Two states that share a border provide about the starkest, night-and-day contrast imaginable when it comes to the defining issue of our day: government control.
Those states are Virginia and Maryland.
In 2012 alone, the Maryland legislature has introduced, seriously considered or passed a slew of bills that would never see the light of day in the Commonwealth…all dealing with the government confiscating more money from taxpayers and drilling even deeper into the lives of its citizens.
As Maryland becomes the eighth state in the union to legalize gay marriage, the state legislature and Governor Martin O’Malley have repeatedly demonstrated their insatiable appetite for higher taxes, more spending and increasingly petty regulations that would bring the ultimate nanny state to a whole new level.
As gas prices soar above $4 a gallon, they have proposed a new 6% gas tax. They have proposed increasing income taxes across the board, as well as taxes on internet purchases and yet more on Maryland power users to subsidize wind farms. The state’s largest county is even charging shoppers a five cent tax per bag.
Then there’s the issue of traffic cameras, which are being added at a dizzying pace to confiscate more money, even after government officials admitted at a public hearing that these cameras are being positioned to maximize income rather than promote safety. And this cash cow will only get worse. For example, Prince Georges County figures to collect almost $8 million from the cameras this year, double what they expected, and will now be adding six news cameras every month. And additional legislation would allow Maryland jurisdictions to use private companies – paid by those jurisdictions – to validate speed camera tickets instead of police.
Another bill would make it illegal for regular cars to park at spaces with charging stations for electric cars, including private property such as malls and stores, effectively creating VIP parking zones for those who own electric cars.
They have introduced or passed legislation prohibiting smoking in any car occupied by a child of eight years old or younger, another to make it illegal to keep a pet in the front seat of a car and yet another requiring minors to get parental permission to use a tanning bed.
While Maryland is micro-managing and taxing the life out of its citizens, Virginia is busy dealing with constitutional issues like the protection of property rights through a constitutional amendment on eminent domain. It attempted – and may ultimately succeed – in holding the public school system to account by limiting the lengths of contracts for public school teachers, as well as expanding school choice And it is strengthening the right to life by requiring sonograms for mothers contemplating abortion.
Dozens of bills have been introduced – a number of which have passed – reducing state power over local communities. There is no appetite for increasing taxes, and even many leftists in the Commonwealth talk business-friendly talk.
These two starkly different visions of the proper relationship between the people and their government almost perfectly frames the choice facing all of the American people in 2012: will we opt to restore and strengthen the American constitutional republic, or to transform ourselves into an unabashed, European-style social democracy?
