12/07/2007: "Acupuncture"

Politicians are like acupuncturists. They stick you with tax after tax. It doesn’t hurt too much to begin with but if they keep on sticking you it can be fatal. This is called death by a thousand pricks.

We are often under the false impression that we elect people to be advocates for us, leaders who will represent us and look out for our best interests. What we often get is someone who will stick it to us as soon as our back is turned.

I have observed this kind of mindset recently. During one of the budget workshops a Council member stated, “We need to be careful what we do here because people are watching us.” This kind of comment could lead us to believe that if no one is watching they will stick us so full of taxes we’ll look like pincushions.

Here’s an urgent news flash. Most people get really bored at meetings. They are so dull some Councilmen take a nap during afternoon sessions." Many simply can’t attend every meeting where new taxes and fees are proposed. There are just too many. That’s why we elect people to represent us. Since when does not showing up mean, “We want more taxes”? We can’t expect our representatives to look out for our interests because they seem to assume that being taxed to death is what we want.

The budget for next year is a good example of this. The actual money the Council proposes to spend is up over $12 million dollars from last year! I remember when the entire budget was about the size of this increase. It is still not enough. They are debating over additional spending as people stand in line asking for more.

Our system has become twisted. In the past people didn’t ask government to do everything for them. Government relied on the people for its strength. Independence and self-sufficiency were virtues most people shared. Today people share an entitlement mentality where government has been re-defined.

This new relationship between people and government is like a depression era soup kitchen and this puts politicians in an impossible situation. Those who want more “stuff” from government disguise themselves as starving people. Then they line up for their free soup and the politicians dish out heaping helpings. To do otherwise would make them seem mean and nasty. All politicians want to seem compassionate-not nasty. But someone has to pay the bill so taxpayers get stuck again and again.

This is why politicians are like acupuncturists. They know what’s best for us and the prescription is needles that keep pricking us. “This will pinch just a bit at first”, they say. And it does hurt because there are way too many needles. We should demand that they stop this treatment because when we get the bill we find that they really are sticking it to us.