Don't get me wrong - when the local politicians talk about "growth" - they are talking about revenue. That's all. Money. They think your money is THEIR money.

Oh, yes. They hide it with nice little platitudes about better education for our kids, more jobs, higher standard of living, etc. But if you listen to the snake oiled seductive tones long enough, you'll thtart to hear a lithp - and iths all about revenue. Dollarth. Yourth.

They were saying the same crap ten years ago. And twenty years ago. We need growth. We neeeeeeed this money so we can do this for you. In actuality, they need it so they can do this TO you. Maybe growth isn't the big aphrodesiac it's cracked up to be. Why not? Because it's needy. It requires more. It creates displacement, resulting in a vacuum, sucking dry the teat.

Try to confront a politician about why things are so bad today, even after compounding one tax upon another to fix schools, roads - you name it: "Well," they'll spin, "bad decisions were made in the past. There was a lack of foresight."

Mark my words, all they're after is your money. In ten or twenty years, new politicians will be saying the exact same thing about them. And these miracle fixes and cures (Nascar, Sonics, new arenas, fat-assed Nickels tunnels, etc.) won't have done what they are promising you today. Why not? Because it's all a black hole into which we can pour innumerable dollars. We can build their legacies. Politicians have broad collars, from which they like to dangle your dollars. Remember that big fat gas tax that was supposed to fix everything? Get ready, your fuel tax goes up in July. And again next July. And guess what - we still have the problems but they are even larger, more complex problems now - problems which can only be fixed with MORE TAXES.

It's something to think about while you're driving over potholes, waiting in traffic jams and smelling the sewage spills in Puget Sound. What are they doing with all that money?

But, hey - at least our politicians see the infamous BIG PICTURE. They know what's best for us - and that appears to be sports stadiums.

When evaluating an incumbent politician at election time I can only say this. Don't look at what he or she has done. Look at what he or she hasn't done. Or, putting it another way: Don't look at what they've done for us. Look at what they've done TO us.

From today's newspaper, an AP story from Bloomington, Miss.:
State Sen. David Tomassoni, a Democrat who opposes a statewide smoking ban, said he worries about the lost tax dollars.