Gov. Gregoire proposed today transferring control of and responsibility for the ferry system from the state to a regional Puget Sound Ferry District, essentially shifting most of the costs of running and maintaining the ferries to taxpayers in the counties that use it most.

Sounds fair enough, right? After all, why should taxpayers in say, the ironically ferry-less Ferry County pony up to subsidize the lifestyle choices of residents and workers in Island, San Juan and other ferry-dependent counties? You know, just like they insist they shouldn't be forced to pay for cost overruns on Seattle's gold-plated Big Bore tunnel, regardless of the fact that it's allegedly a state highway.

Well, okay. I could accept that logic. But only on the condition that we take this philosophy to its logical conclusion, and make sure that folks here in the Puget Sound Ferry District don't have to pay for infrastructure and services in the rest of the state either. In fact, hell... let's just go all the way and pass legislation that mandates that all state tax dollars must be spent in the county in which they're raised.

See, the thing is, rest of the state, if folks here in the Puget Sound Ferry District—you know, where most of the money is—didn't have to subsidize your schools and your roads and your nearly everything fucking else, we'd have plenty of money to fund all the public services and infrastructure we want, and we'd have little trouble passing the local tax measures to pay for it. So if that's what you really want, stop teasing us, and let's just get on with it.

Don't get me wrong, rest of the state: I love the food you grow, and I wish you the best of luck growing it. But this is capitalism man, so let's be honest... you're still gonna sell it to us regardless of whether we subsidize your schools and your roads and your irrigation, so I don't really see what's in it for me to keep up my end of the social contract if you're not gonna keep up yours.

I suppose it might be best for all of us if we continue to work together for the commonweal of the state as a whole. But if you really want to go it alone, have at it. I'm sure some rich folk here will look forward to picking up some cheap, Eastern Washington ranch land after you go all Somalia like.