-By Warner Todd Huston
Let me start this by saying I am not against state fairs. State fairs have a long tradition in America and often serve as a focal point for the community, most especially the rural, farm community. But a state fair is neither a “right,” nor an entitlement. Unfortunately, the attitude that a state must have a fair is just another abuse of what the role of government should be, especially in the United States. We are not a monarchy and when a state is billions in the red a state fair is the last thing people should be wasting state money on.
In fact I’d say canceling the state fair because of the deficit that politicians have gotten us into might be one way to get people to understand that they should be voting these politicians out of office.
In Illinois this whole state fair discussion arises from Pat “the accidental Governor” Quinn’s ire over what a Chicago-based conservative think tank said about the bankrupt state spending money it doesn’t have on an elaborate state fair.
The Illinois Policy Institute questioned a state fair that this year cost $2.7 million more to put on than last year’s fair brought in. In July the Illinois Policy Institute also reported that between 2001 and 2009 the state fairs lost a whopping $41.8 million. And, as mentioned, this year the costs went up even more.
As it stands Illinois is billions in the red and the budget is such a mess that the state’s politicians can’t even agree on a budget plan. But the high spending Governor of Illinois is pooh-poohing the red flag on spending as noted by the think tank. “There are, you know, pinheads who think that we should cut out the state fair,” Quinn said at the fair. “I think they’re all wet. I think the people of Illinois want a state fair to celebrate our agriculture.”
Well-known Illinois political blogger Rich Miller agrees with Quinn. Miller seems to feel that we should spare no expense for a state fair even when we are bankrupt. He and folks like him want to treat a state fair as an entitlement. “The state fair is a big deal for rural kids. Getting chosen to exhibit there is a high honor. I made it once, and it was like going to Hollywood,” Miller said on his widely read blog.
Well, I disagree with Miller and Quinn both if they think that we must have a state fair because it’s “a big deal for rural kids.” The last refuge of the worst socialist, high spending, scoundrel is to excuse wild-spending sprees because “it’s for the kids.”
So, I have a question for both comrades Miller and Quinn: is it “good” for the kids to have a silly state fair while we shut down clinics and programs for at risk kids all across the state? How good is that? How good is it that some farmer’s kid gets to be treated like a “Hollywood” star because he has the fattest pig while at risk kids are starving because their programs have been cut so that $41.8 million can be wasted on a big party at the state fairgrounds?
If you are going to use the cynical “it’s for the kids” argument, gentlemen, best be sure which kids need the support more.
The fact is that a state fair is nice. If a state has the cash they should have one, especially if there is a return on the expense. But when a state is drowning in debt, when state vendors aren’t getting paid, when already approved programs are losing funding, when business are leaving the state in droves because the business atmosphere is toxic, for the Millers and Quinns of this world to OK the waste of millions on a big party like a state fair is criminal.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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