Eckstrom: Government Must Rediscover Fiscal Conservatism

By Richard Eckstrom

In the earliest days of this experiment in self-rule, the founders envisioned a government of enumerated, thus limited, powers… one which does only those things that individuals cannot. They charted the course they thought would best produce prosperity — empowering the industrious and enterprising among us to build an ever-improving nation rich in freedom, opportunity and success.

The “stimulus” package was but another reminder, although pretty big reminder, of just how far we’ve strayed from that vision. We’ve grown a government that tries to be all things to all people, rather than the one that, as Thomas Jefferson advocated, “governs least.” Government solutions now consume prosperity rather than produce it.

The stimulus was flawed on many levels, chief among them the fact that we’re spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need. Too little is going to roads and bridges, too much to “pet projects” like the $16 million to protect and enhance the habitat of the saltwater marsh mouse in San Francisco. This $787 billion dollar gamble permanently shifts resources from the private sector to the public sector and extends mountains of debt far into the futures of our children and grandchildren. (What’s also clear is that the stimulus isn‘t working as advertised, with the national unemployment rate far surpassing the eight percent benchmark set by the White House.)

Washington can’t seem to get its act together, which means we have an extra obligation to instill fiscal discipline here at home.

Unfortunately, in South Carolina we recently learned we overspent our 2008-09 general fund budget by nearly $100 million — this despite exhausting the state’s $133 million capital reserve fund and the $108 million general reserve fund. Such overspending once again highlights the need to step back, re-evaluate our philosophy about spending, and close the gap between what we spend and what we can afford. Like Washington, Columbia would do well to commit to the ideas of setting priorities — funding needed services well, but resisting the urge to spend on those things which are not core functions of government.

But the problem goes deeper than just “spending what we don’t have.” It’s about our view of the proper role of government. We simply can no longer try to be all things to all people.

The challenges South Carolina faces are great. We must grow our economy, improve education, reduce the tax burden and continue to find ways to make government operate more efficiently. On the national level, we must also win a war, and find a common-sense way to improve health care.

At some point, one has to figure that the state’s fiscal health is linked to our ability to achieve these goals. Perhaps rediscovery of the notion of fiscal conservatism is a key to realizing our full potential and moving South Carolina toward a brighter future for all of us.

The author is Comptroller General of South Carolina.

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