Dear Governor Elect Bevin:

I want to congratulate you and Mrs. Hampton on your victory however there is a part of me that knows in the days to come you may become intimate with the Chinese curse May you live in interesting times.  In those moments of “what was I thinking” I have no doubt your faith, family and wife shall be the guardian of your soul. For more than any other time in your life Sir, it (your soul) is surely in peril.

Humanity, the world, America and Kentucky is at tipping point.  Many can feel it deep within, in that place which no logic nor rational thought can explain. You just know, like The Declaration of Independence says: we hold these truths to be self-evident. We need to stop and go in another direction, we have lost our way and have abandoned the simplest of principles which made this country a success.  Sometime in the night progressive thought crept in and took control of the education system, the media and popular culture.  They sold the sweet candy of Government is the solution and so many bought it.

I know what the media says, I know what they are telling us to believe. However your election is many Kentuckians saying enough!  Speaking for myself, I am not willing to go down that failed rabbit hole of Social Progressivism. All one has to do is look to Europe of the last 200 years and ask a simple question: Why are we embracing belief systems which have failed and always seem to lead to welfare states at best, totalitarianism at worst?

In many respects you are now the Captain of an Aircraft carrier and as you well know those intricate and vast ships do not exactly stop or change direction on a dime.

You are inheriting a ship manned by the crew of two political parties who are really not your friends. One group will knife you in the back, as they have proven last time you ran and the other will knife you in the front. Subsequently, the ones in front will lie about it with the help of their friends in the media. Frankly, it sucks to be you, yet you signed up for this; people like me elected you. What’s the cliché, be careful what you wish for? Neither you nor I are naïve, perhaps the biggest battle you will fight is the entrenched establishment. A system with its corruption supported by the professional staffer class and the belief system of who moved my cheese.

I have often postulated what could be done to improve life in the state of Kentucky. After contemplating and rejecting a plethora of ideas over the years. I then read your economic plan and was amused to find we came to many of the same solutions. However, in the end I took a different conceptual path to find similar outcomes. I changed my frame of reference and asked the question:

If Kentucky was a country unto itself, how would I then solve the problems? We all know succession is not on the table. As liberal academics like to say, it’s a thought exercise.  When I sought to come up with solutions within this frame work a whole new set of out of the box results came to mind.  I’m sure there will be an overabundance of critics for what I’m about to share. However on May 25^th 1961, many laughed at the idea of putting a man on the moon and in 1979 they believed using a bullet to shoot down another bullet was impossible.  Yet in the end we demonstrated why we are one of the greatest countries in human history so far by doing the impossible. Below are thoughts which have come to me over time organized by classification.

 

Legislature:

The simple truth (as I see it) is you may have won, however you need a cooperative Legislative majority to enact the kinds of common sense reforms necessary. I’m not talking a Republican majority that is the old paradigm and part of the math equation of how we got here. Besides, too many Republicans have become Social Progressives and abandoned the principles of fiscal conservatism and innovative leadership. This has not gone unnoticed by the populous and despite the media’s attempt to form public opinion to the contrary, you were given a mandate clear and simple.

In the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership (great book if you have not read it you should) by John Maxwell, he talks about the concept of leadership buy in. People will follow you if they buy in to your clear vision or goal. In order to fundamentally change the legislature, you need to give the people a vision to latch on to and in return, usher into office the reformers you need to accomplish your strategic mission goals.  

One of my solutions is going to the people and presenting a simple deal. You need new blood, a slate of candidates who will publically support deep-seated fiscal change; for example the abolishment of state personal income tax.  This vision, is a concept anyone can understand and relate to, no matter how hard the media and vested interests seek to oppose and distort. “I am first putting money back into your pocket” is an unmistakably bold message and compact between you and the electorate.  Sometimes to fix the wheels on the apple cart, you have to tip it over along with dumping out your previous limiting beliefs.

Due to my previous bold, seemly fiscally reckless suggestion, I am sure many detractors see nothing but difficult ground. Unfortunately most of them are locked into their current model of the world and don’t know there are eight other additional types of ground to be exploited here. Even if they could perceive it, conventional thinking wouldn’t help them anyway.

