(Thanks to others whose writing I borrowed)

The best argument against I-695 is Tim Eymans own writing in favor of it. To the critical reader, the striking thing about Eymans writing is that it contains almost no substance, and is rife with amusing contradictions. Most readers arent that careful, however. To the casual reader, he provides a continuous stream of appealing statements that one would very much *like* to believe.

An excellent example is his recent half-page piece in the Seattle P-I  http://www.seattlep-i.com/opinion/eyman.shtml  a classic illustration of how a mail order salesman uses emotion, rather than logic, to get a careless reader to buy into something completely against his own interests.

First, he invents some vague, imaginary, hateful enemies  the tyrannical politicians who don't have one ounce of compassion for the average taxpayer. Of course, since no such people really exist, they can't defend themselves; so they make easy targets. He might as well have said poltergeist instead of politician. For fun, Ive substituted poltergeist in some places below.

He quotes his bogus 6th highest taxed state figure right away. Then, with words chosen to incite righteous anger, he ascribes all manner of detestable qualities to the imaginary enemies  they take more of your hard-earned income than they should, It's a rip-off and everyone knows it, The fact that politicians would lie shows how desperate they are He harps on the word, politician, until we come to believe that these imaginary enemies actually exist, and are the source of all government inefficiency, incompetence and extortion. How could anybody possibly like them?

These mythical politicians do bear some resemblance to the average readers image of government. Everyone knows that the government is inefficient, bureaucratic, etc. right? And everyone hates paying taxes. What a joy to hear someone confirming, in a strong voice, what you suspected all along  that your taxes are too high, youre being cheated and you deserve relief. Even if it never occurred to you that your taxes were too high, youre surprised and pleased to hear someone telling you that they are. Now you like this guy because he talks as though hes on your side, and youre willing to believe that his enemy is your enemy.

Meanwhile, he plants the suggestion that the proposal of he, Eyman, the good guy, is so much better than what the politicians give you, since he names working class folks, families, senior citizens, and the little guy, while the fictitious enemies show no signs of caring about these people. Of course, its easy for anyone to make such claims; but everyone who's not listening too carefully, and hears the message often enough, starts thinking that the initiative is about Tim Eyman and the regular people vs. the tyrannical politicians, and forgets that the tyrannical politicians were just an invention of Tim Eyman. It sounds so sincere, we lose sight of the fact that the initiative is really about, Tim Eyman the prankster vs. the people of Washington and their government.

His appeal is further increased because he pokes fun at the politicians whom we have started hating. Poltergeists say the sky will fall if I-695 passes; that's absurd (as though anyone other than Tim himself said the sky would fall); We know this comes as a shock to most poltergeists, but there are other options besides raising taxes... such as prioritization... (as though the people in government don't know that already); The only argument poltergeists have found is a lie (which should be translated, I, Tim Eyman, have so far managed to come up with a rebuttal for only one of their arguments). His jeering at the poltergeists makes him appear strong, since we have confused them with our government, a strong authoritative institution. He reinforces this image of strength by repeatedly attacking and laughing at politicians in the press, scoffing at their counter-arguments, and rudely interrupting them in TV debates. People like to rally around someone who appears strong, and enjoy seeing the big bad enemy torn down. Since government officials are prohibited from expressing opinions on issues that are on a ballot, there have been few retorts from them. What a sense of power Tims masses get from being able to blame their problems on someone powerful, and then bringing that someone to his knees. It's an extraordinary battle, folks!

He doesn't need to give his masses a lot of facts. Just five simple, deceptive half-truths, repeated often enough to stick in the memory, quell their skepticism and provide fuel to counter their critics. 6th highest taxed state, $500 million, 2% of government spending, $1 billion tax surplus, $30 puts us in line with other states. Of these five figures, EVERY SINGLE ONE is either an outright lie, or an irrelevant figure carefully and deliberately chosen to give a false impression; but the majority of the population, who dont check out what they hear too carefully, fall for it.

Since he has no answers whatsoever for most of the No side's objections, he resorts to diverting attention from that fact by scoffing at them  Dont believe them  theyre poltergeists looking out for their own interests! Theyre just using threats, lies and scare tactics  dont be fooled! Thus, he shows his followers the way to handle the criticism that they will inevitably face from their more level-headed friends  just recite one of the false figures, and laugh!

