Tax Cutters Anonymous
I read this column by Antonia Zerbisias with mixed feelings, I must say:
On the one hand, I agree with her. On the other hand, I've lived in the suburbs, I work with a rightwinger, I have even identified a whole new acronym of voters - M.A.S.P.s (middle-aged, suburban, professionals).
So while the column is chock full of good intentions, there is one line that needs to be seized upon by non New Conservative Party of Canada politicians and that line is this:
Instead, it tries to buy us off with our own money.
Because that, Dear Reader, is the reality that needs to be hammered into the heads of all those M.A.S.P.s out there who vote for guys like Mike Harris and Stephen Harper. It's the only way to rid ourselves of this political pestilence.
See, M.A.S.P.s don't give a rat's ass about poor people because they don't see them. They live in big open concept homes out in the suburbs and when they leave for their secure and well paying jobs in the morning, they do so through side doors into two-car garages. They then use remotes to open garage doors before driving in to workplaces where they have parking privileges of one kind or another. At the end of the day, they drive home.
For years now, too, they have been hearing from politicians of ALL stripes that their money is hard-earned, that they are hard-working taxpayers, and they believe it. Meanwhile, they make no connection between tax revenue and government services because they have no idea what anything costs.
They live in the suburbs, afterall - the most subsidized places on earth.
Conversely, the poor (downtown and elsewhere, but certainly not in Chapel Hill or Willowdale) seem to get SO MUCH of their hard-earned tax dollars that, well, they think the poor have had quite enough, thank you very much. And the homeless? Well, you could throw money forever and a day at the homeless and they'd be right back on that street corner asking for more the day after forever and a day.
Anyway, since no politician these days seems to have the balls to say to the M.A.S.P.s - "Hey you cheap assholes - your entire existence is subsidized!" it makes sense to me that non New Conservative Party of Canada politicians approach their votes from a different angle.
I suggest the above line from Ms. Zerbisias' column. Tell them, over and over and over, that they are being bribed with their own money. Explain that all that has been invested by OTHER generations is rotting out from under them so that corporations here in this country can have one of the lowest tax rates in the world and that THEY are going to have to pay out BIG TIME down the road for services that will seem unbelievably cheap now. Tell them that their houses will be worthless come downsizing time because NOBODY will have the kind of secure job required to own a big open concept house out in the suburbs.
Just be honest. Over and over and over. These are not smart people we're talking about here, but they're not stupid, either (er, NDP politicians please take note to not say the preceding line out loud at the door). And they are greedy with no concept of what they actually cost - themselves and everybody else in society. Tip them off and they might actually vote sensibly. Maybe even with a little shame for their previous voting records.
