The Hypocrisy of the Liberal Mind Set
I find it fascinating to ponder the way people think in this state. I’ve been a resident for nearly 30 years, over 20 in Worcester, and still get surprised.
I was listening to Michael Graham’s radio show on WTKK yesterday. The big discussion was parking peculiarities seen in cities across this state during the winter. Basically, person A will shovel out a parking spot then place a traffic cone or sawhorse in the space to let others know they have claimed it as their own. No one else should park there. If they do, all’s fair — from pushing the car into the middle of the street to slashing tires. [I kid you not!]
When I first encountered this approach to winter parking, I was visiting a friend in Brighton. I now know it’s a common practice across the state, as callers to Graham’s radio show testified. This behavior has become a bit of a national story, reaching the pages of the Washington Post. And the Boston Globe has “parking space saver of the day” articles.
I find this behavior odd for such a liberal state where the mantra is we all must give more (especially taxes) to pay for the special interests of the few. Take, for example, this note from Rep. Lew Evangelidis, State Rep from the 1st Worcester District. On top of the gas tax hike to pay for the overspending ways of the Big Dig, why must we pay for Boston’s sewer bill?
The folks in Central Massachusetts should watch our wallets, the Boston political crowd is coming after us again.
To pay for the spiraling cost of the Big Dig, something which most of us never use (and many of us have never seen), we are heading for a huge hike in the gas tax for everyone in Massachusetts. The prevailing attitude in Boston is to make everyone pay for their political boondoggles.
Another attempt to pick your pocket was on display was in Governor Patrick’s budget proposal this week. The Governor is proposing a dramatic expansion of the bottle bill yet he is not even pretending that it is being done to benefit the environment. He has simply estimated that this will raise an additional $20 million in unclaimed deposit refunds. Conveniently it is the Commonwealth who gets to keep those unclaimed funds. The real insult is where this estimated $20 million is going. $10 million is being earmarked directly for the people in the Boston area to have their water and sewer bills reduced.
I’m not even going to talk about the Governor’s proposals to increase the meals tax, room occupancy tax, alcohol taxes, and candy tax before we have addressed the issue of long overdue reforms to our pension and transportation systems on Beacon Hill.
So when you’re filling up your tank or tossing you returnables into the recycling bin I hope you think about how much the people in Boston appreciate your generosity. Just don’t expect any thank you notes.
Liberals should at least try to be consistent. If everyone has to pay more, then everyone should also be expected to help when it comes to parking spaces in the winter.
That’s how it was in the Adirondacks, where I spent my youth (and this was a mostly conservative political crowd). We have serious snow there, 4 or 5 months out of the year. The general attitude is “we’re all in this together.” You start by shoveling your way out to the road, then help the elderly nearby, then help your neighbors. Some of the heartier folks spend the day shoveling all across the town. You would have been shunned if you had the gall to claim a parking space you shoveled as somehow special just for you.
Liberals take as much as they can get and tend to be pretty selfish in their general approach to life — “what’s in it for me” or “if I have to pay, then so do you and I’m happy to put the government to work making sure you do.” Conservatives, on the other hand, believe in standing on their own two feet and then using those two feet to help others around them (witness the wonderful, help-thy-neighbor stories that surfaced in Holden and Princeton during the ice storm). Conservatives tend to give more to charities, donate more time, give more blood, etc. Fascinating article here about a study done on just this topic.
So how did liberals end up with the position of “generous, helps others,” while conservatives are seen as “selfish, greedy”? Must be some good marketing because the reverse is reality.