…Or the Puppy Gets It

For a generation, liberals have used guilt to squeeze ever more money from the taxpayers. We are told that we have to pay more, or teachers’ pensions will be cut…benefits for poor people will be slashed…public employees will be laid off.

This year, though, the appeal isn’t working. Voters have had it, as reflected in this Rasmussen survey, which finds that by a whopping 69%-19% margin, Americans–not likely voters, or the numbers would be even worse–are unwilling to pay more in taxes to avoid layoffs of state employees.
To some degree, that reflects the emerging conflict between the now-dominant public sector and its private-sector meal ticket. But voters aren’t anxious to pay more for anything else, either; only 22% are willing to raise taxes to “prevent cuts in entitlement programs for low-income Americans.”
In some states, public employees are undeterred. Illinois is on the verge of bankruptcy, now in worse danger of default, apparently, than California, yet its public employee union members have been awarded pay raises totaling 14% over the next 12 months. Such heedless lack of restraint signals, I think, the impending end of a corrupt era–Après moi, la Republican majorité.