When I saw election results this morning, I was wondering the same thing about people voting themselves tax increases. Denver had a measure where taxes were increased to cover merit raises for teachers. And it passed. These are the same people who bitch about how expensive gas prices are. Well, when you keep giving more of your money to the government, you have less to spend on the rising cost of everything else around you.
Good pointon the gas price. When I hear someone complain about gas prices, I will simply respond, "Well, then, I hope you weren't one of those idiots who voted for the $3,500 per person tax increase."
This says less about the politics of the average Denver resident than it says about the organizing power of the teacher's unions, and the fact that they no doubt turned out in droves along with relatives and close friends who they hounded into going to the polls. Maybe there should be a law that all tax-related issues must be decided only in presidential election years when you get the highest turnouts, and never in odd-numbered years when turnout is at rock bottom.