Keep the Faith

Adam Pagnucco makes some very interesting comments regarding Marylanders and their taxes in light of the support for the Ficker Amendment in Montgomery County:

Free State conservatives may have experienced a miserable election night with the victory of Barack Obama and Democratic pickups in the House and Senate. But they should take comfort from one development in Maryland: voters have made clear their intolerance for new taxes....

....The most overused line by politicians during this campaign has been, "I'm not a fan of slots." Of course not. Few people are. But few voters are fans of taxes either. And slots proponents won because voters believed their core argument: slots are preferable to taxes. The regressive nature of the 2007 special session tax package undoubtedly brought that point home to a very large number of Marylanders.

Anti-tax sentiment extended even into the state's bluest Democratic strongholds. Prince George's County is infamous for its underachieving schools. Yet, voters rejected a mere $17 million tax hike targeted for the schools by a 71-29% margin. And Montgomery County, perhaps the most liberal place in the state, is on the verge of approving Robin Ficker's anti-tax charter amendment....

....Given the above developments, there is no safe place for a tax-hiking politician to hide in the Free State right about now.

Amen to that. Which means that the sentiment that conservatives have been talking about for the past year is, in effect, true. It means that the work that we have done to bring attention to the hypocrisy of O'Malley and legislative Democrats is working. It means that the people of Maryland realize that we cannot tax our way into prosperity. It means that our fellow citizens understand the economic calamities caused by raising taxes in the middle of the recession.

It means we can win in 2010. If that's not a silver lining, I don't know what is.

For no good reason, here's a musical interlude to drive the point home.

Bon Jovi |MTV Music