Navel Gazing and Beard Scratching
I cannot help but laugh at the end of an election cycle. There are people who are all sorts of mopey about the results, as if the unicorn factories will shut down, and the rainbow powered love machines will only be able to print out half as many strawberry-scented welfare checks as before Tuesday night. And for those whose group won, well they just think this is the greatest election in years. Sorry, it ain't. Those elected have a huge task ahead of them, and until I see results, I'm as cynical and unmoved as ever. Save your cartwheels and caterwauling
I'm not sure if this is the last that will be heard of the Tea Party, or if it will be here to stay, or will respond to the Tea Signal to return and vanquish runaway spending and trodding on the Constitution, but if it confounds various talking head pundits, that'll be fine by me. What was early-on decried as a "fringe element" by those who were either opposed to or didn't understand the positions became a real deal because the principles make sense to a whole bunch of people. Those who don't buy into those principles just don't know what to do with themselves. Whether it's one guy saying that if the Chilean miners were 'partiers, they would have all killed eatch other because they're so against collectivism, or another who believes that the earth's very own crust will tear open if they get elected...the whole deal is hilarious because I bet those who are first to decry the Tea Party probably haven't ever interacted with them on a personal level.
Here's the deal on that. The basic principle of the Tea Party (before being swept wholesale under the Republican wing) was "you leave my stuff alone, I'll leave your stuff alone. Tax me at a reasonable rate, and if you MUST overtax me, please don't waste it." I think the elections of last night were a rebuke of frivolous spending and rampant big government, and that's fine by me. If you want some of my money or stuff, ask me, don't take it. That isn't anti-collectivism or genuflecting at the altar of rugged individualism, that's just how I live my life. Ask for my help and if I can and want to help you, I will.
In the state of Washington, all sorts of ballot measures went toward fiscal conservatism: not increasing the King County Sales Tax, repealing the bottled water and candy 'n' gum tax, requiring the legislature to have a supermajority to raise our taxes and there was Initiative 1098.
I-1098 would have imposed an income tax on high earners, though you'd be hard pressed to learn that from the "VOTE YES" campaign. The NO campaign was saying "This is a taxity tax tax on your income, which the government intends to tax." And the numbers show it is being beaten down, effectively roosterblocking any attempt at doing this againg without reforms to the sales tax or property tax. I encourage anyone who voted for the income tax to whip out their checkbook and send the Washington State Treasury any of your extra income to cover the difference.
What isn't quite so hilarious as what I said above there is the Washington state Governor's reaction to the spider monkey beatdown of the taxing initiatives. She throws up her hands and says "Opponents show me the way" and "If the state doesn't have enough revenue, we'll have to cut things like education". That's roughly paraphrased from what I heard this morning, but the sentiment is there. My reaction to that is "I'm sorry, but I prefer to think of 'your revenue' as 'my money,' and I don't like what you're doing with it. If you really think that education and police and safety are really priorities, then you should have no problem with cutting raises in the public sector and cutting projects that slough money to those who help fund your election. But you have a problem with that so you're whinging about those things that make you sound ever so compassionate. The local election of Republicans to the state legislature means that it will be that much harder to cheat and raise taxes to coer the spending, instead of making the cuts that need to be made, and that's a good thing.
In closing, I'm just really happy that both The Loathsome Alan Grayson and The Loathsome Geoff Simpson will have to find other jobs since they were not elected. Each of them deserves a terrible fate; one for the way he conducted his campaign, and one for being a wife beating sociopath.
I'm not sure if this is the last that will be heard of the Tea Party, or if it will be here to stay, or will respond to the Tea Signal to return and vanquish runaway spending and trodding on the Constitution, but if it confounds various talking head pundits, that'll be fine by me. What was early-on decried as a "fringe element" by those who were either opposed to or didn't understand the positions became a real deal because the principles make sense to a whole bunch of people. Those who don't buy into those principles just don't know what to do with themselves. Whether it's one guy saying that if the Chilean miners were 'partiers, they would have all killed eatch other because they're so against collectivism, or another who believes that the earth's very own crust will tear open if they get elected...the whole deal is hilarious because I bet those who are first to decry the Tea Party probably haven't ever interacted with them on a personal level.
Here's the deal on that. The basic principle of the Tea Party (before being swept wholesale under the Republican wing) was "you leave my stuff alone, I'll leave your stuff alone. Tax me at a reasonable rate, and if you MUST overtax me, please don't waste it." I think the elections of last night were a rebuke of frivolous spending and rampant big government, and that's fine by me. If you want some of my money or stuff, ask me, don't take it. That isn't anti-collectivism or genuflecting at the altar of rugged individualism, that's just how I live my life. Ask for my help and if I can and want to help you, I will.
In the state of Washington, all sorts of ballot measures went toward fiscal conservatism: not increasing the King County Sales Tax, repealing the bottled water and candy 'n' gum tax, requiring the legislature to have a supermajority to raise our taxes and there was Initiative 1098.
I-1098 would have imposed an income tax on high earners, though you'd be hard pressed to learn that from the "VOTE YES" campaign. The NO campaign was saying "This is a taxity tax tax on your income, which the government intends to tax." And the numbers show it is being beaten down, effectively roosterblocking any attempt at doing this againg without reforms to the sales tax or property tax. I encourage anyone who voted for the income tax to whip out their checkbook and send the Washington State Treasury any of your extra income to cover the difference.
What isn't quite so hilarious as what I said above there is the Washington state Governor's reaction to the spider monkey beatdown of the taxing initiatives. She throws up her hands and says "Opponents show me the way" and "If the state doesn't have enough revenue, we'll have to cut things like education". That's roughly paraphrased from what I heard this morning, but the sentiment is there. My reaction to that is "I'm sorry, but I prefer to think of 'your revenue' as 'my money,' and I don't like what you're doing with it. If you really think that education and police and safety are really priorities, then you should have no problem with cutting raises in the public sector and cutting projects that slough money to those who help fund your election. But you have a problem with that so you're whinging about those things that make you sound ever so compassionate. The local election of Republicans to the state legislature means that it will be that much harder to cheat and raise taxes to coer the spending, instead of making the cuts that need to be made, and that's a good thing.
In closing, I'm just really happy that both The Loathsome Alan Grayson and The Loathsome Geoff Simpson will have to find other jobs since they were not elected. Each of them deserves a terrible fate; one for the way he conducted his campaign, and one for being a wife beating sociopath.