John Thune

Posted: June 23rd 2009

From the Rapid City Journal Editorial Board:

As the federal government has been quick to spend taxpayer money for bailouts and buyouts, many Americans are questioning the strategy, uncomfortable with the increasing government presence in this new frontier.

Seizing on that concern, Sen. John Thune has introduced the Government Ownership Exit Plan Act. The act would prohibit government purchases of private firms through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and require the government end its ownership of private businesses (TARP-related) by July 2010.

And just yesterday, Thune’s office announced more than 10,000 South Dakotans had signed an online petition supporting the legislation.

Every day, it seems, the call  for an exit strategy gains real  momentum.

We’re glad Thune is pressing the issue and keeping it in the public eye. Government has a role in the private market, but it shouldn’t be an ownership role. Or, using the senator’s own analogy — the federal government should be the referee, not a player.

We agree and understand the growing concerns with the government’s willingness to wade further and further into the ownership of private enterprise in the name of the economy but at the expense of the taxpayer.

At the same time, we wonder if getting caught up in the rush to end the government ownership of private enterprise that Congress (Thune included) set the stage for only a few short months ago is the best solution.

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Our question then: Can these strategies already in place be given a chance to work while at the time limiting future intervention and creating a reasonable exit strategy? It’s a tall order.

Philosophically, Thune is on the right path — limiting, even ending, government interests in private companies is in our best interests. The government shouldn’t be competing with private enterprise — at its core, it’s a conflict of interest and tramples on a free market economy.

That simple fact resonates with a public tired of watching its government spend billions buying up pieces of the auto and banking industries.

Thune’s legislation might have public support but it needs Congressional support to become more than a topic of conversation. It’s unlikely the bill will receive bipartisan support.

But it is serving an important purpose — it’s forcing a discussion about the government’s role in the ownership of private enterprise and what impact that has on the free market system.