I come not to bury Rhode Island, but to praise it.

The tiny little state has had a rough time. What’s the point of beating up on it? It would be like kicking a puppy.

Providence – which is sort of cool, as long as you don’t stray too far from the right neighborhoods – is a bit shaky financially. Several of the factory/mill towns, in the absence of factories and mills, are begging for really mean accountants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads to come in and fix the books.

So, why is everyone so cranky about Rhode Island loaning former Red Sox star Curt Schilling $75 million to bring his cool video game company to Providence? This is Curt Schilling we’re talking about. In a state as small as Rhode Island, Schilling could sign autographs for every resident over a long weekend.

It’s really not that different from so many states offering zillions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to film producers, so politicians can have an opportunity to kiss Hollywood starlets who ordinarily wouldn’t give them the time of day.

Massachusetts was very selfish not to treat Schilling better when his company was in Maynard. After all the strikeouts Schilling brought to Massachusetts, you would have thought the commonwealth could have returned the favor with a mere $75 million or so to help a creative entrepreneur.

And Massachusetts lost a bunch of young game-builders in the process – a segment of the population Massachusetts can ill-afford to lose. Remember that Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce study a few years ago? The population of cool, young college graduates was deserting places such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island (at about the same rate as West Virginia) to go play in cool places such as Texas and Nevada and Idaho.

Yes, Idaho.

Rhode Island rightfully lusted after those cool game-makers who could fill up Providence bars, even on a slow weekend.

A Worthy Investment

Now, of course, all the jealous people are beating up on Rhode Island, just because the Schilling video game company seems to have run out of money, laid off all its staff, and shuffled off to the corner to pout.

It’s not Rhode Island’s fault. People are very fickle about their video games; you just never know what’s going to catch on. As a Kaufman Foundation study reaffirmed in a study in 2010, almost half of all new businesses fail within five years. But for five days, 15 minutes and 37 seconds, Rhode Island was able to bask in the glow of housing a cool, new company. For a mere $75 million, it was worth it.

Rhode Island politicians were very brave to fund 38 Studios, because voters are a bit cranky about such things. A Rasmussen Reports survey last year found that 71 percent of likely voters believe that the private sector does a better job of evaluating the potential of new technology ventures than does government. Well, I think the voters are being very short-sighted. The Rhode Island politicians and economic development boys are profiles in courage. What did you want them to invest in, Greek bonds?

And I could tell, just by looking at Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, that he feels just terrible about what happened; it’s as if it was his money that was invested, instead of money from the petty-cash drawer at the State Capitol.

This is just going to encourage the naysayers to come out in force and make fun of poor Rhode Island and other state governments that lend guys a few bucks to open up shop and have a good time. As the “Schumpeter” column in The Economist magazine put it in 2009, “the road to the entrepreneurial future is littered with failed government schemes.”

Well, Rhode Island has the perfect answer to that. You’ve heard it from your own children (who you love very much), when they do something odd: “Everybody’s doing it.”

Keep the faith, Rhode Island. Someone will come along with a software program that can probably cure cancer – and you can lure him in with a few million and a big smile. You’ll show them all. Really.