Guns and Butter

First published April 21, 2004,
prior to the recommendation to close Otis AFB.
There's alot of fear(mongering) going around these days, what with all the talk about closing the Massachusetts Military Reservation on the Upper Cape. But like most things, nothing is what it seems.

There is alot of speculation about what the Base Closing Advisory Board will recommend. Alot of guessing what Donald Rumsfeld will say. The expected posturing by Kennedy and Delahunt. And ultimately what President Bush will decide. This one of the perogatives of being the President.

My guess is that the MMR will neither be abandoned completely, nor kept intact. Things will change, as they should. Closing military components of the base would not be a bad thing. I remember a similar situation, about 35 years ago.

Nixon v. Kennedy Redux
Richard Nixon was still seething about his defeat at the hands of Jack Kennedy 8 years earlier, but he was euphoric at his political ressurection and triumph in 1968. Paranoid as we now know he was, Nixon set off to settle the score in Kennedy's home state. He lost Massachusetts in '68, and it would be the only state he would lose in '72.

Nixon closed 5, count them 5, military installation in Massachusetts, shortly after coming into office. Bases, like the Chelsea Naval Shipyard, were moved to southern states, which Nixon had won, helping turn the tide towards Republican domination of the south for the next 35 years. To be sure, alot of the Massachusetts installations were being politically propped-up by the preceeding Democratic, Kennedy-Johnson, Adminstrations, but hey, there was a war on.

While instituting payback however, Nixon inadvertantly launched the high tech economy of Massachusetts. He literally threw tens of thousands of highly trained and educated military personnel out onto the street in Massachusetts during his first term. Alot of those guys decided to stick around and put their knowledge and talent to work here. Every wonder how Digital (Equipment Corporation) got started? Thus the nation's high tech industry was borne. "America's Technology Highway", Route 128, was so dubbed before Silicon Valley was even a gleam in David Packard's eye.

Brother, Can You Spare a Government Job?
The parallels are striking. Nixon beats Kennedy closes bases. Bush defeats Kerry, the other son from Massachusetts, and closes bases?

Let's have it. Dump a thousand military personnel from MMR onto the Cape's economy and let's watch what happens. How many of these guys will stick around, start companies, turn their talents into commercial enterprise, hire others or hire themselves out, and really contribute to the local economy.

As we debate the merits of keeping the 102nd Airborne, the Coast Guard, Air National Guard, Pave Paws, Homeland Security Training Center, environmental clean-up, and the rest of it, don't pay any attention to the politicians' bluster. Government jobs are nice, by only for those who have them. They do little to help the local economy. When those jobs get privatized, then you really have something.