Leading With The Left Another SOCIALIST

Leading With The Left

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, August 25, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Democrats: Barack Obama isn't the only leader at this week's convention whose ideas border on the socialistic. So do those of party chairman Howard Dean, as demonstrated during his stint as governor of Vermont.


In those 12 years (1991-2003), Dean and the Democratic legislature transformed a rural state with an austerity budget into a state that ranks No. 1 in taxes (with a top rate of 9.5%) and in the top five in per capita spending on welfare, health care and education while trailing the national average in job and personal income growth.

How was this pulled off? By ramping up entitlement programs in much the same way Democrats propose at the national level.

For example, Dean quickly expanded eligibility for Vermont's controversial public health care program called "Dr. Dynasaur." Enacted in 1989, it was intended to insure only pregnant women and children under age 6. But Dean insisted that health insurance ought to be "the right of every citizen in Vermont."

In 1993, the year Hillary Clinton was trying to get similar legislation enacted at the federal level, Dean submitted a comprehensive health care bill to the Vermont legislature. It was defeated the next year, two months before Hillarycare died in Congress.

But Dean was undaunted. He figured that if coverage were extended one group at a time, he could accomplish the same end. "You can't take on every special interest all at once," he explained. Today, Dr. Dynasaur is one of the largest items in Vermont's budget.

Dean's plunder continued with school funding, which the ACLU got the state's Supreme Court to declare unequal in 1997. The same thing occurred in other states, but Vermont's reaction was dramatic. With Dean's approval, the legislature quickly usurped authority to make decisions, pass budgets and levy real estate taxes for local schools. This led to a massive shift of tax dollars from wealthier districts to poorer ones. Real estate taxes in the "gold towns" with ski resorts are now four to six times higher than they were a decade ago.

Making matters worse was an amendment in 2003 that exempted full-time residents from most of these tax increases based on their incomes. Today, seven of 10 Vermont resident homeowners qualify for these significant reductions, putting an even greater tax burden on nonresident and nonvoting property owners.

In short, Dean and his legislature chose to fund their extravagant social programs by raising taxes on businesses and vacation-home owners who can't vote them out of office, don't have children in their schools and represent the state's largest industry (tourism).

Several phrases spring to mind, including "biting the hand that feeds you." Most apt, however, may be: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."



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