Drowning in the bathtub

Out in California, the state government is having a bit of a cash crunch. In fact the state is in danger of running out of money as soon as August. This may seem shocking but it’s the predictable result of the Republican way of governance. Grover Norquist famously articulated the Republican position on government, saying “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

The Republicans have worked to shape our society into one which sees taxation as an evil. They have divorced, in our minds at least, the governments spending from its cash intakes. We spend like there’s no tomorrow while passing tax cut after tax cut.

Although I think the Progressive Party has much to learn about what it means to win, I was very impressed with how their candidate for governor in Vermont talked about how we should discuss taxes in a recent interview with Vermont Daily Briefing.

“You start by talking about reducing the cost of living for Vermonters, and you explain to people that while no one wants to raise taxes, no one wants to pay taxes, taxes are not the largest expense for most Vermonters.If you look at the cost of health care, cost of housing, cost of energy, all of those things are much larger burdens on the average Vermont family than property taxes. Cost of health care has gone up 10%, 15%, 20% per year, price of gas has tripled. That has not happened to my taxes. So while taxes are important to the conversation, Jim Douglas tends to use taxes as a way to deflect our attention from other issues that really are bankrupting families.

So I think what I would do is focus on overall reduction in cost of living for Vermonters, by making certain investments and certain policy adjustments that hopefully do that.”

The formulation is perfect. The idea is to remind people that some things are far less expensive when we purchase them collectively than they are when we buy them as individuals. If a tax increase results in a drop in the overall cost of living, then you have a tax hike which has saved you money.

In general I think there is a real concern about the level of spending in this country. The Republican Party, however, has cultivated a close relationship with the religious right. Many religious Republicans are evangelicals who believe that the Apocalypse is coming withing their lifetimes. This mindset allows economic issues to seem of little importance, as they are simply an earthly problem which will soon be resolved as the end of times arrives.

There are many in the Democratic Party who also have a sense of impending doom driving their politics. In particular the environmental movement has been of the mind that global warming will bring about the end of mankind, rendering all other issues less important. The reality, of course, is that most problems we face are deeply intertwined and in all likelyhood humanity will be here in for generations to come and will be forced to find solutions to them.

Therefore it’s important to reject the notion that we can simply ignore the fiscal problems facing our states. It’s important to realize that those of us under 30 will be here when the bill arrives for all the debt we’ve taken on as a nation.

We don’t have the luxury of being able to consider drowning the government. When the government of a state, especially a state as large as California, is on the verge of being broke, we need to seriously consider the wisdom of those who think it is time for tax cuts.

We should have a collective goal of lowering our cost of living. This means having functional and well funded governments capable of providing services at a low cost. Though there are many who would loath to admit it, the government is actually quite good at some things. Governments can provide essentials, for instance health care or education at a cost far below what private companies offer.

On the right that idea is an anathema. The Republicans believe that government is always evil and always should be shrunken. They believe that the government should be starved of cash until it is unable to properly function. Is it any wonder then, that we find that the Republicans are incapable of running the government effectively? When one of the stated goals or a group is the weakening of an institution, it is unsurprising that the institution falters when that group is put in charge.