Washblog

Tim Eyman and his white horse have been on the news again, declaring his intent to save the property owners and the little people from the evil government dragon.

I sense a resignation, a sigh, an apathetic "it won't happen" or "you have to admit, government has been pathetic lately".

Initiative 1033 promises (though not in its wording) to take the process of making laws, enforcing those laws, and passing judgment on the merits of those laws, and hand it to the wealthiest and most regressive among us, taking it out of the government's hands, meaning your hands, my hands, the hands of the poor, the hands of the homeless, the fixed income elderly without some fabulous connection to a noble family like the Bushes, the Hunts, the Gateses, the Schultzes, the Allens, the Palins. Out of the hands of the teachers, the State Patrol, those who run the animal shelters, the parks, even the jails. The mentally ill? That's all an act, they could snap out of it if they wanted to.

Heck let them live in the bushes and forget about them, for Christ's sakes. They are lives not worth living. Anyone hear a chillingly familiar ring?

It has been remarkable to me how so many seemingly nice and intelligent people, when asked if they know about I-1033 and its most likely impacts, immediately blurt out "oh, but...." and do it with an air that says they know exactly what is wrong with government, that it's the damn laws and taxes and regulations that are designed to take away our freedoms. They say it with conviction. They have bought Tim Eyman's populist bull----, and they, like so many others, are perfectly content to once again focus on the bling and let the government be dismantled.

We have been seeing the catastrophic effects of this kind of populist snake oil most recently in California, where the chickens of Howard Jarvis have multiplied and embarked in a frenzy of building condos within which to roost. I lived in the San Fernando Valley in Howard's day... I voted no on Prop 13. It passed.

How stupid of me. I should have voted yes so I could be a winner like Tim.

Look at it this way: The current budget, with the closing of 39 parks as just a small niblett, will be the baseline, above which government shall not fund. Okay, how about mental health clinics? Was the death of Shannon Harps at the hands of a homeless and unsupervised lunatic an acceptable price of living in Tim Eyman's utopia? You can be assured this will become more commonplace.

Can you imagine the current effort at the national level to produce adequate stocks of H1N1 flu vaccine being conducted if the federal government was funded the way Tim Eyman wants our state, county, and local governments managed? There would be no Center for Disease Control & Prevention. Roads you can drive on safely? Forget about it. Fire engines and personnel to come protect your home? Good luck, especially if you're not wealthy.

I could go on and on, but please, if you care about this state and this country, speak out. Educate yourself on the promise of I-1033.

F.U.S.E. Washington is going to run a phone bank out of its downtown Seattle office this Thursday from about 5:00 or 5:30 to 8 pm, to get the word out to voters. Please consider joining. I am, and I hate phone banks. But I care about my government more. A link is timblair.spaces.live.com...

Richard Champlin