A few days ago I had the occasion to drive down to, and through, the Port of Long Beach. At the time the errand was fairly urgent but once completed I had time to re-acquaint myself a little with that bustling enterprise… to watch the truckers and the trains with their shipping containers coming and going through the gates of various terminals; the ships of all types and sizes arriving from other states and other nations with our imports and likewise departing with our exports; and all of the activity in-between that facilitated this controlled chaos… this incredible volume of daily and nightly goods movement that is so vital to our local, State and National economies.
More than 7 million cargo containers move through our Port each year. That’s an average of almost 20,000 each day. Each year our port handles a volume of cargo that is valued at over $140 billion and weighs over 87 million metric tons. Ours is the 2nd busiest port in the entire nation and the 15th busiest in the entire world.
As I watched this amazing level of local, State and national commerce going on all about me, I was reminded of another day, some 20 years past now, and very close to the same spot on which I was standing, during which I found myself very privileged to be just one tiny part of a huge security effort that was engaged in protecting a United States President who was visiting our port’s Pier G on the occasion of his signing of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.
On that day I was far too busy with my duties to be able to be attentive to what President Reagan was saying to the gathered crowd at the time but I took the time, later, to read a copy of the speech he had delivered to the Long Beach audience on that day in our port.
He talked about the importance to our economy and of our international trade and the fact that so many small businesses in America were full and active partners in helping to keep our nation economically healthy.
He spoke of some of the accomplishments of his 1st and 2nd Administrations: Getting government out of the way of American entrepreneurs and allowing them to grow their businesses (and, thus, our economy) without undue government interference; slashing tax rates and cutting interest rates in half all of which worked in concert to rev-up what he called “the most powerful creative engine of growth, innovation, and opportunity the world has yet known: the American people.”
President Reagan’s approach to “stimulating” a national economy in decline was to de-emphasize and to shrink the breadth and reach and intrusiveness of the federal government, not to expand it exponentially. His approach was to cut taxes, not raise them. His approach was to unleash the economic potential of the American people, not to, as is currently the case, stifle it and, instead, to, in effect, nationalize more aspects of our economy than ever before.
President Reagan’s policies helped drive unemployment down and productivity up. These were policies founded on the belief that America is best when her government is restrained. In a word, President Reagan provided us with “leadership”; the sort of leadership that demonstrates far more faith in the American individual, than in government; the sort of leadership that looked us right in the eye and said: “You, my fellow Americans, can turn this economy around and we, in government, are going to get out of your way and let you do just that.”
President Reagan believed in us, and we responded by proving ourselves worthy of that belief.
This was a marked reversal from the policies of the previous administration; that of President Carter, which saw increased tax rates, increased government influence, decreased employment and decreased productivity.
Today, in Long Beach, in California and in the United States we are faced with economic circumstances very similar to those we were experiencing during the 1980’s. The difference is primarily two-fold: The first is a matter of severity and the second is in the approach to solving these challenges.
The approach to solving these challenges that we are being led to accept today is the very antithesis of the approach we have used, successfully, to similar challenges in the past. We know this and yet we continue to permit ourselves to be so led. Why?
As I stood the other day and watched the hustle and bustle of our busy port all around me, I recalled the very great man who once stood on our own Pier G and reminded us that it is we, the American people, and not government, who are “the most powerful creative engine of growth, innovation, and opportunity the world has yet known”.
And in so recalling, I considered how very different appears the belief, and the approaches, of our current Presidential administration. This administration seems to prioritize government over the governed; it seems more interested in paying political favors than paying proper respect to those who truly make this nation great; it is too busy paying lip service and taking over more and more of our lives than in serving the American people in the best way government can… by getting out of our pockets and out of our way.
I happen to believe we, as Americans, can, indeed, turn our local, State and national economies around.
All it takes is the right sort of leadership.
I very much welcome your questions and your comments.