The Sacramento Tea Party

It is fully 233 years since the American colonists first declared "notaxation without representation" and struck back against their"virtual" representation in the British Parliament. Those times don'tseem so long ago, however, when one considers what the CaliforniaLegislature has just decided to do - namely, raise taxes by 9.3 billion dollars without so much as a vote from the GOP minority. According to the Los Angeles Times,the reason why this "brazen" attack on the democratic process is evenbeing permitted to be mentioned is because of an "arcane loophole instate law that letslegislators pass a tax bill with a simple majority vote -- if the billdoes not raise more revenue."

Well, lovely! So nice to know that when statists can't get their way via argument, they'll just violate therule of law under cover of crisis.

Thistax hike is quite plainly a slap at the much more democraticallyapproved Proposition 13, which requires a 2/3 majority in the Legislature before any new taxes can be imposed. Of course, theirhypocritical name notwithstanding, one can't expect the Democrats torecognize such a fact. After all, the neanderthals on the other sidesimply don't recognize how vitally important it is that we fix thebudget by taxing one of the most vital resources people need in orderto work. Yes, that's right, the Democrats plan to finance their plan onthe backs of not oil companies, but the people who buy from them -namely, the average California consumer. Thank God there's no tax onbikes...darn it, now I've given them ideas.

Of course, the GOP is rightly screaming bloody murder. Republican Assemblyleader Michael Villines called the plan "funny math" and "trickery."Unfortunately, despite its obvious truth, the latter accusation isprobably the weaker because the idea of a politician accusing hisfellows of trickery is somewhat comparable to a cat accusing his fellowcats of cruelty to mice. More importantly, a group of anti-taxadvocates have planned to file suit against the Democrats for theirvicious disregard for the balance of power.

"If they proceed with thisproposal to raise taxes with a simple majority vote, they will be suedand they will lose," Jon Coupal, President of the Howard JarvisTaxpayers' association, told the Los Angeles Times. One hopes that Mr.Coupal's optimism is warranted, considering that California's courts don't have the best history of respecting the rule of law.

Indeed, disrespect for the rule of law seems to be the "in thing"nowadays with the Democratic majority. If one reads the quotes fromthose Democrats responsible for this behavior, the cacophany oftotalitarian, anti-debate rhetoric immediately blasts the ears. "Sen.Steinberg and I are committed to getting this job done with orwithout our Republican colleagues," says Assembly Speaker Karen Bass(D-Los Angeles), while Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinbergsanctimoniously sniffs, "there is an even greater responsibilitythan practicing bipartisanship,and that is to govern. And that is what we intend to do here today."

Yes, because clearly, using arcane legal rules to get around thoseactually vested with the power to govern is an example of exemplarygovernance. Come to think of it, I think I read this language somewherein the voting guide - right between War is Peace and Ignorance isStrength, that is.

Still, even if the legal challenge fails, one can count on theRepublicans to mount a concerted and very reasonable opposition to thisbit of legalistic malfeasance. It certainly will be easy, given thatthe taxes imposed by the Democrats are just harsh enough that most ofCalifornia's citizens will undoubtedly feel the pinch. It's a goodthing, too, because while the Democrats might be interested in playing Lord North,some of us still believe in the old American ideas that liberated usfrom London. Let's hope we don't have to do the same to Sacramento.