Potentially even more interesting than the historical exposé, though, is what happens after Greenham and Price cede center stage. At the show’s premiere on May 18, at the McArthur Public Library, in Biddeford, a handful of folks engaged in civic discourse as if starving for it. After some initial responses of the instinctive “my taxes are too high” and “government wastes too much” variety (a woman complained that the city trucks are idling away gas money whenever she sees them), Greenham mediated. Aside from the favorite culprit of government waste, he asked the group, exactly what would we be willing to cut?
After some comments from the group about the difficulties of providing services to a large, regional, and rural state, a 30-something man noted that it’s one thing to keep repeating the mantra of “cut spending,” and another to talk about what our tax dollars actually buy. “This is a more honest conversation,” he said. “It’s more difficult to walk into a room and tell someone they’re not going to get medical care.” When a 60-something man in a cardigan lamented the passing of “proud self-sufficiency,” another Gen-Xer argued that tax cuts alone weren’t going to teach him to plant a farm.
Even as the actors withdrew to pack up, the people kept talking. Tax talking will continue, statewide, and with any luck, Taxing Maine will help keep the level of conversation rising.
On the Web
The Maine Humanities Council: www.mainehumanities.org Email the author
Megan Grumbling: mgrumbling@hotmail.com
Topics:
Theater
, Culture and Lifestyle, Public Finance, Taxes, More 
, Culture and Lifestyle, Public Finance, Taxes, History, World History, Ben Franklin, David Greenham, Dennis Price, Taxing Maine, Taxing Maine, Less 
