What does one do when he is sitting in a foreign airport at 5 a.m. with nothing to do?  Blog of course.

And how can one avoid blogging on the latest story from Don Perata, the Senate Democrat Leader, coming out of Sacramento?  He has thrown the high, hanging fast ball to the Legislative Republicans.  Now let’s see if they can hit it out of the park.

Apparently, yesterday, Senator Perata announced that he would hold up the entire legislative process, keep the legislators in session, until taxes were raised, basically saying that until 8 legislative Republicans (6 in the Assembly and two in the Senate) voted to raise taxes, he would not let the entire state legislature adjourn.  This, in an election year.  Oh please, Senator Perata, don’t do that to us, don’t throw us "wascawy" Republicans" into that briar patch.  Please Senator Br’er Fox, we couldn’t take the pressure.  We will feel unbelievably bad about sitting in Sacramento while story after story is written about how only Republicans are standing between the taxpayer and higher taxes in California.  Of course, we promise, promise, promise never to mention that while you have been Senate leader, state spending has grown faster than at any time in California history.  We promise, promise, promise never to mention that over the last 10 years, state general fund spending has doubled from $57 billion in general fund spending, to $112 billion.  And we will never ask the question if anyone thinks the state government is building twice the number of freeways it was building ten years ago, or twice the number of schools, or maybe students are getting double the value from our education system, or maybe all those state bureaucrats who are earning over $200,000 a year are doing twice as good a job as they were ten years ago.  Truly we promise we won’t do that.

I only wish one of my Democrat colleagues had said that when I was in the Legislature in an election year.  I would have encouraged my Republican colleagues to hold out until election day.  Quite frankly, the only way Republicans can win in California,  is with an adamant Democrat party, insisting on tax increases after the drunken spending spree they have engaged in over the last ten years, causing not one, but two, multi-billion dollar deficits.  No governor elections at stake this year, no US Senator elections at stake this year, relatively safe Republican districts at all levels, and a fat, bloated, bureaucrat encrusted government complains it doesn’t have enough money.  I am sure the people of the state will really rally to the cry of "MORE TAXES TO PAY FOR FAT GOVERNMENT."  That is the prescription for Republican victory.

A few years ago, I was traveling with a legislative delegation in Italy, and we visited the city council chambers for the city of Perugia, Italy.  Above the Mayor’s chair in that city was a bronze plaque, which has been preserved for over 2,000 years, the plaque that the King of Perugia used to relieve the peasants of their excessive tax burden in 300 BC.  Everyone was so happy that they kept the plaque, and the King and the plaque are still venerated and honored today.  I saw the plaque, and it struck me.  People love those who relieve their tax burden, whether it is Robin Hood (who stole the tax money from the government, not the rich, and gave it back to taxpayers), this Perugian King, or the American Revolutionaries.  In addition, they really dislike those who raise taxes.  History is full of stories of dead politicians, killed by their subjects, for imposing to great a tax burden.

We don’t kill the taxers in this country, we just defeat them in the next election.  That is an important fact for my Republicans to remember, one that Governor Wilson forgot in 1991.  It is a good lesson for our Republicans in Sacramento today.  People will remember Republicans if they fight the increased taxes.  If they don’t, they will deserve the embarassing loss they will suffer at the polls.  This is their defining hour.  I, for one, believe they are up to the task.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.