Finance:

• I agree with you, inheritance tax is wrong. Taxes were paid when the wealth was created even if it was capital gains. To tax it again when you wish to pass it onto your heirs is theft pure and simple.
• Lowing the Corporate tax rate would make Kentucky attractive. However, conceptually, take it a step further. What would it take for Kentucky to become corporate haven? What laws would we need to repeal and enact to make it the easiest and cheapest place in the America to start a business?
• Pension Fund Crisis, talk to a teacher lately? You have a handle on that in your plan. All I will say is let’s not emulate Illinois and Pennsylvania shall we? This is one list where being in the top three is nothing to be proud of.
• Sweeping and aggressive Tort reform. I don’t think the average person understands how the prices and quality of life is affected by this one thing. There is a balance between protecting the consumer and creating an environment so attractive, lots of other health insurance companies and companies want to move here.
  (Sorry Humana, Anthem and United Health Care it’s a capitalist system, a minor inconvenience called competition.)
• I have two morally questionable, out of the box revenue concepts to present. Since certain areas of Kentucky is known for its illicit cannabis and moonshine production, perhaps it is time to examine how much we spend trying to stop them. Instead turn it into a regulated crop, consider various options where the crop is sold to other States which have legalized its use. The state treasury receives a reasonable percentage, the grower the larger portion and no more trying to stop something which has always been. As for the moonshiners, the one thing I noticed when I was in Asia was their love of our bourbon. Perhaps it’s time we introduced them to a new Spirit of Kentucky.

 

Unions:

Most people don’t know that in America the unions had their genesis in latter part of the 18 century via the Marxists and Socialists movements of the time. What they have turned into I can no longer support and I see them as a detriment to the very people they claim to fight for.

Unless you have the legislature, right to work legislation may be difficult looking at how it went last time. Sometimes you don‘t have to take the hill, just isolate it and march on. In this TO (Theater of Operations) Scott Walker has shown you the way in Act 10, now improve on it. Personally, employers “being prohibited from collecting union dues” was one of many inspired tactical maneuvers. I support the concept of having a union shop for those who choose it. However you just can’t force people to join.

 

Education:

You have a good plan, I would only add a few things which the entrenched progressives, academics and teachers unions will hate and attack me on.

• Time to examine how we put an end to tenure at all state owned / funded education facilities.
• Merit / performance base pay. (I’m feeling the love from the NEA, AFT and KEA at this very second)
• Ongoing competency tests in the subject one teaches. I’m aware it didn’t go over so well in many places. The unions and establishment fought it tooth and nail. So would I, especially if 59 % percent of the prospective teachers in a highly educated state like Massachusetts failed that state’s exam. The current education model is all about teaching students how to beat the tests, not knowledge. This has become about school districts crack pipe addiction to more federal dollars from Washington DC. How is this education?
• Remove polices which have more to do with administrative idiocy and political correctness than simple common sense.

 

Energy

“The EPA can pound sand.”
That about sums it up, get together with other states and take the battle to them.

• Kentucky’s oil and natural gas wells run between 1,500 to 7,500 feet. Granted, oil has dropped to below $ 41.00 a barrel. However one of the many lessons Kentucky has taught me is never under estimate the ingenuity of Billy Bob. Use the power of the State to clear as much as a regulatory path as you can. Create the environment where individuals or small businessmen from their garage do what the American Entrepreneurs do best. The impossible.
• We have coal, oil, natural gas and hydroelectric. Conceptually speaking why can’t we be a major power producer and sell that power to other states? The companies which help facilitate this concept are given incentives to keep the per Kilowatt cost wondrously low for instate This compliments your plan for lower corporate tax rates. Having the lowest energy costs in the country would be a boon to manufacturing.
• When was the last time a new administration took serious look at Thorium reactors?

EMP

I’m sure you’ve read the declassified 2005 intelligence report or the 2008 EMP Commission report therefore you are not ignorant of the threat.  Thanks to Lisa Murkowski R-A.K and Jeff Bingamon, D-N.M in 2009 the Federal Government failed to address a very real and frightening vulnerability (H.R. 5026).  Time to ask the question, could it be done at the state level? I’m aware conventional thinking says not possible due to interconnectivity of grids. However you, I and Sun Tzu also know, conventional thinkers often lose wars. 

