Marc,

I have to give credit where it's due. This is an excellent post by you.

The status quo people think that if we just somehow get rid of Steve Kass and his ilk, the costs of government will become sustainable. It masks our larger issues.

The same old Animal Farm story that plays out over and over again, particularly in Rhode Island. The pigs always end up playing cards with the humans in the farmhouse in the end and we taxpayers, looking in, are left unable to distinguish between the two species.

Doesn't matter whether it is a public union leader, a governor, a mayor, a city councilman. It's naivety to think we can hand somebody the kind of power we do in Rhode Island and it won't be abused. It's not a matter of electing the right people, because anyone who is in such a position will be the wrong person.

The only answer is limited government across the board. No, Republicans, you can't pick and choose when it will be limited and when it will not be. The exceptions you carve out will always become the rule.

Look to New Hampshire as a good starting point. The most limited and libertarian government of any state, and it has virtually no corruption. Not a coincidence.

Dan,

Maybe you should also look at Hawaii too! The last state constitution to be written based on the best of the other 49 state constitutions.

Hawaii constitution requires any excess fiscal year funds be return to the taxpayers. There is no carry over or creation of a slush general fund account. All accounts are verified as to funds in and funds out. Hawaii requires a two year balanced budget under state constitutional law.

The transparency of government in Hawaii is so intense there are almost check marks for date/time/ and how long each state or city employee goes to the bathroom!

The ethics laws in Hawaii are very very brutal! Politicians are not allowed to even attend Christmas parties because it can be construed as receiving favors. A State senator was turned in to police by his young sons for a DUI stop and forced to resigned office and a state representative was forced to resign because he was stopped for DUI plus a city council woman was publicly ostracized (TV and newspaper) for throwing a pen across the chamber floor!

The general excise tax in Hawaii is 4% (but temporally 4.5% on Oahu for new high-speed light rail funding) on everything (services and goods both for profit and non-profit) except prescription drugs because they don’t want state and local government showing preference to anyone. Business offset 4 cents on the dollars by offering discounts to locals (people who live in Hawaii full time).

RI needs to get some accountability written into the state constitution or else no matter what is done there will always be holes in the current State of RI government systems.