With this combination of deception, diversionary tactics, entertaining cheek, threats of higher taxes, and pretence of being on the readers side, the talented salesman gathers a whole flock of captivated disciples chanting his mantras: How could a 2% cut cause all this doom and gloom? Greedy politicians! Theyll have to learn to prioritize just like we do! Threats, lies and scare tactics! Dont be fooled! Were going to send a message to Olympia! Meanwhile his web site is full of appeals for donations to support his phony money-saving prank. The final irony is to be found at the end of his piece  if we fail, politicians will learn that money, threats, lies and scare tactics work and that taxpayers are sheep.

What an attractive deal he promises  by a simple Yes vote, we can punish the greedy tyrants who have extorted from us for years, and have hundreds (and many times thousands) of more dollars in [our] back pockets, newer vehicles, new computers, better health insurance or other family needs, a huge boost in the growth of our state's economy All at no price!

And what is he actually offering his faithful flock? A measly $142 per year on average. The least relief comes to the people whom he pretends to be helping the most  the little guys and working class folks who own inexpensive cars, or no cars at all.

Prioritize, just like the rest of us?? Us who? ================================================= Even in Tims short newspaper piece, amusing contradictions abound. In one place he claims that, Colorado is the 39th highest taxed state in the nation, and has a booming economy because of it; elsewhere he says that we have a thriving economy. He might as well have said that Washington is the 6th highest taxed state in the nation, and has a thriving economy because of it.

He boasts that he will teach politicians to prioritize. Most people completely miss the fact that he cleverly avoids suggesting any specific government spending to cut when MVET is gone! If he did so, he would immediately incur the ire of the affected group of people. So, instead, he simply denies that any noticeable spending cuts will take place, and leaves the decisions about what spending to cut in the hands of the greedy politicians whom he claims to be saving us from! Making tough choices is not Savior Tims problem!

How clever. When the inevitable service cuts come, he can conveniently put the blame on the politicians, while taking credit for the tax savings.

Dont be fooled by my characterization of Honest Tims sales pitch. I might be just another poltergeist! Read it for yourself at http://www.seattlep-i.com/opinion/eyman.shtml and form your own opinion. Or visit his web site at http://lifetel.com/tabs and see if you can sift any substance from the flood of empty, Im the good guy, theyre the bad guys, ha, ha, theyre stupid, theyre desperate, theyll stop at nothing, we must stop them, declamations.

-- Anirudh Sahni (anirudhsahni@hotmail.com), November 01, 1999

Answers

YAWN!!!!!!

Man, get off it already. No amount of your caterwauling is going to stop this initiative from passing. Face it, son, the election is over. We're 30 points ahead in the polls. After the first, you're welcome to pay thirty bucks along with the rest of us.

"The key to socialism is medicine." -- V.I. Lenin

-- Joe Hylkema (josephhy@wsu.edu), November 01, 1999.

Compelling narration. I think I should change my mind and vote against I-695.... Oh wait, my wife and I cast our absentee ballot's last week. Sorry.

-- Matt Greenway (mgreenwa@u.washington.edu), November 01, 1999.

You raise some very good points. I especially like your point about how Tim Eyeman won't offer any suggestions as to the programs that he would cut to make up for the losses in revenue.

People that comment in this forum are also unable to articulate where the money will come from. You can't take away $1 billion a year and not notice! Anirudh Sahni offers some great comments on the tactics of the Yes campaign.

For those of you out there who are voting yes: where will the cuts come from? I would like to hear SPECIFIC programs, please. Your suggestions will be very enlightening. And do try to tell me there won't be any cuts, or that the government will simply "rearrange." I want to hear where the cuts will come from, in your opinions.

-- Diana (washingtonian@hotmail.com), November 01, 1999.

Diana-

Cut every transit program and the ferries by 30%. That will just about drop their subsidy to the national average.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), November 01, 1999.

Embarrassing to have the Yes campaign scrutinized in the full light of day, eh? :-)

-- Joe Campbell (joecampbell76@hotmail.com), November 01, 1999.

