For the last half-century and more, the state’s monopoly political party has been content to rely on our proximity to the nation’s capital as its principal economic development strategy. Our one-party regime has taken advantage of the District of Columbia being carved out of unwanted Maryland land to steer our state toward living off the federal Leviathan (“As shutdown drags on, Moore faces pressure to curb Maryland’s reliance on Washington dollars,” Oct. 8).
During this period, the state’s Democrats didn’t give much, if any, thought to the private sector, which was gradually withering away (except to serve as the pretext for top-level junkets to foreign lands). Who cared about industry when Maryland could feed off the national government?
Never did our monopoly party take a look at a local map, which would’ve readily showed our state’s unique geography, where no place in Maryland is more than 40 miles from another state.
With this geographic reality, we needed to make our state more competitive with our neighbors — through tax policy, lessening regulatory burden and increasing incentives for business. Instead, our one-party government has consistently gone in the opposite direction, making us less attractive than our neighbors. They did this even though any private business thinking about Maryland could easily go elsewhere and didn’t even have to go that far in order to do it.
I am glad The Baltimore Sun is now focusing on this important story — about the need for Maryland to diversify its economic base. I only wish the newspaper had started doing this about 50 years ago.
— P. Johnsen, Pasadena
Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter.
