If you wish hard enough, maybe it will go away.

That seems to be the approach of Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers, who argued recently to prevent voters from deciding whether recreational cannabis could be sold in the city. His “sharp criticism” of the option dissuaded the city council from approving a ballot measure this fall.

Suthers position was summed up by the Colorado Springs daily newspaper, The Gazette:

“Suthers also argued the promises made by recreational marijuana proponents when it was legalized statewide in 2012, such as reigning in the black market, have not been kept. ‘We are spending infinitely more time and effort regulating marijuana than when it was illegal,’ he said.”

It’s an obtuse statement for the ages. We’re spending more time regulating marijuana, because we’re regulating marijuana. Plus, not only have proponents kept their promises, the dark, dystopian future forecast by opponents of legalization hasn’t materialized.

Suthers shouldn’t be held to account for opposing legal marijuana. He’s been consistent in his opposition to it. That the mayor would instead relegate a billion-dollar industry to the black market is unconscionable for the leader of Colorado’s second largest city. Meanwhile, Colorado’s cannabis locomotive rolls down the track. Every month, the state’s residents demonstrate new and unwavering support for the industry’s products.

It’s a sparkling industry at that. Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the second Colorado Manufacturing Awards Cannabis Manufacturer of the Year. One of the finalists, Hemp Depot, is a Colorado Springs company that’s brought dozens of jobs to the city. They’re a national leader, one of a select few cannabis companies to receive an FDA-endorsed GMP certification for professional operations. They bring much needed science, transparency, and operational acumen to a legal hemp CBD market that further legitimizes the cannabis space.

Not that the mayor would know the difference between THC and CBD. For cannabis deniers, it’s all the same.

For the city, it’s more of the same. The professed need of denying citizens their vote is to protect the defense economy. Or as The Gazette surmised, “Opponents argued legalizing recreational marijuana could hurt the town’s chances of becoming the next permanent home for U.S. Space Command because the military would likely weigh the drug laws in competing communities in its decision.”

Left to generals, the U.S. military would do no such thing. Time and again, military brass sloughs off a conservative stereotype with progressive, modern leadership that reflects the makeup of their standard bearers — soldiers, sailors, airmen and women, and scientists. If the U.S. Space Command seeks a cannabis-free zone to host operations, they’ll need to look outside the U.S.

In the real world, if those in Suthers’ camp would embrace regulation and not work to undermine the industry with misleading nonsense, the black market would fade away.

Wish for it. Maybe it will come true.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Email him at btaylor@companyweek.com.

The same day this week the Washington Post reported the Trump administration was “trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis was encouraging the opposite, stating flatly, “The national testing scene is a complete disgrace,” while slamming the federal testing strategy as “almost useless from an epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective.”

For a Western governor to be sideways with President Trump isn’t unusual. From Oregon to California to New Mexico, COVID-19 continues to widen the Grand Canyon-like political divide in the West.

Ironically, COVID also provides a means for political adversaries to rally around shared interests. Manufacturing has emerged as one. However unlikely it is that President Trump will work with Polis, or California Governor Gavin Newsom, or New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham in an election cycle, in theory each state has much to offer a Trumpian “get tough” strategy on China, namely by helping companies locate more production here.

Governors can’t set U.S. trade policy, but they can provide a road map for federal policymakers. Here are three things western Governors can do to support local manufacturing and chip away at China’s stranglehold on hosting U.S. companies.

1. Work with local companies, one by one, to develop domestic productions strategies. America’s governors are in a unique position. They interact with influential companies — every day. It’s part of the job description.

What’s been lacking are sustained conversations about why local companies and brands offshore production. If this wasn’t the case, there would be more local manufacturing.

A new approach would first acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that U.S. brands have made China a manufacturing superpower. If U.S. companies and brands were key to China’s manufacturing ascendance, so too are they at the center of any American renewal.

Governors can be local manufacturing’s most powerful advocates. One company at a time.

2. Make manufacturing-related R&D a priority. America’s research ecosystem is formidable, but to assume technology acumen translates into manufacturing-related leadership in automation and robotics is misguided.

Arthur Herman’s Wall Street Journal op-ed this week referenced a 2015 Strategy& and PwC study that found “found that U.S. companies were steadily moving their research-and-development centers to China to be closer to production, suppliers and engineering talent.”

It’s a troubling conclusion. The lesson for governors is that a strong manufacturing base is vital to maintaining a world-class R&D ecosystem.

Ensure there’s a connection between universities, labs, and manufacturers. Host events. Facilitate conversations. Put our R&D ecosystem to work for manufacturing.

3. Encourage and subsidize local buying. Products made in the U.S. are often more expensive than those made offshore. Why? Because labor is less expensive.

But the cost of not supporting jobs and infrastructure here, to save a few dollars, can’t be measured. Governors have a bully pulpit to educate and rally citizens to buy locally made products and legislators to subsidize local production. They should use it. It’s a winning, bipartisan issue.

“Getting tough” on China is election-year sloganeering. Deep, strategic partnerships shape Sino-American business and economic ties. Yet for every U.S. brand that leaves China to invest in American workers and communities, China’s influence wanes.

Presidents Obama and Trump both used the office to advocate for domestic production. It’s left to governors and local officials to fill in the gaps and drive a U.S. manufacturing resurgence that works to shift the balance of economic power to America’s shores.

Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Reach him at btaylor@companyweek.com.