Ray Richardson, host of WLOB’s “Morning News” talk show leveled a serious charge against the Baldacci administration this morning when he called taxation in Maine a form of economic tyranny worse than the oppression which led to the American Revolution. Richardson went on to say that the situation can only be remedied by a peaceful revolution at the ballot box this November.
Surely, the situation in Maine is unique, since our state has the highest level of taxation, and the second poorest economy, next to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. According to a report by the Federal Reserve, Maine and Louisiana were the only two states in the nation which had economies that declined in 2005.
Governor John Baldacci also has a well-deserved reputation for opposing the will of the people, the most notorious instance being his subversion of the will of the people by cynically insisting on a third vote on gay rights. But does all this amount to a tyranny?
The short answer is no. But oddly enough, there are elements of the Baldacci administration which do fit the classical definition of a tyranny. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a tyranny is an “unjust and oppressive form of government.” When the elderly are forced to sell their homes to pay their taxes, that is certainly unjust and oppressive. Moreover, it is unjust to use the wealth of the middle class to finance a nanny state which treats the populace as dependent subjects, not self-sustaining citizens. But when an administration goes so far as to use the property of the middle class to meet the social welfare needs of non-citizens, the result can only be a disaster. Such a short-sighted economic policy pits one social class against the other; and that of course, if not tyranny, is at least profoundly anti-American.
Oppressive taxation is only one of several distinguishing features of a tyranny. Other features are the material and spiritual degradation of the populace. This element of a tyranny is indeed present in Maine through the steady loss of jobs and the erosion of wages, which hits the working poor the hardest. Instead of a real chance at success, the working class - our hard-working and worthy fellow citizens - are offered low wages, lotteries, Racinos, alcohol, and drugs.
Believe it or not, Ray Richardson was correct. There are elements of tyranny in the Baldacci administration. But it is incorrect to call the Baldacci administration a tyranny per se. For a tyranny to be present there must be a ruler who uses the government to advance his own economic and personal interests. Rather, what we see in Maine is the oppression of the middle class and the exploitation of the working poor to advance a socialist agenda, and to cater to the whims of a ruling liberal elite.
