When we don't pony iup to pay more taxes, the legislators and bureaucrats punish us by decimating the services we taxpayers value the most like road repair and law enforcement. They don't freeze their salaries, reduce their pork and new hiring, or, heaven forbid, slash out of control upper end PERS payments. Nope.

They work the fear angle with us, seling off public land, threatening to let streets go to hell, turn criminals loose, or, as in Douglas County, to close libraries.

Their budget trims end up being bureaucratic and legislative extortion.