Is Ohio the home of the brazen or land of the failed?

The State of Ohio is in quite a state these days. Statehouse watchers can genuinely wonder whether it's the home of the brave and land of the free, or home of the brazen and land of the failed?

The Buckeye tree is indigenous to Ohio.
It's nut is poisonous and hard to crack,
much like some of its political leaders.

The leading big presidential battleground state that can make or break the fortunes of candidates seeking to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. is caught on the horns of a dilemma of its own making.

A once purple state, Ohio is now ruby red in many ways. From control of statewide offices to the composition of the General Assembly, its leadership has devolved toward the worst public policy on taxes, women, voting rights, fair representation, income inequality, education and healthcare, just to name a few areas where it falls far short of best practices.

With moribund population growth and diminished political clout in Washington, the Buckeye State is stumbling forward to elect a governor this November to replace outbound John Kasich. Ohio's 69th governor is governor in name only, as he fills his remaining months with out-of-state events designed to keep his long hoped for fantasy of being elected President of the United States, a quest he's failed at spectacularly twice already, an example of zombie apocalypse come true.

Ohio media carries its fair share of guilt coddling Kasich over the last eight years. It has chosen to put down its investigative pen when it comes to Kasich's many scandals while inking many column inches following the former Fox News TV host's various performance-politician forays into national politics. The consequences of these Quixotic have been to make a once-great state less great.

For Kasich fans, his abandonment of governor's duties is all for higher goals, as his surly ego plays on the national stage in advance of 2020, when America will again be keel-hauled as President Trump defends himself and Democrats try again to connect with voters at the local level on kitchen-table issues like jobs, wages, healthcare and taxes.

Camp Kasich tells us about what Ohio's term-limited, lame-duck career politician does to fill his days. A three-fer trip to Texas, to commune with for Bush-era Secretary of State Jim Baker prior to speaking at the Baker Institute for Public Policy's lecture series, an appearance at the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation and remarks delivered at the 2018 EarthX Global Gala event in Dallas, are among his recent sojourns as he auditions for National Chaplain.

Ignoring the fact that Ohio under his watch has lagged the national job creation average for 64 straight months, Kasich touts March as the second best month for new business filings in history and a state unemployment rate at its lowest point in 17 years. Not to be missed Kasich classics include well-worn fake news talking points like balancing the state budget, cutting government spending and taxes and diversifying Ohio’s economy. His showboat number, that out of context sounds fantastic when it isn't in context, is creating over a half million new jobs, when in reality Ohio has fewer jobs today than it did in 1980.

"Under Gov. Kasich's leadership, Ohio continues to set an example for other states and the nation that when we balance our budgets, lower taxes and remove the regulatory burdens, it leads to job creation," Camp Kasich says.

One of Ohio's Big Eight legacy newspapers sees a very different Ohio. Here's what the Toledo Blade sees and says.

"There is plenty to be angry about. Poverty and crime infest our central cities. Our great lake is perishing before our eyes. Many of the beautiful small towns of Ohio, and the gentle folkways that existed in them, have been obliterated by the so-called global economy. Our children are dying of heroin and fentanyl. And as all this unfolds, our governor, blinded by an idiotic dream of being president of the United States, has seemingly lost all interest in the people who are suffering in our state, or in governing — the job he is duty bound to perform."

The Blade passes judgment on Kasich without naming him, as it struggles to endorse two aging, it says boring candidates, who may be elected Ohio's next and 70th governor.

"Maybe the old shoe Mike DeWine and the plodding, rational Rich Cordray, both of them uninspired and uninspiring, win by a kind of default. Both will offer sobriety, calm, competence, and something else — full engagement. Half the secret of being a good governor is working at it. Not at the promotional part of it but the job itself."

Land of the free and home of the brave doesn't explain Ohio today. The nation's 17th state has seen far better days since it joined the union in 1803. Claiming eight leaders who moved into the Oval Office, Ohio, where people once moved to for a better, richer, fuller life, is rusty-belt fly-over country.

Growing western and southern states are the new frontiers for jobs, family and lifestyle.