All three of the Las Vegas Sun’s front-page stories today are about Nevada budget cuts; as is its editorial and only local op/ed. At this point, is it fair to suggest that the Sun has stopped being a “newspaper” and is now practicing “advocacy journalism”?
Also, in its “A poor budget plan” editorial, the paper declares that “(Gov. Brian) Sandoval may sound principled for standing by his pledge (not to raise taxes), but the pledge was foolish.” It adds:
“Here’s the reality: The tax system in Nevada is badly broken, as several major studies over the years have concluded, and the state’s small government hasn’t been adequately funded. The result is a poor level of services and schools.”
Sorry, but that’s not reality; that’s the Sun’s opinion. Here’s an alternative reality:
The tax system in Nevada was working just fine until the galactic-wide Obama-Reid Recession kicked into full gear. And the state’s so-called “small government” can and should get even smaller. We’re beyond asking government to do more with less; it’s time for government to start doing less with less.
As for the opinion that we provide a “poor level of services and schools,” there are a lot of taxpayer-funded “services” government shouldn’t be providing in the first place – such as emergency road service that competes with private providers such as AAA. And as long as the government runs the schools, they’ll continue to suck no matter how much money we dump into them.
Now THAT’S reality!