Politics

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One of the nicknames for the State of Maryland is “The Free State”. However, since the power to tax is the power to destroy, perhaps it is about time a more accurate slogan was selected.

In an attempt to hop on the global warming bandwagon, the state legislature is considering a bill that would require auto dealers in that jurisdiction to sell vehicles meeting California emission standards.

While this might look good on paper and allow elected officials to pat each other on the back as to how progressive and enlightened they appear to be, as usual, it will be up to the average citizen to pick up the bill so that the politicians can feel good about themselves. For it has been estimated that these upgrades will add as much as $3,000 to the price of a new automobile.

Though most of us aren’t as smart as our overlords in the government, one is forced to ask what is to prevent consumers from going elsewhere to make their automotive purchases such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, which have traditionally had better selections to begin with as certain Maryland areas often exhibit outright hostility to the automotive industry? In Prince George’s County, officials even considered zoning car dealers out of the overly-vaunted Hyattsville “arts district” (a fancy name for a government-subsidized area designated for beatniks and other unemployable undesirables unamenable to regular work) without the compensation required under any eminent domain action.

The vitality and morale is already just about drained from many Maryland residents as they are clearly not getting the quality of life they are forced to pay for and it is doubtful that they can take much more. Already in some counties tax bills are over $3,000 dollars annually and are expected to rise to as much as $6,000 by 2010.

Electoral politics is already a game of the idle rich with too much time on their hands. If those of this occupational classification wish to make such grandiose gestures, perhaps such restrictions should only be imposed upon those openly seeking these positions of prestige and influence. One could be assured that the nation would then see far less of this kind of nonsense.

By Frederick Meekins

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