We Walk Alone—We Shouldn’t Have To, But We Do

Everyone is hoping Vivek Ramaswamy adopts the bold color policies that we alone have articulated, alone have shouted about from the rooftops, and alone have shamed elected officials for not enacting.

I walk a lonely road

The only one that I have ever known

Don't know where it goes

But it's home to me, and I walk alone

I walk this empty street

On the Boulevard of Ohio’s Broken Dreams

Where the city sleeps

And I'm the only one, and I walk alone

—“Boulevard of Ohio’s Broken Dreams,” Green Day

I often wonder why our voice at Opportunity Ohio has so often has been the lone voice on the Right providing analyses and critiques on Ohio and its economic condition. After all, there are a cornucopia of center-right state and national groups active in Ohio—from think tanks to interest groups to chambers of commerce to professional groups and more. All of those entities employ dozens of people capable of reviewing the same data that we review and publishing their findings, as we do each week. Many of them read this column. Rest assured, those groups engage in massive fundraising and membership activities in Ohio to feed their respective machines. Yet, not only does none of that fundraising result in them having much to say about Ohio and its economic condition, but none of it leads to a better, stronger Ohio.

Specifically, those groups don’t publish research showing Ohio is a low-tax state. Or that Ohio’s state spending has been responsibly kept in check. Or that Ohio is a private sector job creating engine. Or that Ohio's education system is among America’s best. Or that JobsOhio is working amazingly well. Or that Ohio strikes the right balance between funding higher education and trade, tech, coding, and other blue collar professional development. Or that Ohio’s population is growing in a majority of counties. Or that Ohio’s transportation infrastructure is top-notch. Or that Ohio’s regulatory burden is nice and low. Or that Ohio’s trifecta supermajority Republican government is knocking it out of the park. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Conversely, those same state and national center-right groups ALSO don’t refute a word we say about how badly Ohio is doing in all of the above areas and more. You’d think if we were wrong at Opportunity Ohio, they’d smack us down by showing how we were wrong, as that would be a great way to eliminate the competition and poach our donors. Yet, the silence is deafening because they can’t refute our data-driven, well-researched work.

And, remember, all we’ve ever advocated for are the key conservative bold color ideas adopted in other states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Utah that drove those states to the top of the list. Not once in all of these years did one state or national center-right group give us an “Amen!” Not once.

So, why do we walk alone?

The only rational reason I can come up with is because those state and national center-right groups want to be considered insiders by Ohio's elected officials. They want to be invited to bill signings. They want look relevant and important, especially to the donors and members from whom they are asking for money. Some of them even refer to Opportunity Ohio as the lone wolf, non-team player who is trying to spoil the party…who shouldn’t be funded. It doesn’t matter that our 501(c)(3) nonpartisan status (and their status) prevents us from being a cheerleader for Republican elected officials. We're on the outside doing the heavy lifting, so they can be on the inside pretending to be influential.

So, what is being on the inside getting all of those state and national center-right groups? Many of those groups have been on the inside for as long as we’ve been on the outside (fifteen years for those counting). Did the elected officials with whom they ingratiated themselves enact their ideas? They can point to as many small wins as we can, but what about the major reforms Ohio so desperately needs? Not a one. Elected officials patted them on the tops of their heads, thanked them for being good “yes, men,” and promptly threw their policy ideas in the trash can as those groups left their offices. Ohio is no better off today after they raised and spent tens of millions of dollars over the last decade to make sure they got invited to the inauguration parties, bill signings, and State of the State addresses.

Imagine how different it could have gone over the last decade had those state and national center-right groups joined Opportunity Ohio in demanding bold color Reaganesque reforms instead of pretending the incrementalist nibbling-on-the-margins approach was working. Imagine how much might have gotten done if those state and national center-right groups had backed our data-driven work that made the case on issue-after-issue for tackling the big challenges facing Ohio. Imagine if our lone voice instead had become a massive megaphone of state and national center-right groups demanding action by Ohio’s elected officials. Those politicians could ignore one small player as we were felling tree-after-tree in the forest alone, but they couldn’t ignore a unified group of state and national center-right groups clear-cutting an entire forest by pointing out their inaction and highlighting how to make Ohio stronger.

