the anti-Trump story line, perhaps issue a mea culpa for its biased and corrupt coverage to date, and at least get on the truthful side of the story.

This is the sixth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real per-capita incomes are lower now than in FY06. The next two analyses reviewed spending on health and social services and on K-12 education, the two largest budget items by far and the only major areas on which spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy.

The 80th session of the Nevada Legislature is underway with over 1,200 bills up for consideration. With so many bills it is nearly impossible to give each one the proper consideration required, as was intended by the founders of our great state. This means we are considering a great number of laws; however, what we should be focusing on is producing well thought out legislation.

This is the fifth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real per-capita incomes are lower now than in FY06. The other two analyses reviewed spending on health and social services and on K-12 education, the two largest budget items by far and the only major areas on which spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy.

While celebrating that President Trump and his people have been completely cleared of the Russia collusion lie, it’s important to note the fine and ever better job he’s done as President despite all the harassment.

Democrats and their deep state allies and politically correct left-wing press mouthpieces have insisted for over two years that the President and his team colluded with Russians to steal the 2016 election and then engaged in obstruction of justice to cover it up.

When I was about 12 years old, my family took a trip down along the east side of the Sierra Nevada on our way to Lake Havasu, California, during Spring Break 1986.

All six of us piled into the family Ford Econoline Trail Wagon, brand new at the time, and set out to break in the new set of wheels.

American ISIS bride Hoda Muthana wants to return from Syria. Guy Farmer agrees with Trump that she shouldn’t be allowed to come home because on the day of her birth her father was a UN diplomat exempt from US citizenship laws. Farmer believes “we should slam our golden door right in Ms. Muthana’s photogenic face.”

Recently, I enjoyed a very thoughtful talk by the eminent scholar and public servant, Jerry O’Driscoll. He spoke to Reno’s Hayek Club, a group that promotes limited government and individual freedom and has endowed area high schools with a fine curriculum and materials on managing personal finances.

His talk and the discussion following it addressed, among other things, similarities and differences among socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism and progressivism.

Americans love choice. We love the freedom to choose what we want and when we want it. Ford or Chevy, Coke or Pepsi, Apple or Samsung, we thrive on the multitude of options at our fingertips that we feel best meets our needs. The essence of it all is the opportunity we have to choose the type of life we want and how we get there. This is, of course, unless you’re talking about education in the State of Nevada.

The very first act of our new state legislature a couple of weeks ago was to pass S.B. 143, a bill that revived ballot Question One, passed by Nevada voters two and a half years ago but never implemented by former Governor Sandoval.

This is the fourth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real incomes are lower now than in FY06. The third one noted Health and Social Services spending, the largest budget item, has grown most rapidly by far, driven greatly by federal health care mandates and funding.

A month after the November 2018 election, I wrote an analysis of the results of recent statewide elections. From total statewide voter turnout data, I came to one clear conclusion: 2014 was the outlier year and the most recent results were quite in line with the long-term trends in Nevada.

It’s big news: female lawmakers now hold 32 of the Nevada state legislature’s 63 seats. Thus, Nevada has the distinction of being the first state in the country to seat a female majority to its legislative assembly.

But, that this momentous occasion has transpired first in Nevada oozes with irony. After all, Nevada is the only state in the country that legally sanctions the buying and selling of women for sex.

The most emblematic measure of women’s true status in any society is reflected in its prostitution laws: are women public sexual commodities under the law or not?

Entitlement, grandiosity, arrogance overlying insecurity, sensitivity to criticism, as well as hunger for acclaim are traits identified by Jerrold M. Post, George Washington University professor of psychiatry and political psychology.
This pattern of political narcissism is observably bipartisan as well as applicable to nearly all elected, be it local, state or at the federal level.

Our new governor and legislature have begun to meet in session and show their true colors. It is not a pretty sight. One of their first acts this past week, by a party-line vote, was to pass legislation they characterized as “closing the gun show loophole” and “common sense gun regulation.” With a title like that, you know there’s nothing “common sensical” about it.

My first full-time job after college was assistant city engineer in Urbana, Illinois in 1972. I worked on my liberal Democrat green interests: bikeways, undergrounding communications and power lines, better sewer systems, sidewalks, traffic, planning and zoning codes.

I learned a key lesson in those matters. Its breadth and importance would become clearer as my career progressed.

One day the public works director, a crotchety old conservative Republican, said: “You want bikeways, underground lines, sidewalks and all those things? Well, it really is easy and cheap.”

I ride a bike everyday of the week. It's already hard enough trying to use what bike lanes that are provided. When it snows it makes it impossible. There is snow on the sidewalks and in the bike lanes. So, why can't the city do something about it? The people who are on wheels can't use the sidewalks. So we the people in Carson city should speak up and voice our opinions and don't be afraid to say something. Thank you, Mr. Michael Rumsey

Rising above the persistent political turmoil and smallness of Democrats and the mainstream media, President Donald Trump Tuesday delivered a memorable State of the Union speech.

Forget the incessant whining and complaining of CNN, et al. that followed. Let’s focus on what he said.

A couple of times in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," main character George Bailey closes his eyes, raises his right hand, and says "I wish I had a million dollars!" while pressing the lever of a lighter contraption on Mr. Gower's drug store counter.

Buying the Ormsby House wasn't on George Bailey's wish list. Then again, he'd need at least 10 times more if it was.

Anyone who lives near wilderness ought to know that wildlife comes with the territory.

Wild critters are no strangers to the front and back yards of Carson City residents. They also know their way around the streetscape pretty well, too.

The World Economic Forum is meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss “Globalization 4.0,” an effort to “create a world of public-private partnerships that guide the free market to create economic growth, sustainability and social benefits, according to WEF’s founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab.” That quote comes from an information email from Climate Home News, a publication designed to inform readers about the urgency of responding to climate change warnings.

January 14, 2019

Governor Sisolak and Members of the Nevada State Legislature:

Let me begin by wishing each of you a Happy New Year, and by congratulating you on the successful campaigns you ran.

I know you don’t have a lot of time to settle in before the legislative session begins this month, but I want to share the cry of this mother’s heart as you consider education during the session, specifically keeping the Nevada Opportunity Scholarship program (AB165) as it currently exists..

This wasn't the column I had planned to write. But so much social media drama has developed from the homicides in Gardnerville and South Reno that I think a public service announcement is necessary.

This is the second in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18). Based on the state’s official books and records, the CAR provides Nevada citizens, officials and others summaries of key facts, data, analysis and issues addressing Nevada’s fiscal condition and policy challenges.