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A Vision For Kentucky

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Louisville, Kentucky

May 1, 2004

Today, we saw a Kentucky Derby in which outsiders had great success.  The winner was “Smarty” Jones, a Pennsylvania-bred horse with a rider and trainer that never before had participated in a Kentucky Derby.  The third place horse, “Imperialism”, had been trained by a twenty-one-year-old woman, which really must have made all the good old boys sit up and take notice!  One of the great things about competitive sports is that, in the end, it is performance that counts.  If Kentucky’s new governor has his way, performance will also be what counts both in government and business in this state.

On the same day that “Smarty” Jones was winning the Kentucky Derby, and thousands of out-of-town guests were in Louisville for the event, The Courier-Journal published an editorial saying that Governor Fletcher has no vision for the state, which is evidenced by the fact that he does not want to raise taxes.  The editorial also ridiculed Kentuckians as being backward and not speaking proper English.  Nothing like making a good impression on the guests!  While it certainly is true that Governor Fletcher’s vision for the state is quite different from that of the editorial board of The C-J, that does not mean the governor has no vision for the state. 

The C-J editors want Kentucky to be a stagnant state, in which the elitists maintain their elevated status, with the helpless masses being dependent upon their wisdom and guidance, while Governor Fletcher envisions a growing, thriving state, in which people are encouraged to create new businesses and new wealth, giving Kentuckians far greater opportunities to take care of themselves and their families.   Governor Fletcher knows that, by reducing taxes and other impediments to business, many people, both Kentuckians and transplants to the state, will be encouraged and enabled to dream big and to make those dreams come true, just as the outsiders saw their dreams come true in today’s Kentucky Derby. 

While performance is what counts in sports, it is also performance that counts when there is real free market competition in business.   A businessman may have all the right degrees from the right schools and may rub elbows with all the right people, but, in the absence of government impediments, what really counts is his performance in satisfying the customer.  Customers do not care what score the businessman received on his SAT, what university he attended, or whether he vacations on the French Riviera or at Taylorsville Lake.  They do not care whether the businessman’s ancestors fought in the American Revolution, whether he is a recent immigrant from a distant country, or, for that matter, whether he is a man or a woman.  They are only interested in what products and services he supplies and at what prices, and they reward the businessman who delivers what they want.  Of course, this type of free-market competition is a real threat to elitists like the editors of The C-J, because, in a thriving, growing state, the elitists may soon find that they are no longer the top dogs and no longer have the power to run other people’s lives.  Wouldn’t that be nice!

Governor Fletcher wants Kentucky to be an environment in which people will start and grow businesses, and he has a far better idea than The C-J of how to make that happen.  He knows that reducing impediments to business growth and reducing the penalty for success are a good start.  The Governor will be meeting with legislators this week to try to reach agreement on a budget and a tax package.  Here’s hoping that those elitists who have been promoting stagnation in order to try to maintain their position as “top dogs” will see the harm they have been doing and will agree to take a low-tax path that will promote growth, wealth creation, and a brighter future for Kentucky.

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