Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Some in GOP get it

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 10:13 a.m.

AN OLD REPUBLICAN philosophy is no longer lost on new Republicans.

Nevada is not unlike at least half of the 50 United States in that it is hemorrhaging red ink with no end in sight. Legislatures across the country are wrestling with the "no choice" choice of raising taxes or cutting essential services, like school books, school classes and all those dear old Golden Rule days. And each one of the lawmakers are screaming bloody murder as they run headfirst into their own stump speeches about lowering taxes and increasing services.

Nevada is at the forefront of national attention because we have a Republican governor, Kenny Guinn, who understands the need for new taxes and is pushing hard to get them, and a Republican Legislature that is pushing back just as hard saying it is doing only what constituents want. So far, we are going nowhere and time is running out.

To buy the lawmakers' argument, of course, you have to accept the fact that the people of Nevada want inmates on the street, longer lines at a less efficient DMV, school days under three hours or less than five days a week, no books for the kids, a broken mental health system, little or no physical health system and on and on and on. How can we buy that?

To buy the governor's argument, all you have to do is accept the concept of everybody in the state chipping in a little bit to keep Nevada a decent place to live. This ain't a hard decision.

I said the Legislature is Republican, but we all know that the Assembly is in Democratic hands. It is just that the Dems are sitting on those hands waiting for their colleagues across the aisle to sort out their own mess before they jump in. After all, the GOP is in charge of the economy, the war, the statehouse, the state Senate and the hearts and minds of the public. And because the Republicans gave the state the onerous requirement of a two-thirds vote to raise any taxes -- a hurdle Gov. Guinn is having a difficult time negotiating -- it is, apparently, in the Democrats' interests to just wait and watch. It is also fun.

So with time running out and choices having to be made today about the state of our tourist economy and the state of our schools, I thought it would be helpful to give the Republicans a way out of their self-made mess. All those years of convincing the public that we can have something, make that everything, for practically nothing is coming back to haunt them. Especially those who know that raising taxes is the only sane way out of the mess we are in.

This idea is not new. In fact, it is as old as the Republican Party. Nor is it all mine. It was in a discusssion with Nevada's newest congressman, Jon Porter, that the need to raise taxes intersected with the appropriate rationale for making it palatable for the "no new taxes" and "read my lips" party. After all, everyone remembers the words of President George H.W. Bush and they are dead-set against repeating them at similar risk to their own public careers.

So, let's forget about the fact that spreading the tax base across the entirety of Nevada's economic activitiy makes good economic sense. And let's ignore the fact that Nevada's families should get the break in any discussion when it comes to raising taxes for them or the vast number of big businesses in this state that contribute relatively little to the general fund. And let's forget the fact that the Legislature has been diddling around with this decision, putting it off for too many years, and refusing to come clean with the people for fear of voting-booth reprisals for so long, that there is little time left to act.

Let's, instead, focus on why it is in the Republican Party's best interests to follow the recommendation of the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy (of which I was a member), pass the taxes needed to keep our state strong, and get on with life.

The government closest to the people governs best. Remember that. It is vintage GOP mantra and one of the reasons I joined the party many, many years ago. That means that state and local governments are best suited to handle the vast majority of the needs of the citizens, not the federal government. Raise your hand if you agree.

That said, President George W. Bush is doing his best to cut my taxes -- and some of yours -- which we pay to the federal government. I know he is pushing so hard because he believes that if he cuts the money flowing to the federal government, he will cut the size of that government. A perfect Republican plan.

The rest of that plan, of course, is to devolve the services peformed by the national government down to the states and cities. That way, the governments closest to the people will be able to govern best. In order to do all that, it is incumbent upon the people to take the money that is coming back from the federal government and give it to the state so it can perform the services we demand of it. We break even on that proposition and the state and its people prosper.

President Bush knows what he is doing. I suspect that if he weren't so busy with the war and all, he would be one of the first people to agree that Republican philosophy demands adherence to this concept. By the same token, he would be disappointed with those in his party who would sacrifice the needs of the citizens in favor of some political self-interest fed by a wrong-headed understanding of Republican ideals.

My conversation with Jon Porter was short. But it was long enough for me to believe he understands the need to raise our taxes slightly which, by doing so, makes national government smaller and local government more effective. By acknowledging this truth, Porter talks like a Republican.

How speaketh the folks in Carson City?