KRUGMAN: "California"

[calimary]

10. There's a saying that sort of nails this as far as coast-to-coast trend-watching.

"As California goes, so goes the nation."

We started it all, unfortunately and HUGELY regretfully, with that fucking howard jarvis and Prop 13, which came two years before Supply-Side Monster ronald reagan took over and started us down the road toward political/fiscal Hell.

And that's what started the red tide flushing across the country from west to east. HORRIFYING. It empowered the nutcases and the selfish cheapskates and the IGMFU contingent much the same way as the teabaggers got their shot of adrenaline by the realization that there was a black guy in the Oval Office who wasn't the janitor.

We seem to have stepped over the shit-pile of Prop 13 somewhat here in California, FINALLY! It used to be the knee-jerk destruct button behind which the bad guys always took refuge - "Proposition 13!!! NO TAXES!!! Taxes BAAAAAAAAADDD!!!" crap they'd yell as though they were spring-loaded, every time a ballot measure came along, or someone in Sacramento proposed raising revenue to pay for stuff we actually and seriously do NEED...

Keith Olbermann used to call 'em the "Something For Nothing" crowd, and he was correct. These assholes haven't changed. They STILL want their benefits and their government-provided goodies and relief programs and FEMA and other stuff - but they just don't want to have to pay for any of it.

I think we have to further the push-back by starting a meme. What if, every time a statement was made about a necessary (or seemingly necessary) program that isn't around anymore or that's being threatened with being cut - that statement were to BEGIN with "well, because nobody wants to pay taxes..."?

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, we have to cut costs and do things like canceling the White House tours..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, those 30 school's are gonna have to close..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, you can't drive over that bridge anymore and your commute to and from work has just increased by more than two hours..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, that benefit check you were expecting is gonna be smaller..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, you're gonna have to wait about 45 minutes after you call 911..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, that military base in your county that generates all those jobs is gonna be closed..."

"Well, because nobody wants to pay taxes, those after-school programs (or elder-care programs) are coming to an end..."

You get the idea...

The bad guys have spent 30-40 YEARS demonizing the very IDEA of paying taxes. "Taxes BAAAAAAAAAADDD!" And the knee-jerker selfish short-sighted cheapskates who want it NOW and to hell with the ramifications in the future seize upon that and are then able to trash EVERYTHING that needs stimulus spending or infrastructure upkeep or disaster aid or or early-childhood assistance programs or disability benefits or whatever it is. THERE HAS BEEN NO CONNECTION MADE BETWEEN TAXES AND WHAT WE NEED THOSE TAXES TO UNDERWRITE. No connection has been made.

It's been completely and utterly short-sheeted. The very concept of "Tax RELIEF" was a VERY shrewd word-play. You combine the word for what you don't like - with a word that reinforces that thing you dislike. "Taxes" are perceived as bad. So you partner it with a word like "relief," as in - you need relief from taxes (because they're bad). "Taxes" are something you need relief or protection or rescue - FROM. They're awfully shrewd about this stuff, and all those big-ass "foundations" and "institutes" and "think tanks" they've founded and funded since the 70s and 80s - have been in place to think this policy through and develop it into something workable - that allows you to start changing the look of the political/social landscape. It allows you to reprogram and, in effect, brainwash the public into seeing things YOUR way.

And our side has done nothing about it until the last few years when some people on our side finally started waking up and taking this seriously. It's been SO frustrating!!!!!!! We here on DU have been talking about this for more than a decade. SOME others around us in this country are FINALLY starting to wake up and smell the coffee on this. FINALLY. Only 30 or 40 years behind, that's all.

So since our "leaders" on the left - SOME of whom are waking up to this reality - are, indeed, just getting started, WE who've understood this problem and have been on this tip-of-spear since at least the early 2000s should be TAKING THE LEAD.