"All the ideology in the world won't pay for it"

Imagine a place where the leading politician pokes fun at those who "regard all taxes as a pestilence, a plague or a disease."

Imagine the same politician saying: "Not one of us wants to pay more in taxes. But you know what we want even less? What we want even less is to leave our country to our kids in a worsened condition."

And imagine a place where other politicians are grown-ups and decide that closing budget deficits requires a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.

Guess what place that is?  Right, it's not Washington, DC.  And, at least with Republicans in charge of the General Assembly in recent years, it hasn't been Virginia either. 

Fortunately, as E.J. Dionne writes, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley "is persuasive in arguing that what government does in areas such as education and the environment stands as evidence that citizens are 'willing to invest and sacrifice in their own day to make their kids' lives better.'"  The result of this leadership is "the crashing and crumbling of ideology, specifically a right-wing ideology that demonizes taxes and government while preaching that the public interest depends upon solicitude toward the comfortable and the privileged."

Interestingly, Dionne reports, Martin O'Malley turned to former Virginia Governor (and future U.S. Senator) Mark Warner, who did more than anyone to make the tough choices that saved Virginia from Jim Gilmore's irresponsible, whiny, angry, infantile, foot-stamping, ultra-ideological, "something-for-nothing" brand of (non) government. 
The overall issue is not ideology at all, it's pragmatic -- making government work, getting things done that we all know we need, and getting the absurd right-wing, flat-earth ideology out of the equation.  O'Malley and Warner get it; Gilmore and Howell don't.  It's that simple.

Let's spell it out for Gilmore and Howell: government is formed by human beings ("we the people") in order to solve problems that no one of us acting alone could solve (e.g., ever try to build a bridge or clean up the Chesapeake Bay by yourself?).  That's right, solving problems and meeting challenges to the "common good" requires pooled resources, and that in turn requires taxes.  As Dionne writes, it's "what government has to do, and all the ideology in the world won't pay for it."  Yes, this is REALLY basic stuff, things we should have learned in elementary and middle school, but apparently people like Jim Gilmore and Bill Howell missed those classes, or were busy reading Ayn Rand when they should have been listening to their teachers. 

For some reason, the Gilmores and Howells of the world are not willing to look reality in the eye and deal with the world as it is.  Instead, they'd rather retreat to their infantile slogans about "tax and spend lib'ruls" or whatever other nonsense they're spouting these days.  Let's spell it out plainly for Gilmore, Howell, et al: taxing and spending are WHAT GOVERNMENT DOES.  If you don't understand that, you are not intelligent, competent or mature enough to even BE in government in the first place, let alone run for high office.  In fact, you should be sent back to summer school for remedial education in Civics (and Econ, and probably a few other classes), because you obviously learned nothing during your K-12 education.

Luckily for people who live in states like Maryland (Dem. governor), California (Rep. governor), Florida (Rep. governor), Arizona (Dem. governor), and many other states, there ARE people who stayed awake in school.  These people understand the purpose of government, how it works, and -- most importantly -- how to make it work for all of us.  People like Mark Warner, advisor to Martin O'Malley and future U.S. Senator from Virginia.  Now, the question is, how much longer do we have to put up with the flat-earthers?

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