"On Election Day in Massachusetts, which will face an estimated $2 billion deficit next year, voters moved perilously close to a tax revolt that was breathtaking in its mindlessness. Nearly half the voters - 45 percent - supported a ballot proposal to eliminate the state income tax, a move that would have plunged the state into a fiscal emergency." -- Bob Herbert, in a NY Times Op-Ed, November 21, 2002. (emphasis mine)

Mindless: 1 - a: marked by a lack of mind or consciousness b: marked by or displaying no use of the powers of the intellect
2- requiring little attention or thought; especially : not intellectually challenging or stimulating

So, now Herbert thinks that half the voters in the state of Massachusetts (a/k/a Taxachusetts) are mindless. This isn't surprising, as just last week, Herbert praised NYC for the proposed tax hikes, and earlier this month, the Times called the lack of a commuter tax 'unconscionable.'

Funny how a $2 billion deficit is not an emergency, so long as the state has ability to use lethal force to seize the necessary funds. However, when the government's constituents exercise their right of suffrage to limit that ability, it is characterized as a 'mindless revolt'.