Grizzly Groundswell

If anyone wants to know what America will look like if Hillary Rodham becomes president than one needs look no father than the People’s Republic of Maryland. Maryland is the bluest of blue states and has a super majority of Democrats in the legislature. For decades the state has been run by Democrats and for decades taxes increase, services increase and spending increases. The quality of life decreases as those who work pay more and more to support those who do not.

In 2002 Maryland elected a Republican governor for the first time since the Nixon years. Maryland has has fewer than 10 Republican governors in its 373 year history so this was quite an event. Governor Ehrlich inherited a four billion dollar deficit from the Democrats and he reduced that deficit so that there was a surplus when the 2006 election arrived. He did not raise taxes though he raised many fees which upset a number of people. In 2006 the state elected Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley despite Ehrlich’s successes and high approval ratings. Now those who elected O’Malley are getting a taste of the very poison this writer predicted after that election.

I predicted that O’Malley would raise all kinds of taxes and that he would do it early in his term so people would forget about it by the next election. Governor O’Malley called an unnecessary special session of the legislature to push through a tax package that is regressive and stifling. He wants to raise taxes on tobacco, gasoline, all kinds of services (except legal fees) and he wants to change the income tax so that wealthier people pay a greater percentage in taxes. The package will tax barbers, hair stylists, landscapers, health club dues, and any number of other services. In Maryland everyone who makes more than $3000 pays 4% on income. This is a flat tax and it is fair, at least to most people. O’Malley told everyone that it was unfair and he needed to make it fair and his idea of that is to make people with more income pay a higher percentage. If Martin O’Malley could figure out how to measure it, he would tax the very air we breathe.

Why are all these taxes necessary? Maryland has a looming structural deficit. This means that the Democratically controlled legislature enacted spending programs that are mandated by law but did not get a funding source for them. It is predicted that there will be a 1.7 billion dollar deficit next fiscal year. The special session was unnecessary but it is designed to allow O’Malley to pilfer money from taxpayers earlier than necessary. The budget for Maryland is balanced until next July (when the fiscal year begins) and the next regular legislative session starts in January. They could have easily convened then and worked out the budget problems but O’Malley wants to make his tax program effective January 1st so that he can collect money for six months and raise an additional half a billion dollars.

The special session is also a sham in that he has them discussing the gasoline taxes and they go to a dedicated fund (for infrastructure repair) so they will not help reduce the deficit. This session also allows him to get the pain out of the way early so that people will forget what he has done when the next election rolls around. The tragedy of this is that people will forget. They will become accustomed to paying more and by the time the election rolls up they will listen to O’Malley tell them how great he is and will reelect him. There is a great deal of unhappiness over the taxes now (except for labor unions and those who always have their hands out) but that unrest will die down after people become numb to the pain.

Perhaps if all the Democrats in the state who are unhappy re-registered as Republicans right now those in Annapolis might get a clue.

This is how Maryland is operating right now and there is little difference between O’Malley and Hillary Clinton (he has endorsed her) so if America wants to know what the country will be like if she is elected they can look right at Maryland. Hillary will tax us to death and she will come up with more and more spending programs to redistribute wealth like the good socialist she is.

The writing is on the wall and the petri dish that is Maryland is a science project that will have disastrous results. This microcosm of Hillary’s America foretells a bad future if she is elected.

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