I’m about to sit down to watch some baseball and eat a can of soup.
I can’t think of a better way to spend part of a Saturday and as a bonus I’m not wasting any tax dollars. But, maybe one day, I’ll have a different life. Maybe one day I will wake up on a Saturday with a family.
I’ll want my kid to go to a good public school. The kid will get sick and need health care. Then, I’ll want the kid to go to college. And get a job. The kid will need taxpayers to want to pay for good schools. The kid will need taxpayer to pay for some roads or a bus to get to his job. The kid may even want some recreational activity in a state park or national forest or national park. Or go hunting or fishing.
I’ll get old and the kid may want to put me in a nursing home. All of a sudden, my family is a Republican’s worst nightmare expecting government to pay for a bunch of stuff to make life a little better.
Today, the state legislature will cut about $5 billion out of the state budget. They will lay off 7,000 teachers, close nursing homes, cut the basic health plan, slow down tranportation projects and close state parks.
My reaction could be “I don’t care, all I need is this baseball game and a can of soup.”
However, after the game I’m going to get on with my life and continue to fight for a goverment that makes sense for our communities and families. We should agree that good schools, parks, roads and quality nursing homes are an important part of ensuring a good quality of life in Washington State.
Unlike me, most people believe that life is more than a good bowl of soup and the Yankees/Red Sox game on the tube. That seems reasonable.