We're told our nation is in the midst of a vast financial crisis; that banks (locally, Washington Mutual) are imploding; that oil prices (and thus furnace fuel, diesel, and gasoline) will remain punishing (at best). At the same time, unemployment is rising and the real estate market is tanking, even as the foreclosure rate ascends.
For governments of various sorts at sundry levels, this means less revenue coming into the till. Fewer wage-earners means fewer income tax dollars. Individuals cutting back on spending, putting off everything from cookies to cars, means less sales tax revenue. Similarly, as property values dive, the money from property tax revenue drops off something fierce.
To summarize, most governments (city/county/state/etc) today are budgeted for average to good times with the programs and personnel to match, and are only getting the kind of revenue one finds in bad times - a path that, without correction, leads to bankruptcies and badness.
One path our elected minions are taking, given its' familiarity, is the pursuit of fear. Threaten programs the public particularly values (parks, police, fire, emt) disproportionately, and then demand a tax increase or a bond measure to save the vital programs - while all along, the pet programs of the governing sorts in question remain inviolate (or take a mighty minor hit).
Another involves attempting to persuade the general populace to drop their trousers and bury their collective heads in the sand - to better ensure that said public be properly positioned for some serious and unlubricated exploration. "Sure, the economy is in the crapper, and we can't pay for current programs, and private citizens increasingly can't afford current levels of taxation - just vote for this splendiferous new project whilst bending over to take it."
Eventually, the time comes to accept that subtle doesn't work with elected folk generally, and those with (D) after their name, particularly. Phone calls, attending meetings, sending letters and faxes - all good, and all worth the time and effort - aren't getting the message across.
Yet, at best, civil strife is tacky. Fortunately, other options exist.
Vote no. Vote no on schools, transit, transportation, and anything else that asks for yet more money. Vote against politicians with a reputation for free-flowing spending and an eagerness to tax. Right now, at least, unless you happen to be in a very strange area (demographically) we can afford precisely none of the above.
The thing is, we *can* make do. Reservist programs (Police/fire/etc) useful in rural areas aren't nearly as antiquated as one might think, and go a long way towards stretching a tax dollar - putting more feet on the street, either growing a department or staving off attrition due to retirements and such. That's far from the only area that volunteers can help out, but those're the ones I think most folks are familiar with...I recently lived in a town where most of the front desk staff were volunteer, for instance - more mundane, but definitely a savings.
Most new projects don't require "right now" - or, for that matter, ever. Public transit projects in the United States are largely a failure, and mostly unwanted by the populance they claim to serve.
We have seen commuting nirvana, and for most of us it does not involve rolling petri dishes (whether on asphalt or steel rails) operating on other folks schedules and exposing us to two-legged critters of questionable intent and hygeine. It involves our making free choices, as individuals, in our own vehicles - choices and vehicles that fit our lives and finances. If we want anything from our politicians when it comes to getting to and fro, it's "drop the pie in the sky, just build the damned road and fill the bloody potholes".
To the extent transit works well, it's private companies providing transit to a service population capable of de-funding them by the simple mechanism of voting with their feet. Not tax subsidized boondoggles constantly begging at the public trough.
The time has come to say no, across the board.
Grrrr....
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