What exactly is it about 'services are provided via taxes' that people don't/can't/refuse to understand? ~  ~ Sooz

PUTTING A TEA PARTIER ATTITUDE TO THE TEST.... It may seem hard to believe, but when voters elect conservative Tea Party candidates to cut taxes, and those same voters expect public services to remain intact, the results aren't pretty.

Take Long Island's Nassau County, for example.

You don't say.

The NYT report noted this as a classic example of taxpayers "accustomed to high levels of services" struggling to adapt to "protracted lean times." There may be some truth to that, but this is actually an example of a larger lesson -- locals in Nassau County aren't just reluctant to part with public services they want and appreciate, they chose a county executive to cut their taxes at the same time.

It's one thing to balk when budget shortfalls lead to painful cutbacks; it's something else to make matters much worse by electing a Tea Partier who'll push your community into receivership.

jim, do you have a link to the video of that encounter?

"When talking about the Tea Party movement, the largest number of respondents said that the movement's goal should be reducing the size of government, more than cutting the budget deficit or lowering taxes. And nearly three-quarters of those who favor smaller government said they would prefer it even if it meant spending on domestic programs would be cut. But in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.â€