I was relieved to see that Ralph Nichols comments regarding "Tax and spend Democrats" does not reflect the opinion of Robinson Newspapers. At least a newspaper would be held more accountable for being accurate and have a basic understanding of civics.

Lobby groups, like those Mr. Nichols mentions, don't elect our legislature. We do. And even if the Legislature voted according to such "special interests groups" as labor (those who work), education (those who attend school and teach) and the environment (those who eat, breathe air and drink water), I don't know a single person whose special interests don't fall into the categories of working, breathing, eating, etc.

Since we live in a referendum state who approved Initiative 695, we, as voters, can't be taxed without our approval, unless the Legislature approves "Emergency Measures." And there has even been an initiative registered with the Secretary of State to limit the criteria for considering unapproved spending as an emergency measure.

Also, the state, as well as county and municipal governments have to increase their spending to make up for the shortfall of spending cuts at the federal level things like education and law enforcement. The revenue has to come from somewhere.

It's also a popular accusation, leveled like an obscenity by some alleged conservatives, of being a "tax and spend liberal." Taxes are the way the government gets it revenue to take care of infrastructure expenses like law enforcement, schools, roads and like, the way we earn our wages to care for our families.

Sensible families get their revenue first, then allocate money to their expenses and stay within budget. The opposite of this is deficit spending. Neither we, nor the state, don't enjoy the trillions in overdraft protection, or the ability to sell our debt to foreign governments, as the federal government.

We have to balance our budgets. Getting revenue before spending it seems more fiscally conservative than living on credit.

In all fairness, I do think it's essential to audit which streams of taxes pay for what services. Like most people, I suspect there is some overlap and re-allocation of funds for other than what we pay for. For example, a few years ago, there was a petition to get an initiative on the ballot, at least in Pierce County, to add to our state sales tax to fund schools, when schools are already supposed to be funded by property taxes and the lottery.

With all the local levies for different services, I would like to know how much I pay for what. This information needs to be transparent and accessible.The "Fair Share Health Bill" is not anti-business. Businesses in this state who do pay for their employees health care are being taxed, same as individuals, to fund health care for multibillion dollar businesses. This is corporate welfare for a big corporation, while other businesses, who do the right thing, are paying for it. We, as taxpayers, all are.

If people work, they should have the resources to care for their families. That social contract is one of the bases of conservativsim.

With the severe partisan polarization we've been experiencing, a lot of people are missing the point. Both liberal and conservative attempt to perform social engineering through politics to address issues whose causes are wrongly identified. Initiatives and bills are often inspired by romantic (and incorrect) notions of why things are the way they are and how things should be fixed, when we, as a society can't agree on what "fixed" means.

Laura Standley

Des Moines