An open letter to our Mat-Su Borough Assembly

To the editor:

Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher who lived at the same time as the leaders of our Revolution. Many folks credit Smith with defining the virtues of free enterprise. And those same folks believe that means keeping government out of our lives.

But Adam Smith wrote two incredibly important works. Most of us have never even heard of Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments.”

If there is a root cause to the troubles we face as a nation, many of those troubles trace back to our ignorance of Smith’s understanding of the role of government. Smith believed a legitimate government is created to enhance the wellbeing of its people.

Enhance our wellbeing, what a simple concept. Think about that for a moment — enhance our wellbeing. That must mean things like good roads, good schools, good public safety, good health care, good social insurance, good resource management, etc.

For decades now, all we ever hear is “cut taxes, gut services.” How wrong is that? Why do I have a senior property tax exemption when our schools are in financial straits? Why are my vehicles exempt from registration fees when my road service area is short of funds? Why are state revenues not sufficient to pay for our legitimate public services? Why are our precious resources harvested virtually tax-free?

Why do we let Outsiders export all the profits from our natural resources, chain stores, private hospitals, etc?

Alaskans are exploited like serfs in the Middle Ages. Hey, if you are here just to glean some of our wealth, then you need to pay taxes to support our government so it can enhance our wellbeing.

When my wife and I left the Valley in 1969, there were about 5,000 folks living here and our borough government was weak and miniscule. Today, we number nearly 100,000, and we still don’t have a government strong enough to enhance the wellbeing of our residents.

We are better than this! Edward Kleinbard, the former chief of staff of Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, wrote an excellent textbook on our federal fiscal debacle, which he titled, “We are better than this.” Kleinbard encourages us to embrace Adam Smith’s challenge. Kleinbard believes all levels of government should enhance our wellbeing.

You know in your hearts what the Matanuska-Susitna Borough needs to do to enhance our wellbeing.

You know in your hearts how to raise the revenue needed to enhance our wellbeing.

Please step up and make the decisions that will ensure the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren.

Sid McCausland

The Butte