Brandon Dutcher | February 23, 2009
Mere functionaries at 23rd & Lincoln
Brandon Dutcher
Craig Ladwig, editor of The Indiana Policy Review, is grateful that heroes such as Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) are vigorously opposing the "new American socialism" coming down the pike. (Likewise, conservative Oklahomans are grateful for the likes of Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe.) However, Mr. Ladwig writes:
"In sad contrast, Indianaʼs state-based leadership, from council chambers to Statehouse, are behaving as mandarins, regional functionaries administering the laws of some distant emperor, trudging back and forth to the capitol with hats in hand. They seem resigned to playing by the rules of this New Socialism, however ruinous to the people of Indiana.
"A high Indiana official, for instance, told reporters recently that his job was not necessarily to oppose or question the changes coming out of Washington but 'to simply use these [stimulus] funds, which are a fact of life, for the best interest of our state and its future.' What an odd thing to say in a constitutional republic."
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.