"We talk about the strategy in class," says Temple associate political science professor Michael Hagen. "It's frequently used . . . President Clinton actually did threaten to close the Washington Monument during his budget battle in the '90s."
The strategy is a pressure builder and we've just seen examples of it.
No higher sales tax in Philly? Then there'll be blood in streets, piles of uncollected trash, raging fires and no libraries or rec centers.
No higher taxes in Pennsylvania? Then public education ceases to exist, State Police stop functioning and state parks get sold to private developers.
Some threats were similar: Mayor Nutter said he'd lay off 739 police officers; Gov. Rendell said 800 state troopers would go.
It's the politics of panic. It plays to peoples' fears and politicians' advantage. Predict the worst then save the day.
And now that the Legislature approved the mayor's sales tax and the Guv has a deal raising taxes on cigarettes, business and some entertainment, well, things aren't so bad.
"There is a tremendous amount of joy in Philadelphia right now," Nutter proclaimed Thursday after his bill passed.
"I know it's hard for the people of Pennsylvania to accept the fact that they are a winner but they are," Rendell said Friday of his budget pact.
"It's a play from the playbook they run over and over," says David Thornburgh, director of the Fels School of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. "If you tracked it, I'm certain the ratio of times when dire predictions ever happen is small . . . You get weary of it. I think it builds cynicism among citizens."
I agree.
