Whenever I talk to my Orange County Republican relatives, I notice this disconnection in their thoughts about government, taxes, and resources. Specifically, they take almost any opportunity to complain about paying taxes--any kind of taxes, local, state, Federal, property. These taxes, they all believe, go to welfare mothers who have children just to get more benefits, lazy people, and Mexicans. Simultaneously, they all expect the following: good public schools. Firefighters. Police (oh, they love the police!). Roads and highways in good repair. And more roads and highways being built so that they don't have to sit in traffic. They also seem to take for granted: clean water coming from the taps. A sewage system that is not the gutter in front of their million-dollar homes. Air that, in Southern California, is cleaner than it was fifty years ago, despite the fact that there are millions more cars on the road.
They seem to expect that the government should be able to do all of these things for them, while asking nothing from them. They want something--the infrastructure and benefits of a civilized society--for nothing.
This Deep Thought post was inspired by Republicans in the California State Legislature, who have blocked the passage of a budget for over 100 days now. Apparently a lot of them took some kind of bullshit "no tax hikes" pledge that supercedes the well-being of their constituents or the social stability of the state. I wish there was some way to isolate these communities of no-new-taxes assholes and say, all right, fine: you don't have to pay taxes. In return, if your house burns down, well, here's a goddamn hose. Good luck. P.S. Enjoy homeschooling your children.
2 comments:
Well put.
I can't speak for your relatives, but let me speak for myself and the Republicans I know. If the past presidential election is any indicator, Collin County is even more conservative than Orange County. The vote split in Collin County was 62 % McCain, 35% Obama, versus 50% McCain and 47% Obama in Orange County.
So by your reasoning, those of us who live in Collin County, which is the most conservative county in Texas, would not be in favor of taxes of any kind. But election results show differently. In the November election, Plano ISD passed a $490 million bond package by an overwhelming 71%. This is the largest bond in its history. On top of this, my town of 10,000 people passed a $16 million bond package for parks, beautification and a community center by a 76% margin. I actively campaigned for both of these measures.
So Republicans aren't against all taxes. Local, property and state taxes are necessities to provide the infrastructure we need or want. It is federal taxation and spending that riles us the most because there is little accountability and oversight when our tax dollars are sent to Washington.
We're not expecting something for nothing, it is that we often times get nothing for our something.
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