Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: The coward’s way out

Friday, Feb. 14, 2003 | 4:19 a.m.

IT'S GENETIC suicide, I tell you.

If we have learned anything these past couple of years, it should be that nothing, absolutely nothing, should surprise us. And yet, the surprises keep coming.

The latest was a headline in The New York Times that declared, "State G.O.P. Legislators Think the Unthinkable." The story came from Salt Lake City, which is in a state where the party of the elephant controls everything -- the statehouse, the Legislature and all manner of local political thinking.

So, what's the problem next door? It is the same one that is vexing at least 24 other states in this not-quite-perfect union. Taxes. Or should I say, the lack of them. Utah, just like Nevada, is upside down and drowning in a sea of red ink. And, as much as our neighbors to the east would like to avoid the word, the fact of the matter is that taxes will have to go up.

And that thought alone is anathema to Republicans across the country who are true believers in their God-given obligation to lower, not raise, the cost of citizenship for their constituents. Let me be clear, Democrats don't like raising taxes either, despite what GOP adverstisements at election time profess. In fact, who in their right mind wants to tell the voters the one thing they never want to hear? The answer is no one.

But, the fact of the matter is that in a democracy the people elect representatives to their legislatures and statehouses to represent and govern them. Our goal is to send people to high office who have the capacity to deal with complex issues so they can act in our best interests. Sometimes that means casting unpopular votes.

Somewhere along the way, the Republican Party got confused on this tax thing. While the GOP has prided itself in the past in standing for limited government, that has somehow been twisted into a "no new taxes" kind of thing.

Clearly, with fewer tax dollars coming in, the likelihood of government expanding seems remote. But, for government to do the job and provide the services that the vast majority of Americans want, there is a certain understanding that the people will be willing to pay the price.

But that distinction has been lost in the campaign rhetoric of those politicians who think that as long as they never vote to increase revenues they will continue to be re-elected. And, not surprisingly, that has been proven true over and over again because the voters rarely take the time to understand what is or is not being done in their name. Voting against taxes in all forms, therefore, has become a holy grail for many politicians. Especially Republicans. So now it is time to pay for all their past shortsightedness, and the folks to the right of reasonable just can't stand the idea that they might have to pull that lever in favor of responsible government.

Nevada is in the middle of its own red-ink madness. And who are the people from your neighborhood who are most adamant against raising taxes? That's right, it is our friends in the GOP who have made a career of saying "no."

This time, though, they don't have a choice. Let me rephrase that, they can defeat Gov. Kenny Guinn's request to raise the money needed just to stay even -- which keeps us at or near the bottom of all 50 states in quality of life criteria. But, to be true to their sworn oaths to represent the people of this state to the best of their ability, they will at some point this session have to agree with the governor.

For some, the decision will come easy because to do otherwise is to doom this state to the unenviable status of a Mississippi or an Alabama. But, for others, the decision will be harder because they have convinced themselves that they are genetically incapable of raising taxes.

Well, just like in the other 24 states awash in the red stuff in which their counterparts will hold their noses and vote to do what is right, proper and required, so will Nevada's elected officials.

Will there be a few who take the coward's way out? Probably. But if they dare blame their votes on their constituents -- those are the people whose kids will not have a seat in school and whose parents will not have medical care if they can't afford it -- they will learn a hard lesson.

And that is that the voters are a lot smarter than some people think and that they know a good deal when they see it.

Gov. Guinn is asking everyone to pay just a little to buy us the kind of state we can be proud to live in and that is the kind of message that seems fair to the fair-minded people of Nevada.

They will bicker and they will brawl, but legislators will no longer have the luxury of hiding behind some politically altered genetic code for winning elections.

Just like every other state with our problems is learning that "no" is not the right answer, it is time to alter the DNA of politics.

It is time for legislators to put the people above themselves.