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E-mailTaxing lessons
Joseph Sabino Mistick is a lawyer, law professor and political analyst. He lives in Squirrel Hill. He can be reached by e-mail.
Joseph de Maistre, the post-French Revolution philosopher, was probably being cynical when he wrote, "Every country has the government it deserves." An eventual counterrevolutionary, he had little faith in the masses.
Thomas Jefferson may have been more hopeful when he said, "The government you elect is government you deserve." Jefferson also claimed to "know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves."
But H.L. Mencken left little doubt about his feelings when he said, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." Sometimes like a quick punch to the jaw.
All of this amounts to a valuable lesson in Politics 101 for those college students who picked up the cudgel to challenge Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's anti-education tax. For some students, the targets of this tax, it must have been a shock to learn that their voices mattered least. But it is a lesson learned best outside the classroom.
Statistics would show that students do not vote in numbers substantial enough for their opinions to matter, and any ward chairman can tell you that chasing their votes is a waste of time. Because of this, it would be easy to say that the students are getting the government they deserve.
Students now face taxation without representation and they have only themselves to blame for not having a seat at the public policy table. If you think for a minute that Ravenstahl's anti-education tax would have been proposed if a sizable bloc of students voted regularly, you will be buying a bridge in the near future.
This lack of voting in meaningful numbers also means that those who are victimized by lousy leadership must rely on surrogates to carry their water. Luckily for the students, the Ravenstahl anti-education tax has been scorned by educators, captains of industry and more highly placed public officials.
Until now, many community leaders have treated the mayor with "benign neglect," as if they asked themselves, "Hey! How much harm can he do?" Now they know, and Ravenstahl should worry that his anti-education tax is such a bad idea that he may have awakened these sleeping giants.
Louis L'Amour, who captured the essence of the American West in his novels, said, "To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain." The better view may be that you have a right to vote or not and complain or not, but your complaints will not be heard unless you vote.
Bill Simon, the late philanthropist and former Treasury secretary, once said, "Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote." And they are sent to mayors' offices and city councils, too.
If you are a parent who is on the hook for tuition, or an educator or just someone who cares about the reputation and growth of Pittsburgh, chances are you may forget about this turmoil come your next shot at the mayor and those council members who lined up to support the Ravenstahl anti-education tax.
Or maybe you will adopt the policy of the 20th-century American comic and quasi-philosopher W.C. Fields, who said, "Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against."
