At a time of political deadlock and fiscal crises in our State, it is important to recognize that the solution to fashioning a balanced budget does not involve either taxing our way to solvency nor exclusively focusing on budgetary cuts. Wise stewardship requires a prudent mix of structural reforms to streamline government, budget cuts to focus government on essential State services, and additional revenue to equip the State to carry out its important responsibilities.

What is crucial at this time is that which seem in short supply in Lansing - statesmanship. Someone once described a politician as a person who is primarily interested in the next election while a statesman is someone who is primarily interested in the next generation. The crises in Lansing is not simply a budgetary crises but a political and moral crises as well. Each political party is focusing on partisan posturing with the aim of protecting themselves at the next election.

We have seen strident, uncompromising, and polarizing leadership on the Republican side. The message is one of defiant ideology that refuses any consideration of additional revenues regardless of what compromises are presented. The governor, likewise, has been intransigent in terms of balking at any serious attempt to restructure government. Both sides, feet cemented in established positions, continue to finger point in public. All the while the State cruises towards insolvency and shutdown. This spectacle cannot inspire the kind of confidence in potential investors that our State so desparately needs to innovate and grow jobs and opportunities.

Republicans often invoke the comforting analogy of the family when justifying their advocacy for harsh budget cuts. They frequently argue that "like the families we represent in the halls of govenrment our State must live within its means." This soothingly comes across as prudence mixed with an honest desire to able to do more.

A more honest comparison of what really happens in families all across our State would recognize that no responsible parent balances the family budget on the back of their daughter's need for braces or their son's need for tutoring, or their children's need for food. Parent's initial response to inadequate resources is to always explore avenues to bring in additional revenues to met critical needs. Often this means getting a second job or having a spouse work. Only when additional income is not possible are important family needs sacrificed. My point is not to claim that government has an obligation to address every pressing social need. Rather, it is to claim that it is shortsignted to claim that the only responsible position when faced with a budget deficit is to lower spending even if this means sacrificing vital public priorities.