Fleeing Maryland

I'm a little late getting this post up. Returning from vacation is always a bite in the ass. Throw in a conversion of computer operating systems and a move of my desk all of 3' that requires packing up my entire desk and you can see why I'm a little occupied with other things.

But on to the show.

A frequent canard of the Maryland GOP and its sympathizers is that Democrats, who've been running the state for decades, with the exception of a brief 4 year term for Bob Ehrlich as governor, are chasing away anyone with any large sums of money. People with money are fleeing to live in Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Virginia. Anywhere but Maryland because of its exhorbitant taxation. The Democrats are also chasing away businesses because of their regulatory and tax policies.

Now, I don't care where the wealthy want to live. As a middle class Maryland resident, I think I'm getting quite a lot back for my tax dollar. Then again, I'm either part of a large silent majority or a small silent minority who doesn't object to taxation in the first place. These nit wits of the Know Nothing ilk think all taxation is bad and have entirely missed the fact that the Boston Tea Party was a protest not of the tax itself but that the colonists had no say in the passage of the tax. The taxes the Know Nothings abhor were passed by a body elected by them and the rest of us. Oh, sure, their choice for the office didn't win, but they had a vote in it. They just couldn't convince enough of their fellow citizens that their choice was the right choice. What the Know Nothings want is a dictatorship of their minority view. Very patriotic. Very original intent.

But back to the point. Oh, sorry. I haven't gotten there yet.

Some weeks ago I read in the Baltimore Sun that Baltimore was noted by a business survey to have had the 6th lowest business operating costs in the entire US. In the entire United States of America. Sixth lowest. Have we all got that now? There are only 5 other cities in the country with lower operating costs for businesses.

Now, if you ask any Maryland GOP flack, Baltimore City is the nexus of the ills of the state of Maryland. It's full of additional taxes and social ills and whatever else you want to demonize. And demonnize they frequently do in letters to the Sun or comments on line.

So, I've been waiting weeks now to see what the Maryland GOP has to say about Baltimore being an evidently business friendly environment. So far, I've heard or seen nothing. Where's the hurrahs? Where's the congratulations? Where's the call for business to descend on Baltimore and take advantage of its welcoming environment? The silence is deafening.

I guess there's too much to do in trying to perpetuate the myth that Democrats are socialists.