Mention the word “taxes” down thissaway, and people immediately start twitchin’.
Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, business taxes tend to be lower, and most of us see a direct correlation between how Texas handles state-level taxation and the (usually) successful economy. Even at the more local level, where one might expect to see things get done (and thus paid for), we still ain’t interested in payin’.
As a result, we end up with Texas-sized shouting matches over everything from school bond issues to police pay. We want “stuff”… we want it to be quality “stuff”… but we really don’t want to have to pay for it, thanks anyway. And if you roll this equation the other direction (to the Federal level), it’s even more intense. Pavlovian, even.
Thus, the “tax and spend Democrats” meme has huge impact here… and I have no doubt that’s exactly what’s driving this:
The polls are showing that Republican presidential candidate John McCain is on a downhill slide nationally, but is continuing to gain ground in Texas — despite having no campaign organization here.
The comments section on that Chronicle blog post is going nuts, btw. Everything from “OMG, I’m so embarrassed to be a Texan” to “I can’t believe anybody’d support Hussain [sic] Obama” is there… but one comment jumped out at me. Someone calling him/herself “TexansAgainstSocialism” wrote, in part (my emphasis):
Nice state bashing out there, everyone. I for one am glad that most people in Texas realize that a vote for Obama is a step towards socialism, and realize that socialism doesn’t work. Bigger government = more taxes. You can’t argue with that.
Hold on just a sec, there, Pardner.
Maybe folks haven’t noticed, but just lately the government’s managed to grow itself to a pretty danged outrageous size, and they did it without raising taxes. Pretty astonishing sleight of hand, actually… but it wasn’t Obama at the helm.
How’s that magic trick been workin’ out for us lately?
Not only that, but if you’re gonna argue that Obama’s a step toward socialism, then maybe you haven’t noticed that the government switched your Ten Gallon Hat for more modest headgear this morning.
The U.S. government is dramatically escalating its response to the financial crisis by planning to invest $250 billion in the country’s banks, forcing nine of the largest to accept a Treasury stake in what amounts to a partial nationalization.
Neighbors, by the time January rolls around and an Obama administration begins, we’re likely to be still further down this road.
However you prefer to think of it, those horses have left the barn. Cowboy time is over. It’s time to ride in from the range.
This isn’t the world you think it is.
I think part of the problem (as you alluded to in an earlier post) is that some politicians (incl. Sen Obama) seem to feel they can still go for creating/funding lots o’ new social/domestic programs given the current financial climate. This is to me the “dangerous” component of Sen. Obama’s candidacy, and the possibility of an across-the-board Democratic victory in November (especially if the Senate goes Democratic by a greater than 2/3rds majority, which limits the ability of the opposition to act as a brake on irresponsible spending (though, given their recent track record, I am not sure that the GOP doesn’t need some new brake pads/shoes, or even a complete overhaul in that regard.)
~EdT.
I noticed that McCain’s suggestion for the mortgate rescue/bank bailout resualts in a bigger goverment, too. He wants to buy all the loans, create a goverment agency to manage them, and then hopes someone will buy them back in the next 30 years. (My own idea made the banks do all the work, since they already have the trained manpower and resources, and were are motivated to keep things cheap)
I guess we will pay for all those goverment employees by lowering taxes, right? Or will we hire companies to do it… who will likely outsource it to India.
Oh, and Bush’s $600 checks? I’ve friends who work for the IRS and spent months doing nothing but telling people when their checks would come. Due to the manpower tied up doing that, the IRS had lots of overtime.
So which is worse: Living on credit or paying for it now?