We are not living in ordinary times. Our current troubles are many – the global financial mess, the credit crunch, the Wall Street bailout, threats of a recession, and the mortgage meltdown, just to name a few.
And yet, while the trials ahead may test our strength and challenge our will, we must, nevertheless, approach them with a steely resolve knowing that rash action and a panicked mindset will only worsen our present condition.
Rudyard Kipling said it best:
“If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;…”If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two imposters just the same…”Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.”
Now, that’s not to say that the headlines in the near future won’t continue to be scary – they almost certainly will. Markets will remain volatile, unemployment may rise, and the nation could enter a legitimate recession.
But we, and our nation’s leaders, in particular, should remember that what our country needs most right now is a steady hand to guide us through the storm and return us back to the principles that built this country – truly free markets, limited government, freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility.
Holding fast to these principles has not only made us a great country, it has made us the greatest country and we would do well to remember that. But the need for strong leadership guided by these core principles extends beyond just Washington, D.C. The movement to begin rebuilding our fragile economy begins at the state and local level, and there is no better example of these principles in action than Texas.
Even today as the world’s economies spastically react to the ongoing crises and threaten to implode under the stress, Texas’ robust economy remains remarkably strong.
The state’s September 2008 unemployment estimate came in well below the national average, 5 percent versus 6.1 percent, respectively. Texas’ gross state product – a figure used to measure the state’s economic productivity – swelled in comparison to the national economy, 4.1 percent vs. 1.5 percent during fiscal year 2008. And most importantly, Texas continues to add jobs to its economy – 250,000 over the last 12 months and 1.3 million in the last five years.
It’s no coincidence that Texas’ uninterrupted prosperity in the face of a national economic emergency comes at a time when Texas government is moving toward greater fiscal responsibility and becoming increasingly transparent.
As we move forward, Texas’ continued commitment to limited government, fiscal conservatism, and low taxation, both in times of excess and shortage, will only strengthen what is, arguably, the nation’s strongest economy.
While the global crisis remains a tremendous external threat to the Lone Star State, the fact of the matter is Texas’ economic fundamentals are in place to weather this financial storm. Other states, not as fortunate, need not strain themselves to understand the formula behind Texas’ success: low taxes plus limited government plus fiscal responsibility equals a stronger economy.
The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. He is a former chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee.