[Vision2020] Why Did The Levy Fail?

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

All:

Much of the opposition (or at least a number of voters that if they had voted 
for the levy instead of against, it might have passed) to the bond/levy came 
from very motivated fundamentalist Christians in Moscow who, in the final 
analysis, would oppose the bond/levy regardless of how perfect it was in planning, 
financing, etc. They oppose all tax supported public education.   And of 
course there are a very large number of Republican and/or anti-tax advocates in 
Moscow who easily can swing against a raise in their property taxes, again, even 
if all of the objections to the levy/bond were blatant nonsense.   All 
anti-tax advocates need is a threat to their income status, like the surge in gas 
prices, to make them vote down a bond/levy for schools.  And even moderates who 
want to support public education might balk when they are being squeezed by 
worries about rising fuel costs and doubts about the U of I's future status as 
Moscow's main employer.

I think this levy would have failed if Roberta, Janice and Jim Prall had 
spent the past two months sitting on the beach in the Caribbean!

I would be curious to discover what the levy vote would have been if gas had 
dropped to $1.50 a gallon instead of going up to $2.50 a gallon, and the U of 
I was hiring more employees rather than firing them.   I suspect these two 
variables alone would have altered the percentage breakdown of the vote, though 
the levy might still have failed.

Mark Solomon's post on the broader financial/tax issues involved gets us clos
er to the truth of the overall agenda involved in our society in the attack on 
tax supported education, both higher education and public K-12 schools.

For a deeper look, consider Chomsky's recent lecture at WSU, available on the 
web here:

http://experience.wsu.edu/Default.asp?s=no

I don't know for sure if the question and answer session after Chomsky's 
lecture is also included in this online version of his WSU lecture on the WSU 
website, but his comments during the question and answer session regarding those 
who "polish the boots of the wealthy" are relevant when considering the broader 
agenda in the attack on tax supported education in the USA. 

Ted Moffett
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