The World Around You

I just sent the following letter to Citizens for a Sound Economy (Dick Armey’s organization):

To Whom It May Concern:

I can’t wait for Mr. Armey to come to help Alabama. I and many other concerned citizens will be there to greet him in a most fitting fashion. He has no business sticking his nose into a political and financial situation he doesn’t understand.

Alabama places one of the lowest tax burdens in the country on its citizens, and what have we gotten in return? We are continually in crisis mode, suffering under this court order or that court order to shape up and fund critical state services. Governor Riley, a strong fiscal conservative, realized within weeks of entering office that there was no way to get out from under the mess he was left in the short term but to raise taxes. Our taxes will be increased, make no mistake. The choice is only whether it will be done fairly, with some of the burden being lifted from our poorest citizens, or whether we will continue to come up with temporary solutions that get us nowhere in the long term.

Again, I look forward to Mr. Armey’s visit, and be forewarned that he will get a piece of at least one citizen’s mind.

Dick Armey and CSE don’t have the first clue about the particular difficulties of the situation in Alabama. If you agree, please write to cse@cse.org. I also took the time to use their own tool to write letters of support to my representatives rather than letters scolding them for passing the plan.

If you support CSE, I would love to hear some ideas to close a $565 million deficit and still maintain essential state services. I would be happy to post and discuss anyone’s ideas.

I’ve been having so much fun with MT that I haven’t written much today. I’m happy with the appearance of this site for now. Pictures and pretty graphics to come later. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, and I assure you I will provide with an opinion worth reading in the coming months.

It looks like the Governor is starting by attempting to get local politicians on board. I think this is a good step, but I hope he understands that they all have their own political necks to worry about and many of them could gain politically if they rail against the plan.

The Governor will have to personally close this sale. There’s no way around it.

Looks like I may have seized on the opportunity at the right time. I hope Kathy can find a solution that will suit MT. I’m new to all of this and can’t say what the correct way to handle it is. I would hope MT would help come up with something that would work for everybody.

Welcome to my new home! Thank you to Kathy Kinsley for helping with the set-up and for hosting this great service.