Blatant political advocacy

You all know where I stand on the presidential election. But if you live here in the Commonwealth, you need to know about Ballot Question 1. Basically, Question 1 seeks to phase out the state income tax by half on January 1, 2009, and then eliminate it entirely by the next year. I'll let the Boston Globe explain to you why this is so preposterous, although here are some hard numbers: the Massachusetts income tax brings in $12.6 billion of revenue, representing about 40 percent of the budget. That money has to be made up somewhere (but not from the $13 billion mandated by the constitution and various court orders and laws).

To illustrate how bad things could get for the state, the Globe has made this fun little game. Play it! I recommend just pulling every bar into the red to see how long it takes you to balance the budget. What an eye-opener.

I'm somewhat sympathetic to the whack-jobs at the Center for Small Government, the masterminds behind Question 1. I mean, nobody LIKES government waste. And they see eliminating the state income tax as a strong message to Beacon Hill that state government needs to tighten its belt and work better. A fine message, but a horrible way to send it. Since I'm a poet, here's some figurative language: Question 1 is the equivalent of you, dear reader, sending me the message that you don't like Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun not by oh, say, actually sending a message, but rather coming into my apartment, smashing my precious Macbook into a million pieces, and then kicking me in the nuts for good measure. Just leave a comment!

So tell all your friends: vote no on Question 1.