Kentuckians can only do their part in the Commonwealth, but the new state/national trajectories will either be reversed or affirmed.
It is almost a cliché to suggest that the upcoming General Election is the “most important” in decades. Citizens hear that almost every election. But, this time, that phrase may be perfectly accurate. Our state and our nation are both in a very significant turn from their progressive, left-leaning trajectory of the last 30 to 35 years to a conservative, right-leaning trajectory. To accomplish that reversal in just two or three years would have been incomprehensible to anyone analyzing policy in America and Kentucky in 2015. But . . . things have changed . . .
Consider the shift at the national level: President Trump was elected in 2016 and will have been in office almost two years when the Fall election takes place. Though there has been controversy, there is almost no one who would suggest that he has not gotten a great deal done – in spite of the incessant main stream media that hounds every move he makes. Certainly, the media did not hold President Obama to the same level of scrutiny with the same level of intensity and acrimony.
Yet, President Trump continues to move things forward: 1) Major tax cuts; 2) Massive reductions of government regulations; 3) One excellent U.S. Supreme Court appointment with another nominated; 4) Numerous constitutionalist appointments to the Court of Appeals and to District Courts (See page 4; 5) North Korea diplomacy; 6) Stock Market records; 7) Lowest reported unemployment for ALL sectors; 8) The President’s travel ban signed, then affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court; 9) Jerusalem recognized as the capital of Israel; 10) Withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership; 11) Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords; 12) Significant degrading (or defeat) of ISIS; 13) Hard “Red Line” for Syria; etc.
Similarly, consider the shift on the state level since December 2015, when Gov. Bevin was inaugurated (and since November 2016 when the House flipped from a 54-46 Democrat Chamber to a 64-36 Republican Chamber and began its work in the January 2017 General Assembly): 1) Six significant pro-life bills were passed and signed into law in two years, after no new pro-life bills had been allowed on the House Floor for 10 years; 2) Major reform of adoption and foster care passed and signed into law; 3) Two significant religious liberty bills passed and signed into law; 4) The lowest unemployment rate in 43 years; 5) The initial steps of pro-growth tax reform that moved Kentucky from 33rd to 18th in the nation for the best environment for job creation; and 6) Classroom education spending was raised to it highest level while at the same time investing a record $3.4 billion in teacher and state worker pensions.
The question to be answered by the 2018 elections suggests that the American people are at a significant crossroad: Does Kentucky and the nation want to continue the current move toward conservative and traditional values or is the best path forward with progressive and more socialistic principles?
