The Plain Dealer had a story on the front page yesterday that summed up perfectly the attitude of the Republican party.
The concrete sound barriers erected along the highways to shield nearby residents from noise were crumbling long before the advertised 20-year life expectancy was reached, presumably because inferior concrete had been used. Repairing them will cost the Ohio transportation department more than $1 million per mile, money that is hard to come by these days when governments are being squeezed by the demand for tax cuts.
What struck me was the comment of one resident who said, “It looks terrible. I know they don’t have the money, and I don’t want my taxes to go up to fix it. But they need to do something.”
Really? No doubt she expects magic elves to do the repair work for free once they have finished helping out the shoemaker.
What is really sad is that of the almost 100 comments on that story, only one of them calls this lady out on her quote. The vast majority of the comments are blaming Obama (despite the fact that a) the walls were not built during his administration, and b) the POTUS does not make decisions for ODOT).
I really don’t understand the tea party folks. I had an interesting run in with a group of them (at a hotel right before the Glenn Beck DC rally) and they just don’t get that the US will only be successful will we all pull together a a group rahter than everone for themself. I prepare taxes for a living and I have worked with these folks on their taxes and finances and their greed and never ceases to amaze me.
Cognitive… dissonance… overwhelming.
Until people realize that there’s a very good reason to pay taxes, the US is going to very quickly find itself up $^!% creek without a paddle. Well, I suppose we’re already there so… drowning in $^!% creek, then?
I do find it ironic that many of the most shrill opponents of “entitlements” themselves feel quite entitled to have all of the benefits of government without having to pay for them.