Put your list of cuts where your mouth is

I find it interesting when people gather to complain about taxes and incumbent politicians as they did yesterday in rallies billed as tea party protests. Everyone says they want to cut taxes. The problem is that no one wants to cut any of the programs that benefit them. I noticed from the photographs that a lot of people at the rallies were senior citizens. I’m sure they want to cut all kinds of taxes but if you try to mess with Medicare, Social Security or any of the benefits older Americans receive, they balk.

People with children often don’t want to cut the school budget. If you have a relative who is a firefighter or you live near Meriden’s Broad Street fire station, you want to keep it open. If your child attends a parochial school and receives speech therapy from the city, you don’t want to cut that program. I personally hate to see them cut recreation funding.

Despite these one-day events, about 90 percent of incumbents are re-elected each year. No one likes the incumbents who represent other districts but most people like their own incumbents because somewhere along the way they have delivered lots of pork for their home district. Of course that pork is what makes taxes go up. So next time you praise some politician for delivering money for artificial turf, think twice.

If you are going to attend one of these tea party tax protests in the future, bring along a list of the benefits you receive that you are willing to see cut or eliminated. Next time you complain about incumbents, make a list of all the incumbents who represent you at the local, state and national level and sign in blood that you will never ever vote for them again. Otherwise it is hard for me to take any of this too seriously.

Let me know what you think.