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Governor Patrick: We’re here to talk about a commonwealth-wide strategy and its implications
for the South Coast region, and it has everything to do with the notion of generational responsibility.
I’ve described to some of you before an article I read – a column I’ve read; I
think it was in the New York Times a few years ago. And I don’t know if you’ve ever had
the experience of having something that’s just weighing on your mind and your heart
and then you read something or you hear something and you think, “That’s it. That really
puts words to what’s been bothering me.” And what has been bothering me for a long,
long time – long before I was in this job – is this incredible focus on short-term
solutions, on how, in business, where I’ve spent most of my career, all this attention
to getting the next quarter’s results, sometimes sacrificing the long-term interests of the
enterprise, and how that has leaked into the way we govern. Well this article described
and compared the greatest generation to my generation, the baby boom generation. And
the article described the greatest generation the way we’ve all heard it: the generation
that fought and won the Second World War and then rebuilt Europe and Japan, that then came
home and created great public universities, great, you know, great public works projects,
the federal highway system, as the mayor mentioned. The social safety net we so worry about today
really launched the modern civil rights movement. And then the columnist went on to say that
the baby boom generation should be described as the grasshopper generation, because we’ve
been feeding off of that all our lives. This notion that we, in our time, are supposed
to do what we can, even if it requires a little sacrifice, to leave things better for those
who come behind us, is an ancient idea. And somehow or other, in my generation, we have
lost our grasp of this. It is not about letting anybody in government of the hook of the hard
and important work of getting more out of your tax dollars today. Of course we’re
supposed to be about reform. Of course we’re supposed to be about gaining efficiencies.
There are 6,000 fewer head count in state government since I came to office. We’ve
closed $22 billion of accumulated budget deficits and done 60 percent of that with cuts in programs.
Ask yourselves whether you’ve noticed some of those cuts, in conveniences, in other programs
that you or those you serve rely on. But we are never going to reform our way to South
Coast Rail. We are never going to be able to reform our way alone to a transportation
system that connects all of the people of the Commonwealth to all of the opportunities
in the Commonwealth for jobs, for places to live, to recreate and so forth. We are not
going to be a 21st century economy if we just stand around and hope for it. We have to work
for it, too. And so we have proposed just that, a 21st century transportation system,
which by the way, leaves out an awful lot of things that people want but that invests
in taking care properly, and appropriately, of what we have right now, and a handful of
expansion projects that unlock economic opportunity in places where it’s been bottled up, and
South Coast Rail is one of them. (Clapping) And in that same spirit, as good as the results
have been overall in education, the fact that our students are number one in America in
student achievement and have been for each of the last six years, not coincidentally,
the fact that we’re in the top five in the world in math and science, should not cause
us to forget that there are poor children mainly who are stuck in achievement gaps,
and who with a little extra attention, a little extra flexibility, a little more creativity
and a little bit more money can soar too. And so we have proposed additional investments
in early education programs, in places where, like Gateway Cities, like this one, frankly,
where poverty is concentrated. We’ve proposed longer learning time, something I have to
tell you the students themselves are not that excited about, but is another proven strategy
in middle schools in high needs areas. And we’ve proposed ways to make college more
affordable. Why? Because it’s nice? Because it’s fun? Because it’s easy? No. Because
those kids are our kids, too. They are part of our Commonwealth and our future depends
on their success as well, as does our economy. And so yes, that is what we have proposed
and we have proposed a way to pay for it and it is never popular. Taxes are never popular.
There’s never a good time. It’s a balanced plan. It is about cutting the sales tax to
4.5 percent, raising the income tax to 6.25 percent, doubling the personal exemptions,
and eliminating or limiting a number of exemptions and deductions that I believe we can live
without. Sixty percent of the wage-earners in the Commonwealth would actually see their
income – their total taxes – go down. Sixty percent. But those of us who are doing
a little bit better contribute a little bit more. And we do it because we all have a stake
in the thriving economy and expanded opportunity that this plan will deliver. Now I know, I’ll
bet, when I was just talking about the tax part, all of the eyes of all of the folks
behind me drifted away. Maybe some of you glazed over. It’s never an easy conversation.
But this time, this time, let’s spend some time as a commonwealth-wide community not
retreating to our customary, rhetorical corners, but really engaging on what kind of commonwealth
we want for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. (Clapping) As I step away – ‘cause
I guess we’re on a schedule – I will say, I heard one – you know, there’s some predictable
pushback. There’s very thoughtful pushback. There’s more than one way to skin this cat.
Oh boy, I shouldn’t have said that. There’s more than one way to accomplish these goals.
My apologies to the animal lovers in this room. I put forward what I think are our best
ideas and I’ve tried to explain – and will continue to explain – how they all
hold together. But one comment I heard the other day seemed to me like a particularly
bizarre critique, which was that this was about my legacy. My legacy. I want us to think
about our generation’s legacy. I want us to look at the kids we pass on the street
on their way to and from school or our own employed or unemployed children, and start
asking ourselves what we are, collectively, prepared to do to make a better commonwealth
for them. That is going to require all of us to lean forward and to remember that we
have a stake, each of us, in our neighbor’s dreams and struggles as well as our own. I
look forward to working with you. Thank you for having me.