By Ken Robinson

There should be a tax on coffee drinks.

Alcohol is a drug and we realized a long time ago that taxing things people want is a very good way to raise money for the operation of government. Same with marijuana. Once government realized that people were going to get it anyway, they also realized taxing it would raise a lot of money.

That is why we should put a tax on another popular drug, coffee. Coffee contains caffeine. Even so-called ‘decaf’ has trace amounts of the drug in it. And caffeine is a drug a lot of people crave.

A tax on coffee-crazy Seattle could raise money to fund so many of our local needs. You have to give credit to the brilliance of the founders of Starbucks, now possibly the largest drug dealer in the world. And we do not say this to denigrate the sellers of coffee. Starbucks was not the first to recognize the value of a jacked-up populace. There have been ‘dealers’ of this drug brewing and selling coffee for a very long time. The use of caffeine is is deeply rooted in many cultures. Why? Because you get a little high from it.

It really isn’t practical to grow your own coffee like you can make moonshine or grow pot. But after the hard work of growing and roasting is done by someone else, all you have to do is brew it to get a little buzz. And that buzz is what should be taxed.

The current mayor of Seattle is floating an idea to tax sugary beverages. These beverages also give people a little buzz, then a little later drip you like a hot rock so you want more. The beverage distributing companies should soon be trotting out their plan to counter the effects of these drinks as they did when local government years ago proposed taxing them to offset the depositing of them by the side of the road and in landfills. That proposal was shot down by the companies that bring your 7-Up and Pepsi.

We think the mayor is onto something. And that coffee in brewed form should be added to the things that are taxed. Toss tea in there too.

He copped out, then surprised us

Congressman Dave Reichert refused to meet with constituents at a town hall gathering during the run-up to the republicans health care bill. He cited ‘safety’ concerns. Really? He’s a cop. What was he afraid of? A tomato in the face? Out was it that he was afraid to face the majority of voters opposed to replacement of Obamacare?

We are never going to have the answer. In his heart, he probably knew that if he faced the voters, he would get pummeled. Being a congressman is a difficult but powerful role in our country. He probably wanted to keep his job.

When it came to vote, he vote against the flock that dutifully followed the rest of the sheep behind Trump to the precipice. For that, Reichert should get a gold star. It took guts to say no when importuned by the Vice President, who called him more than once.