I was looking online for a specific form the other day, and as a result I visited several government entities' websites. During my search to find a form, I discovered instead the proverbial final straw: Virtually every government website I visited had a prominently-displayed button for taxpayer use by which they could request help marked, "Customer Service."

Can someone please tell me how and when a taxpayer became a "customer" to our servant, the government? How did this happen? A more appropriate question might be, "Why did this happen?"

I remember my reaction a few years back the first time I heard the word "client" used in conjunction with a welfare recipient. I was shocked and not a little appalled. I mean, even though a person on welfare cannot technically be considered a financial supporter of the government -- i.e., one of millions of people who pay taxes to "hire" our government to render essential services -- still, the word "client" in this scenario conjures up the image of an almost servile relationship. I remember struggling with the use of this term for awhile, and even though it caused me great discomfort, I rationalized it away because welfare recipients generally use tax money, rather than provide it.

One of the primary principles upon which our country was founded is that the taxpayer is king, not the government. It's why we call ourselves Americans instead of British. By the very definition, the word "customer" denotes a dependent-provide relationship. (Webster's New World Dictionary defines "customer" as: "A person who buys, esp. one who buys from, or patronizes, an establishment regularly.") In a normal customer-supplier relationship, a dissatisfied "customer" can generally patronize another establishment. Not so with government. Their monopoly makes Microsoft look ant-like by comparison. We have nowhere else to go for sewer, water and roads.

Following that first experience with the use of this word within the context of government, I began hearing it more frequently, but this time being applied more broadly across the millions of taxpayers who are supposed to be government's "bosses." It was then that I was sure I did not like it one itsy teensy bit.

The next event that caught my interest as a taxpayer was a watershed moment for me: Two back-to-back votes on the Mariner stadium issue were soundly defeated. The people had spoken loud and clear. The issue then rose Phoenix-like from the ashes, wings fully-extended and ably assisted -- just in the knick of time! -- by a government coalition (there's that word again) which consisted of the governor, the legislature, the King County Executive, and the appropriate King County and Seattle jurisdictional agencies. Hallelujah, Brother! Yet another billionaire club owner, along with many multi-millionaire ballplayers were saved from the clutches of actually having to pay for the stadium themselves. Whew! That was a close one! I know many Puget Sounders agree that it's a beautiful stadium and that the Mariners walk on water. But at what cost? And I have yet to see any hard or factual cost-benefit analysis done on the money that it would bring to the city as revenue versus the cost to taxpayers to build and maintain it. And unfortunately, we never will. (Also, if I may ask what will appear to many sports fans as an unreasonable question: Why the heck can't the people who use the stadium, pay for it?)

When this event occurred, I was a new and struggling small business owner, and none of it made a bit of sense to me. I didn't see any governments stumbling all over each other to come to my aid and place a cushy little safety net under the read-end of my sparse little bank account.

So what does this have to do with my anger in being referred to as a "customer" by the government we suppor t? Well, if you don't know by now, then I have just wasted the last 30 minutes.

We support government through our tax dollars. We do this in order that they can provide us with basic and fundamental services which we cannot individually supply for ourselves. Things like major highways, sewer treatment plants, airports, and national security. Are we getting our money's worth?

Do you walk into a government office and feel the pulse of activity that you feel when you walk into a booming, profitable capitalistic enterprise? As you sit in your car during a seemingly-endless rush hour, do you wish DOT had spent more money on another lane or had the foresight to "save a little for a rainy day" in a reserve account that could now be used for a mass transit system? Where has all the money gone? It has not gone into actual transportation improvements, but instead into gorgeous landscaping, sound walls, new office buildings, endless consultant studies, a steady stream of brand new DOT vehicles, and ever-greater salaries and benefits? Don't you wonder where all the money goes? Don't you wonder that there always seems to be enough money for developing ever-larger communities, but never enough money for wise future planning for infrastructure improvements required because of those developments?

Do YOU get upset when the government calls YOU a customer? If you don't, you should.

This country was founded on the noble principle that the individual citizen was free to choose, but along with that freedom came responsibility; responsibility to self, to family, and to the community; which includes government. And essential ingredient of responsibility is accountability. The citizen IS the BOSS, not the other way around.

And if we are no longer "The Boss," then when did it change? And why did we let it happen? More to the point, how do we get government back to holding government accountable?

And if by some Twilight-zone switch taxpayers are indeed the customers, I don't know about you, but I want to take my business elsewhere.

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