You Can Almost Feel The Collective Apathy

If there's one thing that American politics has hammered into my brain, it's that the people hate tax increases. So when the Post hit the streets to talk to Washingtonians about the tax hikes proposed by the Council last week, there was probably mass carnage, eh? Suffice it to say that reporter Martin Ricard could have left the body armor at the office -- the only thing that would have overcome him was the massive indifference. In Ricard's sample: smokers, who will just buy cigarettes in Virginia; some guy who drives for a living, and will only be able to make five side trips a year instead of seven due to the gas tax increase; and transient interns, who can hardly be bothered about the District's fragile financial state. There are people out there who are deeply concerned about the measures the Council have taken to fix the large budget gap -- but if we take this report as at all indicative of public opinion (admittedly, somewhat of a stretch), it's quite possible that most people out there just don't care that much.