The Reaction in Ohio

The return of medieval usury laws is another worrying signal of the reactionary turn politics have taken in the state of Ohio. I view the dominant economic and political trends in the state to be main causes of this turn. Those trends are decline of traditional manufacturing industries and the strength of entrenched interested in the major political parties.

The state Democratic Party appears to be controlled by Unions and anti-market religious types – They are the main cause of the anti-market climate in the state, which is the principle reason that business is leaving for better run areas of the country. Conversely, the Republican Party seems to be controlled by rent-seeking businessmen and religious types – who when in government appear to steal and increase taxes. There aren’t many good options right now. What the state needs to do is restrict the excessive power of Unions, become a right to work state, rationalize regulations, lower and rationalize the tax system, and it would be nice if the state government set a progressive/liberal tone.

As a result, the state’s political discourse is dominated anti-lending laws, anti-gay marriage laws, anti-illegal immigrant crackdowns, and anti-trade rhetoric.* So, Ohio is turning into France. The state needs a rupture. Unfortunately, I see no reason to think Ohio will be shocked out of its descending path anytime soon as 1970s Britain, post-Katrina Louisiana, and a few others have been. Perhaps someone like Rob Portman could shake up the state in 2010, but that’s unlikely, and in the near future it appears the reactionaries have the upper hand.

*See Benjamin Friedman’s ‘The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth’