> > > You have to watch that tax increase for a specific purpose. Many years ago, we had a one cent increase in the sales tax. It passed because they said it would all go to education, and parents and teachers worked hard to get it passed. Then the next year's budget showed that education really got that penny, but another penny was taken out of education and put in the highway budget. Net gain for education - zero.
> >
> > This sort of thing is why I dislike ballot-box legislation. If your politicans aren't representing you, you can't hope to fix things via referendum. At the end of the day, the only real safeguard in a republic is to elect good leaders.
>
> And then you have to hope they don't turn bad.

In support of republic, it's one more safeguard than you get in a proper democracy. /shudder