Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

July 9, 2012 THE ARTFUL STRATEGIST

For state with problems, Singapore has answers

I just heard that President Obama was actually born in Kenya, which is sort of like Hawaii, but different.

That's not a problem for me. It signals that we're a nation willing to look beyond our borders for resources.

Connecticut should be like that, too. We're a state that you can drive across in 2 ½ hours, which suggests that if we limit our search for truth and wisdom to our borders, we're missing out on a lot of potential perspective.

Look at poor neighboring Rhode Island, which is about the size of a postage stamp. Three of its towns are under financial control of state dictators; the state budget is a mess; the citizenry still can't get over the confusion stemming from the fact that the place really isn't, you know, an island. That's a state that needs to look outside itself for help.

The states are not helpless in that regard. The National Conference of State Legislatures is available to all the states when they need advice on how to beg the federal government for more money. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a national conservative umbrella group for state legislators who want to learn how to slash budgets and snatch crusts of bread from welfare mothers.

The state attorneys general have their national group, as do various other members of the vast state government conspiracy.

But, the world is different today. Global input is available; there must be something we can learn from the Chinese or Japanese or Finns or, of course, those Kenyans who spawn presidents and stuff.

For instance, Connecticut should send a delegation to Singapore as soon as possible, to learn at the feet of the nation's authoritarian top dog, Lee Kuan Yew.

Connecticut has a demographic problem that Mr. Yew knows how to solve. Connecticut has one of the oldest populations in the nation, as the younger set escapes to cool spots that don't attract too many actuaries. The Hartford convention center is angling to become the permanent site of the AARP annual meeting, coupled with a large-print book fair.

Education Week a few years back said Connecticut was the second-best state in the nation when it comes to prospects for a good life for its children. Unfortunately, the good life seems to be somewhere else.

Remember, Hartford tried cool cocktail parties and such stuff for a while, to convince the younger set that if they drank enough, they could actually think they're in Seattle.

The underlying problem is Connecticut's persistent rank as one of the lowest-fertility states in the nation. Not only don't the kids stay here when they sort of grow up, but we don't produce very many kids. It's a manufacturing crisis.

What to do? Ask Singapore. The entrepreneurial colossus found that college-educated women with good jobs simply weren't marrying. The nation established an agency, the Social Development Network, with a web site that provides the young adults dating advice and classes on such topics as romance and why guys shouldn't wear backwards baseball caps. The government offers workshops on cooking, wine tastings; it sponsors dances — whatever it takes to get Mr. and Mrs. Right all married up and pregnant.

Too much "Big Government?" Heck, this is Connecticut. We love Big Government. We need cool professionals. We need babies. Once we get the details from Singapore, we should reorganize the state's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women as a government dating service. Then, we change the liquor laws to allow bars to stay open until 4 a.m. Problem solved. You're welcome.

Laurence D. Cohen is a freelance writer.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF