A Great Day for Kentucky and America
By Governor Matt Bevin
TownHall.com
History was made
Tuesday in both the Commonwealth and the nation. A
political outsider won the Presidency and did so
while ignoring conventional political wisdom
regarding campaign tactics. More importantly for the
commonwealth, a seismic political shockwave was felt
across our state. I referred to it on election night
as a historical roar of the people not dissimilar
from that once referenced by Winston Churchill. By
now you've likely heard the numbers. For the first
time in 95 years, Kentucky Republicans have a
majority in the House. This new reality, along with
the unity we now share in the Senate and Governor's
office, will ensure that the roar of the people of
Kentucky will be heeded.
Now the political and statistical analysis will
begin. I will leave that analysis to the pundits.
However, I feel compelled to respond to a couple of
narratives that I heard developing immediately after
the election that clearly miss the mark.
First, on the national level, I have already heard
commentary that President-elect Trump was merely
swept into office by bitter, uneducated, and mostly
white Americans. This is a simplistic and
ill-informed caricature and deserves to be rejected
as such. I have travelled 100,000 miles around
Kentucky during the last three years and spoken to
thousands of people across the entire socio-economic
and racial spectrum. I hear one resounding theme
over and over again. People are concerned about the
direction of the country. That concern is valid and
based on the reality of what they see and experience
in their own communities. If our fellow Americans on
the left attempt to explain away last night's
election as merely a function of identity politics
or xenophobia they have done themselves and the
voters a disservice.
On a state level, the narrative that seems to be
emerging is that Kentucky Republican candidates
merely benefited from a "Trump tsunami" and rode his
momentum into office. This narrow view ignores the
results of Kentucky's statewide elections in 2015
and what I have heard repeated hundreds of times
from Kentuckians. It is also tremendously unfair to
the many excellent and hardworking Republican
candidates and their supporters.
One needn't look to statistics or data analysis to
evaluate the meaning of the 2016 election. The
examination of the results is truly quite simple. We
need only to listen to the roar of the people.
Kentuckians are hungry to become the best version of
ourselves. We are creative, entrepreneurial, and
innovative. We are willing to roll up our sleeves
and work hard. We do not want a government that
quenches those attributes. In fact, we demand a
government that will either come alongside us in our
efforts or at least get out of our way. Last night's
vote was a rejection of oppressive regulations,
burdensome tax policy, and cronyism. It was also a
rejection of government policies on cultural and
moral issues, most of which were force fed to our
state by the Obama administration, that in no way
reflect Kentucky values.
Our administration has always been committed to
establishing policies that allow the entrepreneurial
spirit of Kentuckians to thrive. Now I expect those
policies, along with some that are still being
developed, to be fully implemented. Among the things
that Kentucky citizens can look forward to:
· A continuation of our Red Tape Reduction
initiative.
· A less oppressive tax policy that will be business
friendly.
· A willingness to leverage the tremendous natural
resources and beauty of our state to our economic
advantage.
· Transparency in our state pension system and
throughout all of state government. (If the people
are paying the bill they have a right to see how
their money is being invested.)
· Tort reform.
· The passage of right to work legislation.
· A rejection of common core and the opportunity for
parents and students to have true school choice.
Kentucky is a beautiful jewel in the mosaic that is
the United States of America. Unfortunately, years
of bad policy and crony politics have allowed that
jewel to gather dust. Our administration is going to
unite with Kentucky voters of both parties to polish
that jewel until it shines like a beacon of
excellence for all the world to see. The election of
2016 will be written about as a victory for the GOP.
It was more than that. A victory was won for the
people of Kentucky and the people of America. The
roar is coming through loud and clear.