In this Corner...

From the Washington Post

...we have Governor Martin O'Malley.  Mr. O'Malley has declared (among other things) that if he gets his way, the state sales tax will apply to gasoline.  The gas tax will go up by 20 cents a gallon, and the state will put a cap on all tax deductions.  He "understands" the hardships that many families are facing right now as we are struggling to pull out of this recession, but his state's deficit is around $1 billion right now, and thus it does not matter what everybody else might think. 

Hey Martin, here's a thought.  What ever happened to "Don't spend what you don't have?" 

He says that the gas tax increase would be earmarked for road and bridge construction.  Umm, what is the gas tax being spent on now, Gov? 

What?  Did Obama's stimulus well dry up on you?  I have noticed a lot fewer of those "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" road construction signs out there nowadays (including at that quagmire which is the interchange reconstruction at I-695 and Liberty Road).  Perhaps if we did not spend so much money on social projects that I am not going to enumerate here (because that would be against the spirit of this post), we could redirect those funds to road construction where you know they will be spent wisely. 

And in this corner we have O'Malley's comptroller, Peter Franchot (not exactly a budget-tightening conservative himself).  O'Malley and Franchot have shared a war of words lately over O'Malley's proposed tax hikes.  Franchot is not on board with these increases, and has not exactly minced words with his boss.  O'Malley likened Franchot to (gasp!) Mitt Romney and Franchot responded by saying that he didn't want to get in the way of O'Malley's presidential aspirations.  In the end, all of this rhetoric is just that, rhetoric.  O'Malley will get exactly what he wants because in this state, Democrats run the show and have for dozens of years.  Even if there is a minor difference of opinion on the Democratic side about the means to achieve the end, the end goals are still the same, and we have to suffer because of it. 

Since when did Caputo's Corner get all political all of a sudden?