An important point Ransom doesn’t address is whether today’s high school student could have that same job of driving a hotel van on the airport run. I think the answer is clearly NO and big government Pubbies, like Rumsfeld, are part of the reason why a similarly-situated teenager would not have that job. The times Ransom recalls were the Carter years and “normal” was becoming a fading memory with only a brief and spotty respite under Reagan.
Ransom’s best point in the column is the one about companies repatriating money held overseas for tax avoidance purposes. Removing that block could be the kickstart needed in the same way Searle had to do that.
As a U.S. representative, Rumsfeld was on the left. Wasn’t he replaced in a special election by Phil Crane, who was very conservative but had personal problems? IL has given us very few good people, Phyllis Schafly being an exception, and the people there twice defeated her for Congress. She had to overcome the people of IL; so she moved back to her native MO, some improvement.