John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Wal-Mart Stores, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

I’m holding in my hand today’s Washington Post newspaper. The front page story features a woman who packed up her most precious belongings in her rusty pick-up truck and drove 1,000 miles from Ohio to N. Dakota. That’s where the jobs are. N. Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 4.2 percent, a state budget surplus, and 8,000 unfilled jobs.

What’s going on here? N. Dakota is healthy and happy and California is in turmoil and going broke.

The answer is found in the rural county all across this nation. Rural, small-town people are more conservative. Our county banks didn’t make a lot of risky loans. Rural America believes in personal responsibility and self-reliance. I know that what I’m saying is not absolute, but there is a lot of truth in this premise.

We all know that California is liberal and that the big cities lean liberal. That means that they expect the government to always be there to fix their problems. I think as a nation we depend too much on the government. We are never satisfied. The Congress gets up every day ready to invent another way to spend money. Why not? Spend money on the auto industry. “Cash for clunkers.” Spend money on “green” energy. Spend money on a new flight to the moon. Spend more money on food stamps. Fix the obesity problem. Spend, spend, spend.

The way our system works it encourages our government to take on more responsibility and relieve the individual of that personal responsibility. Voters will elect the candidate that promises the most. The entitlement mentality is going to ruin our country.

I place my confidence in the conservative, good judgment of rural America. Sure, we’ve made some mistakes, but when this Congress comes back after their August recess, keep an eye on them.

We need to demand that any new legislation puts more responsibility on the individual; more self- reliance. We need to balance our budget. Let’s be more like N. Dakota. Not California.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington, D.C.