Can we trust the voters?

    Next month Maine’s voters will, once again, have an opportunity to decide whether they can be trusted.
    Supporters of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) argue that taxpayers can be trusted to have a say in how their earnings are spent. And, more important, that they should be.     Opponents prophesy disastrous consequences from placing restraints on government spending. They argue that the taxpayers are an irresponsible, ignorant and ungrateful pack of greedy hogs who can’t be trusted to have power over their own earnings. Nothing good can come from allowing the rabble to butt into government business. Fires will rage uncontrolled. Criminals will roam the streets unrestrained. Grass will grow on our roads and our children will sink into illiteracy.
    Do I exaggerate? Perhaps a little, but so do the opponents. They must. They can’t very well argue that Maine’s government is frugal, efficient, responsible and cheap. Just a few years ago TABOR’s opponents hailed the Brookings Report as the blueprint for Maine’s future. Yet this same report was severely critical of what it called “Administrationland” and Maine’s excessive tax burden. It advocated the creation of a Governmental Efficiency Commission.
    No such commission was created. Government went on as before, unimpeded by any concern for efficiency. The buzz the Brookings Report caused in 2006 has subsided to a barely audible humming. It is a subject best avoided.
    So the anti-Taboristas must rely on stirring up fear, obscuring the real issues and creating as much doubt and confusion as possible. They fear clarity as the Devil fears Holy Water. It can only damage their cause.
    As a supporter of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, I have a fondness for clarity. Let’s try some.
    Does TABOR undermine the sacred tenets of representative government? Check the US Constitution. Article I, section 8 endows Congress with powers. Section 9 then immediately places certain restraints on the powers of the elected representatives. This was not enough to satisfy the people so ten amendments were immediately added to place further restraints on that power. Check Maine’s constitution. Our elected representatives are forbidden to issue bonds without submitting them to the approval of the voters.
    In fact, there never has been an unrestrained transfer of power from the people to their representatives.
    Can professional and habitual politicians be trusted to restrain spending? There have been something like a dozen recessions since 1945. We have one now. There will be more in the future. Yet when ever times are booming, state and national legislatures almost invariable make spending commitments as if there will never be another downturn.
    They always come as a surprise and the cry goes out to increase taxes to meet the resulting revenue shortfalls In 2009 forty-five states find themselves in a budget crisis. And Washington, with access to the metaphorical printing press, we read of trillions added to trillions in debt with no idea of how it is to be paid. It has been known for over ten years that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are headed for insolvency. Their unfunded liabilities are estimated to be 100 TRILLION dollars. Has anything been done to address this problem?
    Is Maine lightly taxed in relation to its per capita income? Figure that one out for yourself.
    Are those engaged in government and dependent on government free of selfish motives and self-interest?
    Let us be very clear on this and laugh.
    Professor John Frary of Farmington, Maine, is a former US Congress candidate and retired history professor, a Board Member of Maine Taypayers United and an associate editor of the International Military Encyclopedia, and can be reached at: jfrary8070@aol.com.