What a difference a few years make. Back before the Tea Party movement was stomped into dust there was a group of folks who went before the Midland, Texas, city council to plead with them not to raise taxes again. The annual tax hike here is a ritual as regular as the four seasons.
But that was a time shortly after Barack Obama was first elected president, and a a more powerful movement swept government entities as they imagined voters were eager to fatten government coffers across the nation.
The local city council was about as eager to hear tax protests as bin Laden would have been to listen to a Christian sermon. The tax hike was voted in unanimously. And those of us who spoke before the council learned our civic lesson and were put in our place.
Fast forward to today. Stewart Doreen tells us in the morning paper that two city council members voted "No" this time. Kudos to those two, J.Ross Lacy and Jeff Sparks. It's still a minority. But it's a start.
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