The Oregon Congress failed to pass
a proposed school budget today. It’s not
the end of the road. As pointed out by
the Oregon Education Association, the budget is being “held hostage” to gain
more cuts to the Public Employee Retirement System.
The core issue, of course, is that
the available revenue is assumed to be constrained and that “tough choices”
need to be made about what to fund or where to achieve other “savings”. This is a ready-made formula for showdown
partisan politics that is, ultimately, beside the point.
The choices are “tough” because
most agree that state services – among them education, human services and
prisons – are underfunded and revenue is scarce. The revenue is available. There is a vast, bubbling pool of untapped
wealth that has been protected for years by lobbying, propaganda and social
conditioning.
Oregonians have decided through
their votes and their choices what they want to fund, and even at what
level. They have to take the next
responsible step and that is to fund the services at an appropriate level. It is demonstrably false that the resources
are unavailable. The machinery exists to
pry them loose. Putting that machinery
in motion is an act of will by the legislature or the electorate. Tax the people responsibly, equitably and
adequately.
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