Everyone's Opinion Newsletter

What do The Tea Party, the Republican Party,  and Freeman have in common?  They think that you can run government with little or no taxes!  How does Freeman differ from every responsible citizen?  He likes to pay his taxes at 1958 rates and keep our county government bankrupt.  One wonders if he goes into Subway, orders a foot-long, then demands to pay for it at a discount.  Inflation exists.  It is as real as the paper with which our Federal Government creates fiat money to pay its debts.  So what if our dollar no longer buys what it could in 1958 and the cost of local government has grown through inflation.  Bagger would have us undercut it by still paying the pre-inflation rate.  Maybe we should pay for everything at 1958 dollars!?!  That would please Freeman and the Tea Baggers, but it wouldn't be good for business.  If we don't pay for government, we must cut programs.  What program cuts would we all agree on?  NONE!  I'm sure my cuts would not please Teaman.  Because I would cut what ever would annoy him most.

But I don't want to cut our local government.  It is already stripped down too much. There is not enough money to run it at its current level, let alone to pay the inflated costs of the future.  You can't run today's government on yesterdays revenues.  So, why is Freeman and the Tea Terry Tommisetti Party (read Scofflaw Party) so against what is an eventuality?  Don't they feel the slightest bit of responsibility to pay their bills.  Costs will continue to grow and the need for revenues will follow.  The question is, will we be able to get out of debt with 1958 revenues coming in?  We haven't so far.  Perhaps I need to quote some folks to empress the relatively simple concept of paying your bills on the Bagger.  How's this?  

"Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

Or this.  

"I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."

-Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The problem runs much deeper with Freebagger.  He rails at Gority for daring to want to raise the revenues to pay the bills; that she would say that a law suit will bring reassessment and relief.  She is just telling it like it is.  The majority party in the Commissioner's Office (see Scofflaw Pary) haven't the courage to do it.  Some poor school district will have to do it.  But it will happen and we will pay much more to reassess later.

But again, that is not all that angers Scofflawman.  Its the fact that there is one member of the Commissioner's Office from the minority party.  "That should not be", he has said.

If the majority of area voters want all the commissioners from the same party, what is wrong with that?  Well, coming from a self appointed constitutional scholar, it is pure ignorance.  The constitution has many parts that protect the minority from the will of the majority.  The Bill of Rights is just one.  But locally, the minority should not be represented, Freebagger thinks.  Why?  Because that one member of the minority party that sits in the Commissioner's Office wants Freeman, and everyone, to pay his fair share and get the county out of debt!  By the way, we don't even know if a majority in Blair County do not want reassessment.  But if that happens to be so, perhaps they can join Freeman and the Bagger Party in finding a way to pay for government without taxes.  You see, it is a moral imperative for all to pay their fair share so that all may benefit.  (I haven't put in a quote in a while)  

"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."

-George Washington.  

Whew!  That felt good.  But seriously, lets quit trying to run the county government on 1958 revenues.  We all benefit from the programs those revenues buy.  Besides, isn't it embarrassing to be the only county left in the state that still thinks you don't have to raise revenues to pay your bills?  Let's be responsible.  Come on, Freeman.

Poeman,
Penn's Woods

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