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In Part II of Starve The Beast, I want to focus on "interacting with government". But not in a normal take.
Technology is a great tool, and government is usually a poor consumer of it. But when they do use, they use it to keep their expenses down so they can continue to hide the continued growth in their (inefficient) expenses.
Remember that our goal with Starve The Beast is create an unsolvable fiscal crisis in the State of Maryland. Well, unsolvable in the typical liberal, left-wing way of raising taxes.
One way to do this is to approach the Achilles' Heel of government: manual processing. Drive the cost of every day government processing SKY HIGH.
How can you do this?
1. If you OWE MONEY to the State of Maryland for last year's taxes, don't file electronically and paid with a credit or debit card. File on the LAST DAY, and pay by check. This manual process doubles the cost of processing your return.
2. If you are OWED MONEY, do file electoronically and do get it electronically debited. This takes the money out of their hands that much faster.
3. If you have to pay a traffic fine -- or any other type of payment -- do it manually. Don't do it electronically. Better yet, if you have the time and you have taken your medicine (you know, the "yellow" pill!), go in person! Having to interact person-to-person really drives up the cost.
4. Don't use the automated phone systems the state loves to put in place.
5. File regular complaints with State Highways, the State Police, the DOE, Natural Resources. Make them generally niggling complaints. And then follow up. Carbon-copy your local delegate. What to complain about? Blown truck tires all over the highway. Truck traffic on state roads. Rabid raccoons. Roadkill. Fuel leaks at gas stations. Want to have some real fun with a gas station owner you don't like? Complain that their auto-shut-off switches on their nozzles don't work. But don't lie. Just be a pain in the ass. If one of the medevacs is flying over your house -- or better yet, the national guard -- complain they flew too low.
6. Don't be afraid to report state vehicles being operated like they are NASCAR equipment. (Hint to Salisburians: Gary Comegys likes to blow through that right turn only lane at East Caroll Street and Rt 13).
7. Bury your state delegates and Senators in paper with complaints about employee behavior, fees, taxes, and inquiriries into government operations. I recently asked a delegate for information on the state transportation budget. Took three months to get it back. Don't take that. Those legislative staffers cost money. Make them cost more.
By becoming a boil on the ass of every potential state employee and legislator we come in contact with, we drive UP the cost of government, and force them to spread more of their largesse on the trivial and stupid.
Starving the Beast of its ability to do anything really harmful.