Seattle: Liberals as long as we don't have to pay for anything

Maybe it's the fact that I'm facing my 13th year in the public schools with no contract in place and a best-case scenario involving almost breaking even to last year's salary. Maybe it's the fact that I have voted for 17 years to improve funding for public transportation and schools, only to see voter-approved bills shot down in the state legislature. Did you know that even though you likely voted like I did to keep class sizes lower (and lower is not low, just slightly more reasonable) and to let teachers have a cost of living adjustment (which for many years we did not, which means that every year we take a pay cut equal to the inflation rate plus the increase in health care costs), those were both slashed by your elected state representatives? So we will have up to 28 kids in a first grade class? And 24 kindergarteners with a teacher and no teacher assistant?

I digress. What I intended to rant about in this post was the fact that 53% of Seattle who voted this week decided they didn't want to put a 20 cent tax on grocery bags. Why would we want to generate money and help the environment at the same time? Bad idea, the majority of Seattle decided. Many of us bring our bags to the store already, so maybe they were annoyed by this measure for insulting them. Or maybe they don't, and adding 40 or 60 cents a week to their already high grocery bill was scary. But really, to me, it's just another case of not being willing to put your money where your mouth is, Seattle. You are perfectly happy to don your eco-friendly hemp baseball cap and roll out your Jade yoga mat knowing a tree was planted somewhere when you bought it, but when it comes to your money going out to intangibles like public education, infrastructure and transportation improvements, suddenly there's no extra cash in your wallet. I don't think Seattleites have their heads buried in the sand, but their wallets? Shoved down deep.