| I had a number of good friends in the Legislature who were Democrats. With the exception of their undying support for abortion on demand, their hearts were in the right place. They wanted to help people. Their giant flaw, which remains to this day, is that they believe that government is the answer for providing this help. It isn't. Granted, on a limited level, government should be there to help people get over a hump in their lives. But when government becomes the problem solver of first resort, things are a mess. They raise taxes on tax free cigarettes under the pretense that the government needs the money to help smokers quit, and for an endless string of other reasons, while in fact the additional money is needed mainly to provide jobs for their friends with masters in social work who are otherwise unemployable. In raising the tax on butts, they are hurting many in the lower economic strata who are just getting by. What these folks sure don't need is a higher tax on a pack of butts, or increased registration fees on their cars. But the Democrats give it to them anyway, like it or not. They believe that they know better. |