Financial Collapse

The IMF said last week:

“With global economic prospects repeatedly marked down over the last five years, there is a concrete risk of a world economy persistently mired in sub-par growth, with unacceptably high levels of poverty and unemployment.”

Then this happened:

“China announced Monday that it will start direct trading between its currency, the yuan, and the Swiss franc.”

We both understand finance speak you better than I. We both understand what it means and it is stunning. Especially for the IMF to admit in the open what they did in that report. 

When I said to my friends and family in 2010 this was coming, they all called me crazy. When I said to my father the Obama administration economic policies will lead to the end of the US dollar being the world currency reserve, he said it will never happen. I could see it happening and he and I have not spoken on this issue since. Let me say what few in the media will grasp and acknowledge China and Russia  are making a move on the US dollar. By the time people wake up to this BRIC to the head, it will be too late. I see this happening within the next two years or less.  As we both know, it will be  the game changer for life in America as we know it. 

Meanwhile, other entities also can see what’s coming. Texas wants their gold back from the Fed, I suspect it’s been rehypothecated. We’ll see when, or if, it’s ever delivered.

The quote from Macbeth act 4 scene 1 comes to mind.  By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. I hope you have a plan. 

Global Conflict 

It’s coming, those of us cursed with vision can see it clearly. Most people and the media are still in denial. I often ask myself, how can we prepare in such a way that the people of Kentucky not only survive, but prosper? What would be our war effort strengths? Energy, distribution (I-75, I-64, I-65) transportation, agriculture and manufacturing are the concepts which come to mind along with a few others. 

Syrian and Muslim Refugees

Thank you for your stance. 
As a constituent my response is not only “no”, but hell no. All a logical person has to do is see  the consequences of what the massive Muslim immigration has done to Germany, Belgium, France, Austria and Sweden.  Now having said that, the ONLY exception I’m comfortable with is  those vetted by the Mercury One Nazerian project. Those families I suspect will make decent Kentuckians.

The media’s attempt to create a false equivalency to the Pilgrims is  a laughable lie.  Ignoring the fact more than half  are young Muslim men 18-25  who firmly believe in Sharia Law and only about  52% are actually from Syria.  For me as a constituent this is a security issue since we’ve already had problems  with refugees turned jihadis.

 

Closing

You have the opportunity to be the most transformative, after Obama (I hate that word) governor Kentucky has seen in a long time.  I do not believe for a second it’s your job to solve all of Kentucky’s issues. Like the captain of the aircraft carrier, the Governor sets the tone and destination for the state. At that point, it’s up the first officer and department heads to make it all in its grand complexity happen.

It’s not Governments job to be all things to all people. We have a constitution to protect us from government in the first place. However as a die hard capitalist, what the state can do is remove all but the most essential barriers. To sometimes facilitate the gathering of the people and the private sector to solve problems on their own. Then, get out of the way. If someone acts inappropriately, then Government can hold them accountable if the free market cannot.

For too long we’ve been listening to so called experts and their theories hatched in their towers of academia. In many instances we let them convince us that critical thinking, common sense and in many cases experience was not enough.  Such belief systems and safe conventional thinking has led to where we are today. How’s that been working for us? Do what you always did, get what you always got. 

It is the nature of government to be reactive always putting out fires in the forest, many ignited ironically by government in the first place. Time to change the paradigm and challenge the core beliefs which drive state government.    The nature of the battlefield (the challenges you face) isn’t going to change, it already has. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom, the media and the establishment can’t’ or won’t see it as of yet. Much like the Military in 1964 coming to grips with the concept of insurgency while resistant to needed change. I hope you can find the unconventional thinkers, bold doers and dedicated believers you need to take this ship of state in a whole new direction. Individuals who are able to help you discover a new fundamental why which leads to how.  

I suggest second star to the right, and straight on till morning.

 

Faithfully,

 

R Magic Brow