`Mount Rushmore Syndrome`
CVN Choices
08-28-2010
With a front-page New York Times headline saying,
`Struggling Cities Shut Firehouses in Budget Crisis,`
the Libertarian Cato Instituted wonders just
what those cities spend their money on that is more
important than those firehouses.
They suggest that the cities are employing a
tactic called the `Mount Rushmore Syndrome.`
That is a political tactic whereby government
officials cut their most important functions
so as to protect their budgets.
The most visible and most appreciated service that is provided
by a government is the first to be closed or cut. The name
derives from the National Park Service`s habit of saying
that any cuts to its budget would lead to an immediate closure
of its most popular and not very expensive to maintain attractions
such as the Washington Monument or Mount Rushmore.
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