The road ahead

Driving in thick fog, it's hard to see the edges of the road, never mind the bridge that's out up ahead.

Last night the U.S. Senate failed to muster enough support to bring the automaker bailout to a vote, essentially killing corporate-welfare legislation until late January. President Bush reportedly is considering issuing an executive order, tapping TARP money to temper the inevitable crash, but whether it's his action or the legislature's, no matter if it's this Congress or the next, an unimaginative addiction to taxpayer-funded corporate bailouts solves nothing.

It certainly won't lift our national economic fog. Here in Ohio, we're pumping the brakes -- not because we're afraid of the gloom, but because we know what lurks within.

If the auto industry goes belly-up, we could lose as many as 41,000 more jobs, paying a price second only to Michigan's. Home foreclosures are higher than 43 other states, unemployment has climbed to 7.3% and families have reined-in spending to the point that many small businesses are shuttering quietly. Even the usually prosperous holiday season is turning out to be an unmitigated bust.

State government, already pinched by shrinking revenues, is threatening to pull out an even bigger axe. Yesterday Gov. Ted Strickland painted a disturbing picture of an unprecedented 25% cut in state spending. According to this morning's edition of The Columbus Dispatch, here's a snapshot of what my fellow Buckeyes and I could be facing.

• Six prisons would close, 5,237 workers would be laid off and some inmates would be triple-bunked.
• Two juvenile-detention facilities would close and all parole supervision would be eliminated.
• Tuition and fees at state colleges and universities would increase by an average of $2,000.
• State aid to primary and secondary schools would be slashed by $840 per student next year, $870 the following year.
• Some of Ohio's 74 state parks would close or be mothballed.
• Child-care and pre-school programs would cut $300 million and 56,000 children would no longer be served.
• Alcohol- and drug-treatment services would be reduced or eliminated for 25,000 Ohioans.
• Unspecified cuts in the Ohio National Guard would "severely strain our ability to maintain the readiness of our forces and to respond in a timely manner when needed."

Increasing state taxes, according to Gov. Strickland, isn't an option for closing the gap, and it's important to note that these are projected cutbacks -- Ohio, like many of the 39 other states with budget shortfalls, is still chasing federal money. (Natch.)

County and municipal governments, of course, find themselves caught in the same revenue-spending pickle. We're seeing across-the-board cuts, from law enforcement to recreation and parks, senior services to snow removal. School districts, in the wake of voters rejecting November levies, are reacting by eliminating teaching jobs, sports, buses and more.

Chicken Little has left the building. This isn't pessimism -- this is life.

We're where we are because, as citizens and consumers, we've made stunningly poor decisions, and we can't rise above the current crisis by repeating a dysfunctional history. In the words of Abraham Lincoln:

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Chief among our mistakes has been counting on federal, state and local governments to save us, and first among our remedies must be weaning ourselves from that reliance. We're citizens of this nation, not of its detached leadership -- we must stop reaching empty hands up to our government and start extending servants' hands out to our neighbors.

We must disenthrall ourselves. We need to raise our children to be independent, not entertained. We must pull in, stay close, stand together, count on each other.

This is our Heartland. This is our home. Saving it is up to us.

* * *
Even in the best of economic times, those of us who cherish our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms often say, "When seconds count, help is just minutes away." And while we honor the dedicated service of law-enforcement professionals, we've never been wholly dependent on official agencies for our personal defense.

Now, cash-strapped governments are gutting police departments and hamstringing the National Guard. They're closing prisons, shutting down juvie halls and slashing the number of parole officers. For law-abiding citizens, the threats are more present and our rights more precious than ever before.

So here's a message for the incoming administration, the new Congress and anyone else bent on disarming individual American citizens: Leave my Second Amendment rights the hell alone.

If that's perceived as a gauntlet, so be it. Μολὼν λαβέ.