The One Tool Party
by Art Jacobson on Jan. 29, 2010, under Politics
Republican Policy Makers
An old Russian proverb goes this way: To a man whose only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
The Republicans in the state legislature are a one-tool party and that tool is the tax cut. Want to stimulate business? Cut taxes. Need to balance the budget? Cut taxes.
There is, in all honesty, a corollary to this principle: If the hammer won’t work, pull out the nail. Cut services to women, children and the poor; cut health care, education, and public recreation facilities.
After years of Republican tax cutting Arizona is beginning to feel like some down-at-heels fourth world backwater. No one likes paying taxes but if we spread the cost over all of us the pain will be less than if we have to pay privately for such things as our children’s education.
Most importantly, we won’t be letting any of our fellow Arizonans fall through the cracks in a decaying health and education system.
It’s simply outrageous that the Republican legislature hasn’t been able to solve our budget problems, but the reason is clear to everyone but a Republican. If first cutting taxes and then cutting services won’t work it should be clear that doing the same thing all over again won’t work, either.
“Well, that didn’t work, let’s do it again.”
Good Grief!
