In his dissent of the Supreme Court decision in the 1932 case New State Ice Co. v Liebmann, Justice Louis Brandeis introduced the now oft-quoted phrase “laboratories of democracy.”  The case revolved around the ability of a state, in the absence of any federal regulation, to issue a license in cases where that government claimed such restrictions were necessary to protect public health and safety.  In the justification for his minority vote, Brandeis wrote:

To stay experimentation in things social and economic is a grave responsibility. Denial of the right to experiment may be fraught with serious consequences to the nation. It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.

This mechanism provided valuable input into two recent policy debates.  National legislation related to welfare reform in 1996 was based on a similar program initiated in Wisconsin by then governor Tommy Thompson.  And of course, the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) was modeled after a similar Massachusetts program under Governor Mitt Romney.  State-based social or economic experiments can lay the foundation for better policies and programs.

But just as often, these initiatives instruct us what we should avoid.  I thought about Justice Brandeis and my years of experience in state government while reading an under-reported story in this morning’s Washington Post titled, “With State Budget in Crisis, Many Oklahoma Schools Hold Classes Four Days a Week.”  As a result of Republican Governor Mary Fallin’s bet on supply-side, trickle down economic policy, the Post reports:

A deepening budget crisis here has forced schools across the Sooner State to make painful decisions. Class sizes have ballooned, art and foreign-language programs have shrunk or disappeared, and with no money for new textbooks, children go without. Perhaps the most significant consequence: Students in scores of districts are now going to school just four days a week.

Sadly, the only thing news-worthy about this story is recognition that Oklahoma is the latest jurisdiction to fall for this con game.  In June 2015, MarketWatch reported how Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (another Republican) had bankrupted his state.

There are two clear takeaways: first, supply-side economics didn’t even work with the deck stacked in its favor, and second, we’re seeing what happens when supply-side tax cuts on the rich fail to produce badly needed revenue. The end result is that the wealthy get to keep their tax cuts and everyone else gets to close the gap.

And like Oklahoma, public school support has been among the hardest hit with draconian budget cuts resulting in larger classes and a shorter school year.

Which brings us to Louisiana where the Republican Governor Bobby Jindal hoped to ride his supply-side experiment all the way to the White House.  In February 2016, Salon summarized Louisiana’s budget situation as follows.

This is not to say that the budget deficit ($940 million) is entirely Jindal’s fault. But it does stem in large part from his instituting in Louisiana the same kinds of budget-busting tax cuts that Sam Brownback has used to turn Kansas into a fiscal insane asylum. And it underscores the damage that could be done to the country as a whole if any of the supply-side-espousing Arthur Laffer wannabes currently running for the Republican nomination win the White House in November.

Again, public education took the sword while tax cuts benefited those who least needed them.

I leave you with Albert Einstein’s definiton of insanity, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Unless, of course, you are Donald Trump who, upon winning the Nevada Republican primary in February 2016, professed his adoration for the “poorly educated.”  Instead of calling his FY2018 budget proposal “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” a more appropriate title for a document which mirrors the experiences in Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma might be, “Making the Poorly Educated Less Educated Again.”

Sunday Morning Postscript

Sometimes, the devil really is in the details.  Yesterday, a CNN report on Jared Kushner’s growing involvement in the Trump/Russia connection flashed a picture of Kushner Tower, one of the Trump-in-law’s major investments.  There, for all to see, was the street address, and I promise, I am not making this up:  666 Fifth Avenue.  Who would have thought the  1976 blockbuster movie “The Omen,” starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick was a documentary.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP