Kansas City Star Blames Matt Blunt for Not Raising Taxes

The Kansas City Star condemns Matt Blunt and the Missouri legislature for not raising taxes. No, wait, they condemn them for taking the steps to prevent a tax increase:

Gov. Matt Blunt got most of what he wanted in his first legislative session as governor. However, it came at the expense of thousands of low-income Missourians, the elderly, people with disabilities and foster children.

Republican lawmakers, working closely with a governor from their own party, made excessive, short-sighted cuts in state government and sometimes favored certain business interests over the broader public good.

I grow weary of this trope, which assumes a priori that government can and must fix all that ails all citizens, and that those citizens who have real or imagined needs have the right to impose their needs upon the rest of the state citizens.

I hope Matt Blunt can continue to withstand the harpies and furies of paper editorial boards and can further trim the state budget to manageable, sustainable (without continual tax increases) levels.