You can’t open a newspaper or watch the evening news without hearing how poor our state is. Someone is always lamenting the fact that Governor Jim Doyle just doesn’t have enough taxpayer money to spend. And of course, the only answer the politicians ever come up with is to tax us more. Heaven forbid that anyone would stop spending so much.

Yet every time we turn around, someone is coming up with a new way to spend our money. Today’s gem is almost $11 million of taxpayer dollars, which will likely be approved to buy a chunk of land in Mukowonago. It’s a 970-acre property known as Rainbow Springs, a chunk of land that has not been successfully developed, even though several people have tried.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel even reports that the purchase of the land would be “…one of the state’s most expensive conservation land purchases in southeastern Wisconsin…” Government officials are touting this as an opportunity to prevent it from being developed (no economic development allowed!) and a chance to spend even more taxpayer money by creating “…a huge recreational playground for Milwaukee-area residents who generally are within an hour’s drive of the natural area.”

Sorry, people. The government’s job is NOT to create recreational destinations on the taxpayer’s dime. I’m not interested in paying for a place that offers “hunting and trapping.” That’s not my responsibility as a taxpayer. And you can bet that the land is going to end up costing far more to taxpayers than the $11 million that they’re ‘fessing up to today. Wait until we’ve put three or four times that amount into the acreage.

I’d like to know who thinks it’s really okay for our government to operate this way? We need less government in our lives, not more. If the site is viable as an entertainment and recreation destination, then let a private developer spend the money to try it. I’d rather keep my money in my pocket, thank you.

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