Many residents of Stuart and Martin County use the terms “pro-business” or “anti –growth” or “in favor of creating jobs” as code words that require no further explanations. Those words or phrases in and of themselves offer little meaning or context as to what the speaker or writer really means. Those phrases however do require meaning and context when used. They do not mean the same thing to everyone?

Is it pro-business to offer government incentives to the chosen few? I would argue that not only are such policies not pro-business but they are the antitheses of what that word really means. A society can’t be for pro-business when it unfairly rewards one business over all the others. You cannot be pro-business if your policies will bless only a handful with the cost to be borne by the vast majority. I am confused when our various governmental bodies shout the merits of capitalism when the largest employers in the county are those same governmental authorities, from the county to the school system.

Those governmental jobs do not contribute to increasing county wealth. They as do tax payer subsidies re-distribute wealth. The productive class becomes fewer and fewer of us while the government becomes larger and larger. At the same that very government professes to believe in the virtues of small government and free markets. It is totally hypocritical.

As a society we do need government performing services that the private sector cannot. But when that very government becomes not only the provider of essential services but also chooses the winners in the reduced private sector by bestowing subsidies; we no longer have the market being the determinant.  We have a government akin to Putin’s Russia more than we would like to admit.

Is government anti-growth when it refuses to rubber stamp permits for massive development or even to disapprove the building of another strip center? With all development matters our elected officials need to look to preserving the quality of life for the residents that are here. Martin County and the City of Stuart need to stop thinking that larger is better. I contend that development for the sake of development is a false answer to any number of questions from increased tax revenue to more jobs.

Smart growth requires careful planning. It is not only expansion but preservation. It is not only preservation of the environment but of those individuals and businesses that already exist.  I firmly believe that the right government with the right philosophy can do much good. Unfortunately too often governmental bodies forget that they act for the benefit of all the citizens and not for the sake of governmental bodies, employees or that of their friends and cronies.