Posted by Assemblyman Donald P. Wagner at 8:22 am on May 07, 2012 Comments Off on When Your Only Tool is a Hammer
Recently, the Assembly passed a bill touted by Democrats as
giving another “tool” to local government in the fight against a
particular problem. But it wasn’t another tool; it
was the same old tool, the right of government to raise fees on its
citizens, to be wielded yet again.
I rose to oppose the bill, not because the underlying cause was
unworthy, but merely to point out this uninspired approach to the
problem. It seems, I said, that the only “tool” the Legislature
ever uses is the tool of hammering people with increased fees and
taxes. Perhaps, when your only tool is a hammer, all problems look
like nails. But legislators have other tools available to us, if
only we also had the political courage to use them.
Unfortunately, we don’t. Bills to reduce regulations on
businesses, to rein in frivolous lawsuits, to create jobs, to
otherwise grow revenue by growing the economy and putting people to
work, all routinely die in the Legislature. The ruling party is
constitutionally incapable of grabbing from the toolbox anything
but the hammer.
The debilitating effect of this single-minded effort to increase
the costs of government… Read More