You probably wouldn't like my cuts, just like I probably wouldn't like yours. Thats why we pay elected reps to do this job not individuals with their own agendas

-- no chance (kingoffools_99@yahoo.com), November 01, 1999.

Diana:

I'll paste these (thanks to Ricardo on another board): I spent about 15 minutes looking at a VERY SMALL portion of the budget and found a few of these absolutely crucial programs/budget items that absolutely CANNOT be cut to pay for services like police,fire and transit.

120,000--Wa. quality awards council

20,000---task force archaeology& historic preservation

430,000--Comm. on asian-american affairs

520,000--Office of indian affairs

1,000,000--rural tourism development

100,000-- farmworker housing

970,000--GRANT to Wa. council on international trade

total--3,310,000 for these CRUCIAL needs

AND from me: - Cut the millions to be spent on a salmon display - $600 for a trash can? I wonder how big that can is? - All officals and state employees should be driving economy cars and not luxury sedans. - Pay officials in office only for their time in office and not the whole year (3 months) - ALL OFFICIALS IN OFFICE TAKE A PAY CUT. This is a public service job, not a career. - Slash state employees that browse the internet all day. Install software on networks to montitor time. - Get bids from at local contractors only for state jobs that involve local work instead of out-of-state work. Didn't know that did you!!! - Cut the doughnut and soda funds. - BUT ABOVE ALL PRIORITIZE SPENDING. Don't cut fire services just to pay for the water in the hot tub to heat up faster!!!!

-- Sandy D (sandy_d1@yahoo.com), November 01, 1999.

Amen Sandy!

Say Anirudh, you sure have a lot to say(write) for be a no-voting, non-us citizen of the US. If you had any pride in what your saying you to should vote rather than waste our & your time on this discussion forum. Afterall most of us here are us citizens and will be voting tommarrow. By the way I-695 will pass! Yeahawwww!

-- Mr. Bill (bspencer@kalama.com), November 01, 1999.

Now, Anirudh, you've just gone WAY too far!

You guys, this guy's one smart cookie! He has almost succeeded in putting us all into such a deep sleep that we might have missed the election!! We really need to be on our guard when dealing with these guys, they ARE GOOD!

Doh!

Thank God my computer started beeping or I'd have been out for a week!

-- Paula (eagleross@pioneernet.net), November 01, 1999.

PS-I don't care which tax the money comes from, here is a part of my list: *tax funded abortions-let them pay for it themselves, instead of involving me in their murder *Why do law enforcement and other gov't servants have to get BRAND new cars?-let them drive around in one a few years old. *Why do I have to fund gay dances through the health dept. for 14-20 year olds at our community colleges? *Salmon "interpretive" display. *7 million dollar elevators. *Constant remodeling of gov't servants' offices-Why do they need chairs that cost hundreds of dollars? These guys repaint if they don't like the color of newly painted walls. *Funding or money laundering through orgs like: what is that one called that uses our money against us, oh there are so many,- Something Association of Counties? *60 dollar dinners for the same for politicains. I spend 60 a week for food. *Administration, *Administration, *Administration...

Uhh, I don't want to put anyone to sleep either, I better stop.

-- Paula (eagleross@pioneernet.net), November 01, 1999.

Diana,

In addition to what Paula has written here, go look at "1.1 Billion reasons to vote no on I-695" on this forum. And to Anirudh, the kill the messenger ploy won't work. Tony

-- Tony (eagleross@pioneernet.net), November 02, 1999.

<>

Sorry dude. You have it all backwards. The opponents of I695 are the ones that have no substantive arguments. I haven't even heard one good argument against I695 so far. How pathetic. You are the other dorks who are against I695 are just whining and whining and can't come up with even one good reason against I695. If you think I'm wrong then prove it to me. Give me one good reason why I695 is bad, and I'll counter it easily. Go ahead. You game?

-- Winston (WWu777@aol.com), November 03, 1999.

Anirudh: Which branch of govenment do you work for?

-- Leithel Lady (leithellady@yahoo.com), November 05, 1999.

Anirudh, You should offer to pay the full license tab fee for not only yourself but for all your whining liberal buddies.

-- (sps2045@netscape.net), November 05, 1999.