Ronald Reagan began his political career...

...with a speech endorsing Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona for president in 1964. Two years later, Reagan was elected governor of California and four years later he made his first run for the Oval Office. Finally, in 1980, the Gipper was elected president promising to increase defense spending, reduce taxes and balance the federal budget. How? According to John Anderson, one of his primary opponents, "Easy; you do it with mirrors." Another opponent, George H. W. Bush, who went on to serve as Reagan's vice president, got into trouble by calling it "voodoo economics."

But the public loved it.

Raise spending, cut my taxes, and balance the budget at the same time? Where do I sign up?

Reagan was elected in a landslide and made good on his promises to raise defense spending and cut taxes. There was only one hitch. The federal budget deficit ballooned. The Gipper then spent the rest of his two terms raising taxes in a frantic effort to close the shortfall. (Except in Reaganspeak it was done with "revenue enhancements," not taxes.) Bush and Clinton continued the effort and the budget was finally balanced in the 1990s. Phew!

I'm reminded of all of this by a story in the Times today, "Closing of Rest Stops Stirs Anger in Arizona":

The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show” crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row.

But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt.

“Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’” said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.”

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.

But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.

“People in this state are mad about this,” said State Representative Daniel Patterson...

Imagine that. It seems that people actually like some of the services that the government provides. Go figure. And it seems that those services need to be paid for somehow.

I always thought that one of the reasons Reagan was so popular was that he told everybody exactly what they wanted to hear. In effect, he treated the American people like children. Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, preferred hard truths (and was pilloried for it).

Well maybe it's time for Mr. and Mrs. America (and especially the Tea Partiers) to grow up and face reality. Government services require taxes.