If Ohio politics continue on their current trajectory, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s final proposed budget might be the last sane, reasonable, compassionate state budget we see proposed from an Ohio governor for quite some time.
DeWine’s brand of conservative rational Republicanism is exhaling its last in America, as the radical reactionary Republicanism of the MAGA movement makes a mockery of the restraint and sense of duty and justice and checks and balances on which Republicans once prided themselves.
Violent cop-beating criminals and seditionists have been set free. Career United States prosecutors in national security and public corruption are being rendered powerless. The very lives of the men and women in national law enforcement who simply did their jobs after Jan. 6 upholding the rule of law are now being sadistically put in danger.
If America really wanted to see the political weaponization of government, it’s happening every day in real time.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are using sledgehammers to smash up every room in America’s home.
Of course, many of the things they are attempting to do are openly illegal and unconstitutional, which is why they are being stopped in court quickly as lawsuits fly in our litigation–based constitutional republic.
They want you to believe they have much more power and control than they have. Don’t believe them. Donald Trump is a president, a public servant, not a king. This is not their government. It’s not his government. This is our government. The fact that Trump won one of the smallest presidential victories in the last 65 years does not change that.
Nevertheless, and despite Trump’s historic unpopularity, the entire institutional Republican Party is going along — giddily cheering it on — because MAGA has now become the institution. MAGA is the establishment.
In Ohio, Republicans have long held every rein of power, but career Ohio Republicans are scrambling out-of-the-way as mega-MAGA panderer and sycophant Vivek Ramaswamy makes moves to run for governor in 2026.
Former Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted spent decades positioning himself to be governor. He has extensive connections, knowledge of state governance, and fundraising prowess, but he fled for the U.S. Senate.
After much speculation that Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague might run for governor, he announced this week he would shoot for Secretary of State instead, further rolling over by posting a video to X slavering in support of Ramaswamy.
This came after NBC News reported that Vice President J.D. Vance’s political team has signed on with Ramaswamy and his backers released a poll last week from a pro-Ramaswamy group showing Vivek with a significant lead.
That leaves Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who, after teasing his well-known governor aspirations for months, seemingly rushed to make it official in late January as the Ramaswamy rumors began to swirl. Yost has also been positioning himself for the state’s top executive position for quite some time, having served eight years as state auditor and now finishing his second four-year term as attorney general.
Former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton is the only Democratic candidate to have announced so far. I’d be surprised if she remains without a primary opponent. The last Democrat to win election as Ohio governor was Ted Strickland in 2006 as part of the midterm backlash against George W. Bush’s second term.
The 2026 election is 21 months away. I’m skeptical that the Elon/Trump method of smashing everything to pieces will prove a very popular way to run our government, especially when people start experiencing the real-life consequences of chaotic, dysfunctional, smashed-to-pieces government and “services.”
And who-only-knows what might happen to the economy when the only thing anybody can count on is continued chaos both in American government and in American foreign policy.
So I’m not saying that anything is set about Ohio’s 2026 election. It’s an open contest and I have no predictions.
But I’m jaded enough as a political journalist that I always expect the worst. That way, whenever anything bad happens I’m prepared, and if anything good ever happens it’s a pleasant surprise.
DeWine’s proposed state budget
DeWine’s proposed budget is mostly a pleasant surprise.
Significantly, he proposes finishing the job and fully funding Ohio’s Fair School Funding Plan for public schools.
I know how much Ohio public schools are suffering right now. While I bitterly resent as an American taxpayer being forced against my will to provide money to various sectarian religious institutions — as our current Ohio government makes us do with private school vouchers and construction funding for religious schools — lawmakers simply not making everything worse for public schools, and following through on the full fair funding plan, would be great.
I am also a fan of DeWine’s proposed $1,000 child tax credit. I only wish it were more. I’m glad that he changed this from his previous proposal of a $2,500 tax deduction, because a credit will help everybody while a deduction really only helps those who are already doing pretty well.
DeWine pays for this with a big increase in the cigarette and nicotine vape sin tax. I don’t mind that. The impact it would have on some small businesses stings, but it’s good for families and it’s good for health and while I love small businesses, tobacco companies are historically underhanded, deceitful, destructive, all-around awful, and have killed a lot of people with their products so I have no pity for them.
I do disagree with DeWine’s attempt to rewrite Ohio’s recreational marijuana law as passed by voters. DeWine wants to double the taxes and redirect all the revenue to his preferred projects. Republican lawmakers and DeWine fought voters on this law from the beginning, and I don’t think they deserve or can be trusted to take it over now. Ohio voters should be respected.
DeWine’s proposals to beef up Ohio Department of Children and Youth initiatives to promote child care and kindergarten readiness are highly commendable. They would be a tremendous help to thousands of families who desperately need it.
The budget is expansive and I can’t go into all the details. While there are some things I don’t like in his proposal, there’s a lot I like.
I suspect Ohio Republican lawmakers might make a deranged mess of things, and in keeping with my jaded journalist outlook I’ll expect them to do so, but I’m rooting for DeWine here, especially on the public education, child tax credits, housing, and child care initiatives.
The next two-year state budget proposal from an Ohio governor that we will see will come from a new governor in 2027.
In 2025, we are looking at a fairly thoughtful, rational, compassionate document.
I’m trying to enjoy the moment. Two short years from now, well, I can barely bring myself to imagine what type of madness we might be looking at.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
This article was originally published by a ohiocapitaljournal.com . Read the Original article here. .