Applause Reveals Difference
Recently, I had the privilege of being invited by the Governor of Indiana to witness the State of the State address from the gallery of the Indiana House of Representatives. I was honored by the invitation and looked forward to learning about how the Governor felt about the current condition of our state and his plans for its future. However, what I learned most from witnessing the speech was the sorry state of the Democratic Party in Indiana.
Let me state that there were no “applause” signs or cheerleaders appointed by the Governor to lead the audience. Reactions to the speech by both Republicans and Democrats were spontaneous and revealing.
Governor Mitch Daniels began his speech by talking about the tough economic environment that Indiana faced. He indicated that he was willing to work with both sides in the Legislature to arrive at decisions in a spirit of compromise and shared responsibility. However, Governor Daniels also laid out some boundary conditions to any legislative outcomes. His first boundary was no tax increases. Upon this pronouncement the Republican side of the chamber erupted in enthusiastic applause. The Democrat side of the chamber sat emotionless.
The Governor stated, “A state striving for economic greatness should always be looking for ways to reduce its burden on workers and enterprise. A time of recession is the very last time at which government should add to the struggles of the citizens for whom it works.” He continued, “Preserving government intact at the expense of families and businesses would be wrong in human terms and backwards in economic terms. The dollars claimed by higher taxes would come from families who need them more than ever to get by. They would come from businesses which would otherwise use them to keep someone on the payroll or add a new job. Let’s agree right now that, whatever course we take this budget year, higher taxes will play no part in it.” Once again, the Republican side of the chamber stood up and cheered and the Democrat side sat silent.
Next the Governor moved to the topic of education. He chastised school corporations for providing part-time school board members with “one dollar per year” health insurance. He chided school corporations of only 500 or 600 students for having full staffs while only teaching one foreign language. He blasted counties with four or five school corporations and their attendant bureaucracies for not providing science labs, Advanced Placement classes or licensed physics teachers. He stated that his goal was smaller schools, smaller classrooms, more and better paid teachers and better academic opportunities for our kids through “lower overhead.” Well, running an economically efficient school corporation appealed to the Republicans present as they once again stood and cheered. But the Democrats sat in silence, as if operational efficiency was incomprehensible.
Also relating to education, Governor Daniels brought up the subject of discipline in the classroom. Now I have to admit that the Democratic reaction to this topic absolutely amazed me. After all, who is not for discipline in the classroom? Governor Daniels simply stated, “There is something else we must do that will not cost a single new dollar. Education cannot begin until disorder and chaos ends, so I ask this Assembly to approve the bill I have sent you to reestablish complete, unquestioned discipline in the schools of our state.” Wow, Republican cheering erupted while only two or three Democrat legislators could be seen applauding.
The Governor continued, and this was my favorite part of his speech, “We ask so much of our teachers already. It is just not tolerable to make them put up with misbehavior and insubordination, to say nothing of profanity, physical threats and the risk of legal harassment if they attempt to control the students under their authority. It is time Indiana said to its children, sit down and hush up; to their parents, if your child is causing trouble and harming some other student’s education, take it up with your kid, not the teacher or principal. And to the lawyers, butt out; you expect order in the courts where you practice your profession, we are going to have order in the classrooms where our teachers practice theirs.” At this point, every single legislator on the Republican side of the aisle and the entire visitors’ gallery stood and cheered. I was shocked when not a single Democrat even bothered to applaud.
Yes, it was on these two seminal issues that the applause really told the story about the critical differences between the Republican and Democrat Parties in Indiana. Republicans find the concept of allowing families and businesses to keep more of their income to be appealing, Democrats do not. Republicans find the concept of education fiscal efficiency, greater access to advanced science, math and language skills and classroom discipline to be worth concepts and goals. Democrats, if judged by their muted reaction to a fabulous State of the State address, do not. The viewer sitting at home in front of the television may not have seen the unenthusiastic response of the Democratic Representatives and Senators, but I was an eye witness. There are fundamental differences between our political parties and the applause reveals the differences.
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