The parts of the Pennsylvania government shut down today, because the Democratic governor and Republican Senate of the state couldn’t come to an agreement on the new state budger, according to CNN.
Major state tourist attractions are closed, the license bureaus are closed, and the light on the Capitol dome are snuffed. All “non-essential” government services are closed today. Stuff like poor clinics, the police and fire departments and 5 state slot machine parlors.
So, today, because the Democratic governor and the Republican Senate couldn’t come to agreement on Gov. Rendell’s energy plan, which would add a surcharge for electricity used (supposedly to pay for alternative energy programs and encourage conservation). Of course, the Republicans oppose this- as do some Pennsylvanian Dems. And while this chest thumping is going on, people are going without pay for a day, or more if this continues until tomorrow and after. Don’t worry though. If you want to give the state your hard earned money by gambling it away, you can do that. Because we all know that slot machines are an essential function of any government. Right?
This reminds me of what our own mayor did recently. He and other city employees had been asking City Council for raises, but were refused because there wasn’t enough money in the city budget. And so the mayor put an initiative on the ballot to raise the sales tax. Our town didn’t approve a sales tax hike because we didn’t want to pay extra money to the Mayor, who lives in an upper-class neighborhood and has a couple of really expensive cars. Our community is suffering from job loss and unemployment, as well as inflation increases. This man wanted $30 k a year more for performing weddings and marching in a parade (that was the common sentiment of letter writers in the paper). When the sales tax didn’t pass, the Mayor, in all his wisdom, basically shut down the city. He laid off firefighters and police officers first off, then gave an interview saying that more lay-offs were planned. And lay off he did. City services were cut left and right. Three months later the initiative went back on the ballot and the citizens passed the tax increase. There’s a happy ending to this tale, though.
City Council still refused to give the mayor a raise. They said it was unfair to give him, or even themselves, a raise when the community was already suffering. Good on them. I’m pretty sure this mayor won’t fair to well this November when he goes up for reelection.
Back on topic. The governor of Pennsylvania is doing a huge disservice to the citizens of his state by refusing to compromise. Yes, people need to think about conserving more energy. However, taking the state by the stones, so to speak, isn’t doing your constituents any favors, either. And people will remember that there was a time in the summer of 2007 that they tried to renew their license plates- but couldn’t, tried to enjoy a week camping in a state park- but couldn’t, and the state stood still, just because Governor Rendell didn’t quite get his way.
Of course, I half wish our federal Congress would grab the Executive branch by the stones and give a big twist. I’d manage a couple of weeks without the federal government as long as they finally asserted their own authority over that of the King. That, of course, is a dream for another day.
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That is lame.
It reminds me of the water situation right after I moved to NM. There was a big push for water conservation. The slogan was “Remember – It’s a Desert.” They also passed some laws about when you could water your lawn and such. It was a great success, water consumption went way down. Then the water company announced that its’ income had lowered – an easily foreseeable consequence of using less water – so they raised the rates. After being punished for being frugal with a scarce resource, people don’t have the concern for water conservation that I saw ten years ago when this started.