So, I'm driving my sis to work ... listening to the usual NPR, and I hear a report about another town cutting back on school programs for their locals. Burns, OR was facing this terrible problem because it had lost the local mill a few years back. Then, the kicker, public outcry finally erupted when the cuts hit .....
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS!!!
>>>hurl<<<
Nov. 14, 2003 -- In Burns, Ore. -- population 3,000 -- high school sports are an obsession. Tune to local radio station KZZR and you're likely to hear a broadcast of high school football, wrestling or volleyball. But as NPR's Howard Berkes reports, Oregon's budget crisis and local anti-tax sentiment threaten Burns' school sports programs.
We learn about the removal of 8 school days and layoffs of teachers and staff. Then the schools have to CUT SPORTS! >>sob<<
The town rallies to raise support to keep the programs. Of course, we also hear that this has all happened thanks to a California-style property tax cap.
Voters in Burns seem to hate taxes as much as they love high school sports. That has some Burns parents threatening to move their families to areas where school sports are still an option.
This is the level of irrationality we're up against. Listening to these people talk, I ...
Sigh
This kind of story really fills me w/ despair for our future. There are obviously large chunks of the population completely beyond rational discourse and thought. The unholy alliance of anti-tax orthodoxy with the Fundy's twisted take on religion has lobotomized a big chunk of the citizenry. The Rethugs have cornered the market on the two eternal specters in American Life. Death and Taxes.
Any ideas on how we can combat this?