One Sin
November 7, 2011 - by
Over in Orange County the Democratic Commissioners would like to raise sales taxes, so there’s a referendum on the ballot on Election Day, which, normally, would lead to a fight between Democrats and Republicans – but that’s not how it works in Chapel Hill. Instead, the tax raisers have spared themselves a lot of strain – rather than campaigning to pass the referendum themselves they’re having local government do the heavy lifting.
Of course, the Chapel Hill politicians say, there’s not one thing political about local government spending $84,500 on a campaign to persuade people to vote to raise taxes. Instead, they say, it’s purely an eleemosynary endeavor undertaken to educate voters.
All that’s been a hard blow to the poor souls foolish enough not to want their taxes raised, and it may turn out to be a blow for the rest of us before all’s said and done. Because one sin has a way of begetting another. And there may be other politicians – say, legislators in Raleigh – watching and anytime now they may decide government running eleemosynary educational campaigns is a pretty fine idea. And they ought to be doing it too. On issues like Gay Marriage. Or their new abortion laws. Or why Obama’s Stimulus Plan fizzled.
One Sin
November 7, 2011/
Over in Orange County the Democratic Commissioners would like to raise sales taxes, so there’s a referendum on the ballot on Election Day, which, normally, would lead to a fight between Democrats and Republicans – but that’s not how it works in Chapel Hill. Instead, the tax raisers have spared themselves a lot of strain – rather than campaigning to pass the referendum themselves they’re having local government do the heavy lifting.
Of course, the Chapel Hill politicians say, there’s not one thing political about local government spending $84,500 on a campaign to persuade people to vote to raise taxes. Instead, they say, it’s purely an eleemosynary endeavor undertaken to educate voters.
All that’s been a hard blow to the poor souls foolish enough not to want their taxes raised, and it may turn out to be a blow for the rest of us before all’s said and done. Because one sin has a way of begetting another. And there may be other politicians – say, legislators in Raleigh – watching and anytime now they may decide government running eleemosynary educational campaigns is a pretty fine idea. And they ought to be doing it too. On issues like Gay Marriage. Or their new abortion laws. Or why Obama’s Stimulus Plan fizzled.