Mad World (aka "What Has Happened To Connecticut?")

"All around me are familiar faces....going nowhere, going nowhere" -- Tears For Fears, "Mad World" (made famous by Gary Jules)

Do any of you have recurring nightmares? It might be just me, but from time to time, I find myself stuck in a horrible vision; that of living in a state where I am a slave, and totally irrelevant.  All my money goes to the state government, and all my decisions are made by the state government on my behalf.  Freedom of speech is a bad joke; there is none, and even if there was, nothing that you say or do really matters.

The strange thing about this nightmare is that, seemingly, I haven't woken up from it.  Look around you, fellow Nutmeggers.  Connecticut is in dire straits, and sadly, quite the state of decay.  State officials don't even have enough money to fix the roads, let alone pay the state's debts.  Businesses that have long thrived in Connecticut have now moved, or are moving, out of state (ask General Electric about this).  And parts of our largest cities, such as Bridgeport, resemble war zones in far-off lands.  Yet, the majority party in Hartford (Democrats..."what else is new?") want to slap new taxes and new fees on every single resident of this state. 

What kind of taxes do the Democrats propose? For starters, let's talk about the eighty-two tolling booths that they wish to put on state highways.  Then, let's throw in a higher property tax, higher sales tax, and higher income tax.  Oh, and before I forget, Democrats want to tax basic, everyday items like milk and bread.  And they also want to force smaller school districts to regionalize; this would be a mandatory and state-wide thing.  Forget school choice, they say; your child WILL go to school here, OR ELSE. 

Connecticut used to be a great state; a place where families could live and thrive for multiple generations.  That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.  When I tell people that I'm from Connecticut, I usually get a funny look from them, at the very least.  That never used to happen to me; everyone I met used to say, "oh, I've been there, that's a nice area".  These days, the comment is mostly in the vein of "really? That crummy state?"

I have to ask you, dear readers; is this kind of thing what's called "the American Dream?" That no matter what you do, you can never ever even hope to get past a certain point? Is it now simply accepted that unless the government approves of it, you cannot and will not succeed? And did the heroes who fought and died in places named (among others) Iwo Jima, Fallujah, and (frankly) New York City give their lives in vain? It is said that they made "the ultimate sacrifice", but for what, exactly? That those who came after them would be forced to live in a nightmare? I think not!

It's high time that the citizens of this state woke up from this terrible dream we're having.  Let's allow this state to thrive and prosper once more; to coin a phrase, let's make things better, and "let Connecticut be Connecticut again".