Comey Break: Let’s Talk About Taxes.
We’re going to go to Douglas County, Oregon, first. That place is a mess. They voted 65% for Donald Trump. When Barack Obama came to the town after the shooting of nine people at the local community college, “he was greeted by hundreds of angry protestors, who lined the streets waving signs saying “Obama-Free Zone,” “NOBAMA,” and even “Go Back To Kenya.”
This week, the county closed their last public library, because … freedom.
David Jacques, publisher of the Roseburg Beacon, a conservative weekly newspaper, told Vocativ that residents weren’t against public libraries, but a tax increase of any kind. “We’re an independent bunch,” he said. “We don’t have a high expectation of government services. Many of us would like to see them significantly scaled back.”
Tax cuts have resulted in emergency services no longer operating 24 hours a day. I suppose this is because they are an independent bunch.
But, here’s the most important result: They may not have enough money to hold future elections.
They, like many other tax haters, did not learn diddle squat from Kansas.
Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback preened all over the damn country promising that tax cuts would lead to grand prosperity and wonderment to blow your socks off. Instead, they were down to cutting massive amounts of K-12 public education.
The legislature passed a tax increase. Brownback vetoed it. The legislature overrode it.
State Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat, described feeling tremendous relief, and said she believes many Kansans will share that sensation.
“Now we have a source of money. Then we can work our way out of the hole that we’re in,” she said. “It’s almost like you can breathe.”
There is no trickle down. There is only violation of the social contract. And greed. Greed is a booger.
Thanks to Rick and Sandy for the heads up.
I think that closing down libraries (access to books) is on the GOP platform. It works to further dumb-down their base.
I have been watching that canary in the coal mine (Kansas) for years. It should serve as a BAD example – but it apparently does not.
1Some people want to go back to Hobbes’ state of nature, with no government at all, where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (which also describes many of them). I hope they have fun beating each other to death over the last edible roots.
2This is a form of suicide. I guess they have decided that Roseburg as an sort of entity doesn’t deserve to exist. I can only say I don’t feel sorry for them. Seriously.
3Yes, I can’t wait until Roseburg and Douglas County start ranting at the state to provide them with services such as fire, ambulance and police. They’ll also fill up emergency rooms demanding that they be served even though they aren’t paying taxes nor participating in any kind of medical exchange. And then this “independent bunch” will beg people for money via go-fund-me/donation sites for whatever services they need to pay for because welfare won’t pay for it. They can go screw themselves with their arsenal of guns.
4@Rhea
Oh dear surely not. Hobbes’ state of nature was how it was not to be done. Nasty, brutish, and short was a warning not a goal. Good grief!
5On that last sentence from glf:
Ewwwwww. That brought up a visual I would like to bleach from my brain.
6http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/kansas-tax-cut-experience-refutes-economic-growth-predictions-of-trump-tax
Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore designed this taxcut plan for Kansas and Brownback. Promising immediate and strong growth and then told fibs about the performance of their debacle.
7Those asshats will kill one another off fighting for the last edible root and sip of potable water. Too bad? Not really. The Gods gave mankind free will. If they choose to ignore common sense and civilization too bad. Can’t and don’t feel sorry for humans given a chance to succeed who kill each other instead.
8Our local county commissioners just passed a tax hike…the first in 12 years, and MOST locals are breathing a sigh of relief that the leaking roofs in most of the local schools will now be fixed. Of course, there are a handful of the ‘let’s keep talking but do nothing about infrastructure’ folks beating their gums in high dudgeon (funny how wealthy most of those folks are), but it’s amazing how many people are saying “Good! About time!”
9I live a short distance from Douglas County and anything bad happens, well elections have consequences. Neighboring Josephine County just passed, after 6 attempts a bond issue which will allow them to increase the sheriff’s patrols beyond the current 7 hours a day and even keep the libraries open at least part time. I’ve had the sick making experience of trying to read that konservative fishwrap, and it really is horrible. Theey deserve whatever ill befalls them
10We in New Mexico used to say thank goodness for Mississippi. Kept us from being the bottom. Might have change that to thank goodness for Kansas.
11@Paul,
We always used to say that same thing, here in TX. When I lived in NM, OTOH, we’d say, “poor Mew Mexico, so far from Heaven, but so close to Texas”
Having said that, I’m feeling sorry for the folks who **didn’t** vote for all the crazies. Like when people judge us here in TX and say we all deserve what hell we get. Well, **I** don’t, I never voted for any of this nonsense. I just live here.
12These “independent” people and libertarians crack me up. They LOVE to talk smack about the government. But the majority of them have a scam or a check coming from the government. They think Wall Street could handle social security better than the feds. And that buying basic health insurance is tyranny.
Disconnected brain cells.
13Douglas, Coos & Lake are the three Oregon counties who together with Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Mendocino, Lake, Tehama, Plumas, Glenn, Butte, Colusa, Sierra, Sutter County, Yuba, Nevada, Placer and El Dorado Counties in California are involved in the secessionist redneck State of Jefferson movement.
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