The Savage Republican

Last Tuesday, the over taxed citizens of California over-whelmingly rejected two ballot initiatives that would have raised taxes to pay of early childhood education and libraries! According to official results, one initiative (to raise taxes on the "wealthiest few" to pay for mandatory early childhood education) only passed in 3 of Californias 48 counties!

The failure of these referendums is not lost on many, including E.J. Dionne.

"While the political world was obsessed with the Republican victory in a special election for a California congressional seat, the truly sobering news for liberals was in the statewide voting. Proposition 82, the ballot measure that would have guaranteed access to preschool for all of California's 4-year-olds, went down to a resounding defeat, 61-39 percent.Not only that -- voters also rejected a $600 million bond measure for the state's libraries. A vote against libraries? Yes, the bonds went down 53-47 percent."

While Dionne has the right idea about why these initiatives went down in flames...

"there remains a deep skepticism about government spending, even for the best purposes. On the same day that the two propositions went down, voters in five California counties rejected sales tax increases, mostly to fund transportation projects."

...he is also way off base on why these initiatives failed...

"Higher taxes on the wealthy are a logical way to finance necessary programs because the best-off Americans have been posting much larger gains in income and wealth than the rest. But the well-to-do can still fend off such tax increases by creating rational doubts about what the money will be used for."

The plain and simple answer is this....the over-burdened taxpayer is finally at the breaking point! They simply can not and will not accept another tax increase in order to fund something else for someone else, no matter how well intentioned the project! The days when we were all "Happier to pay for a better Minnesota" are long gone! The time has come for our elected officials to think of our money as if it were their own! Would they spend their own money in so reckless a fashion? I think we can all safely say that answer is a resounding NO!

We can maintain our quality of life here in Minnesota and still reduce the tax burden of it's over-taxed citizenry. We do not and should not have to work simply to turn around and hand it all over to the state government. That is something that the sages of Portland Avenue need to learn as well.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic.