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Drooling on the Pillow

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Conflict of Interest 

What would seem to be a blindingly obvious solution to the projected $4 billion budget shortfall in New Jersey (fire a bunch of people and cut a few billion in services) is, of course, no such thing. But that's only partly because of the political cost of depriving voters of their accustomed teat.

You have to get used to understanding state government as an interest group, whose priorities conflict, as often as not, with the people it serves. In any government where there is no serious partisan competition, all governmental energies can and will be focused on institutionalizing itself. Taxes are raised, not to provide essential services, not to protect the downtrodden, not to build a better future. Your money is confiscated for three reasons: protect incumbancy, expand the percentage of the public dependent on the goodwill of Trenton, provide a fund to disburse to influential power brokers and businesses. As an interest group, it's easy to see why government resists spending cuts and focuses on higher taxes for the problems that high taxes got us into.

It's also obvious how our overlords fall into the habit of looking at the wealth of our state as being in one of two categories; their money and money they haven't gotten their hands on yet. From that point of view the Monmouth Eleven's crime was merely one of impatience. It's their money, after all, why should they be put through the drudgery of grabbing it legally?

There's a spot open now for a Democrat who wants to take on the county bosses and be the crusading Tom Dewey of corruption. That Jon Corzine is trying to sell himself as that Democrat after buying the nomination is just a measure of how far we have to go to get out of the swamp.

I don't think Democrats are more corrupt than Republicans, but if the Franciscans had a franchise on taxation and disbursement you'd see them in perp walks, too. It's nobody's fault but us Republicans that we're not competitive in this state. Until we are we'll have a government of the felons, by the felons, for the felons.

UPDATE: Perp walk photos courtesy of Shabe at The Jersey Side.
Posted by: Sluggo / 11:15 AM
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