In Washington State, the governor and legislature face a devastating budget deficit, and February demonstrations highlighted dramatically different approaches to the crisis.

First, some 3,000 citizens rallied to demand big spending cuts and no tax increase.  “Give Me Liberty, but don’t give me debt!” said one typical sign.  A few hours later, a comparable crowd arrived on chartered buses to demand sharply increased taxes on everyone! The angry pro-tax crowd was made up largely of state employees and members of public employee unions.

Their presence highlighted the danger of constantly swelling government payrolls: the more people get hired by government, the more people will demand raising taxes on others to protect their own jobs, salaries and benefits. The idea that pro-tax demonstrators are more idealistic or selfless than the anti-tax crowd is, simply, laughable.