Think about joint op-eds in all of the major newspapers detailing Ohio’s perpetual back-of-the-pack status on the above issues despite being a trifecta Republican supermajority state. Think about speeches at major gatherings throwing down the policy gauntlet on what needs to be done and why. Think about joint appearances on talk radio and podcasts showing the devastating charts showing just how bad things in Ohio are compared to other states. Think about a unified appeal to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance to get their backing to force through change in Columbus. Together, we could make a massive difference because, as Ronald Reagan famously said after his presidential primary defeat in 1976, we will win in the end because our ideas are right and their ideas are wrong.

Instead of joining forces to drive change over the last fifteen years, we—all of those state and national center-right groups on the inside and Opportunity Ohio walking alone on the outside—all now hope that the Hail Mary represented by Vivek Ramaswamy will result in doing all of the things that should have been done by John Kasich and Mike DeWine and their supermajority Republican legislatures. And, let’s be crystal clear, they are all hoping that Ramaswamy adopts the bold color policies that we at Opportunity Ohio alone have articulated, alone have shouted about from the rooftops, and alone have shamed Ohio’s current elected officials for not enacting all the while those state and national center-right groups sipped chardonnay and ate off of fancy charcuterie boards at cocktail parties with other insiders, lawyers, and lobbyists.

Though often forgotten, The Heritage Foundation spent decades spending tens of millions of dollars only to see most of its ideas fall to wayside, even when Republicans controlled Washington, D.C. Those funds weren’t wasted; rather, year-after-year, Heritage nailed those ideas to the Capitol building wall for all to see and ensured that when the right person came along who was courageous enough to act on those ideas, he would have them. That person came in the form of Donald Trump in 2017 and again in 2025. Now, we are seeing why it is critical to push bold color ideas even when the Establishment ignores you. The Trump Administration has taken some of our bold color ideas on reforming FEMA, fixing immigration, fighting the Mexican drug cartels, and reinvigorating federalism, so we know it only takes the right leader to spark a revolution. Ohio may be on the cusp of such a revolution.

If Ramaswamy enacts our ideas, neither Opportunity Ohio nor the small but courageous donors who were willing to fund our work will get credited for nailing those ideas to the State Capitol wall where Ramaswamy found them. No one will acknowledge that those ideas could have been enacted years before, which would have made Ohio stronger and more competitive well before so many Ohioans and their businesses fled to greener pastures down south and out west. Because a couple of those brave donors know that ideas matter and that nailing those ideas to the State Capitol wall is a vital aspect of enacting reforms, they have decided to put their money where our ideas are because they see the next four years as critical to saving Ohio from its dead state walking status. Those donors are willing to match any contribution to Opportunity Ohio in a manner that will turn your $100.00 gift into a $700.00 megaphone. Thus, if you will help me raise $25,000.00, those very generous donors will turn that $25,000.00 into $175,000.00. BOOM!!!!

So, will you stand with us to make this golden opportunity a reality? Because it might ruffle feathers in Columbus, those state and national center-right insiders won’t put forth the bold color Reaganesque agenda so it is ready on Day One for action by a new governor willing to buck the insiders and demand action by the supermajority Republican legislature. We’ve already been doing it for fifteen years and will continue to forge a bright path to renew Ohio. We have just six months to raise the funds to satisfy the match opportunity. With your help, we can spend the next four years pushing for the change Ohio needs so that our kids and grandkids can live in a prosperous Ohio full of opportunities. Please join us by making a tax-deductible contribution today for as much as you can knowing that whatever you give will get turned into seven times as much by our current bravehearted donor allies. You can donate via the button below, or by sending a check to us at Opportunity Ohio, P.O. Box 98, Dublin, Ohio 43017.

Walk with us. Today. For a better and stronger Ohio.

P.S. We’d greatly appreciate if you forwarded this appeal to others who you think might support our work getting Ohio ready for a much-needed policy revolution.