It appears that John Morse has made the mistake of his political career if Republicans can play it right (and that is a big if). Bill Ritter is prepared to follow him into the abyss.
The Republicans in the State Senate have been making the wrong argument. By making the highway argument, they have let the Democrats and especially John Morse and Bill Ritter off the hook.
Had I been constructing the argument, I'd have been making a purely populist (or perhaps reverse populist) argument. I'd have never mentioned highways.
This argument isn't about highways. Fundamentally, it is about the rate of growth of government and whether it is even possible for the taxpayer to keep up with what John Morse is proposing.
At the six percent rate of growth currently in the law, the size of government already doubles and redoubles in size at an obnoxious rate:
A child born today will have a government twice the current size when he is 12.
When that child graduates from college and marries, government will be four times as large as when he was born (24 years)
When our child's own first child is playing little league baseball, it will be eight times as big as when today's child was born. (36 years)
When today's child becomes a grandfather, government will be sixteen times as big as when he wore his first diaper. (48 years).
Before today's child is eligible for retirement, government will be 32 times as big as it was when he was just a gleam in his father's eye (60 years)
Just five years into retirement, government will be 64 times as big as it was the day he was born. (72 years)
By the time today's child nears the end of his life, government will be 128 times as big as the day his parents brought him into the world.
The thing that boggles the mind is that John Morse is dissatisfied with that rate of growth. What rate would he be satisfied with? If the limit were 8% instead of the 6% that it currently is and he wants to change, a child born today would see government grow by 512 times by the time he was 81.
Perhaps 8% isn't enough for John Morse. A 10% growth rate would have government grow by 2048 times before he was 80. If that child were unlucky enough to make it to 87, the number would be 4096 times.
How much is enough for John Morse?
Those who are math challenged might want to look up The Rule of 72 That is where these numbers come from, that and powers of the number 2: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 264, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.
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