Libraries? Who needs
’em? Taxes? Robbery! There are some among us who don’t want to
pay anything (let alone more) to fund libraries, or who think any
taxation is like having your heart cut out.
Libraries? Who needs ’em? Taxes? Robbery! There are some among us who don’t want to pay anything (let alone more) to fund libraries, or who think any taxation is like having your heart cut out. It’s really peculiar to hear this from people who live in cities, rather than choosing to live self-sufficiently on the tundra, digging their own root vegetables and trapping wild game, pulling water from hand-dug wells with a wooden bucket, using an outhouse for sewage or eschewing electricity and fossil fuels.
Some don’t want to give libraries money because they feel they’re porn magnets. They envision legions of kids jockeying to view the basest smut imaginable (or unimaginable) on a library computer. Yeah, right.
News flash: Kids don’t need the library’s computers to view porn or anything else: Most have access to computers and the Internet either at home or at the home of a friend. Some kids are going to root around in cyberspace for things that make you want to wash their eyes out with soap and water, and the only way we might stop that is for all adults to quit our jobs and become full-time enforcers. Cutting back library hours won’t do the trick. Libraries aren’t jammed wall-to-wall with computer terminals anyway. They’re still mostly repositories for books. Children aren’t the only visitors, either. You’re as likely to see grandma or grandpa browsing books or surfing the Internet.
Life is never simple, folks. It’s complicated. Sometimes it’s dangerous. And it’s perplexing. But here’s the kicker: It’s always been this way. Each generation thinks they’re sliding into the next Sodom and Gomorrah, and almost invariably some feel that they’re the chosen people to be alive during the last days of the earth. And try to find anyone who hasn’t complained of being overtaxed.
Our tumultuous times are not unique. Before 1955, polio was the big threat, long before AIDS. In 1918, millions died of the flu. Porn? It’s been around since the time when ancient Romans and Phoenicians discovered they could imprint detailed and, to some, disgusting, acts on the sides of vases. Until the Internet came along, teenaged boys somehow stumbled upon Penthouse, Hustler, Playboy and far more explicit magazines and books. Drugs? At one time, virtually all over-the-counter medications contained opium, cocaine, alcohol, or all of the above. In fact, people have been using and abusing substances like opium, coca leaves, and pot since before the written word. And somehow, despite the eternal march of mayhem and challenges, people have funded libraries.
Naturally, some people truly can’t afford any taxes, owing to illness, job loss or other hardship. Among city-dwelling homeowners, though, the numbers of people in this group are truly small. By and large, those opposing the library’s funding through the proposed meager parcel tax strike me mostly as cheapskates or paranoids. Some are both. A couple of bucks a month in extra taxes to someone who owns a home is almost trivial, especially when you consider how fast homeowners are accumulating equity as their house appreciates at the rate of thousands of dollars a month. If you can afford the cost of your garbage pick-up, water bill, or gas for your lawnmower, you probably have a couple of bucks somewhere to help fund libraries.
Think money’s tight? Most people do. But almost all of us have some discretionary income. Cut out one meal at your favorite burger joint each month or forego a movie rental and you’ve more than covered what you’d be paying if Measure A and Measure B pass. Yes, we’re already being taxed hundreds of dollars a year to pay for our “oops, wrong intelligence” war ($150 million a day) and to build million-dollars-per-mile soundwalls along freeways, but even then most of us should be able to rustle up 10 or 20 cents a day for decent libraries -something the entire community benefits from.
A few bucks a month for our libraries is money well spent. Some think it’s just the start of being repeatedly taxed to increase librarians’ salaries, add on to libraries, replace old ones, etc. Maybe that’s so. But on the whole, libraries have never sucked much money from any community, and that’s unlikely to change – ever.
Libraries are an investment in knowledge, in community education and the backbone of a truly enlightened society. Even if you don’t have children, and even if you never visit a library yourself, you have to realize that everyone benefits from access to books, regardless of age or income. If you have a ballot, vote yes on Measure A and Measure B by May 3.
