"Don't tax you, don't tax me. Tax that guy behind the tree."

And wouldn't it be great if that's the way it worked?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every time a new highway or a new bridge needed to be built or an old one repaired we could just look to "that guy behind the tree" to empty his pockets on our behalf?

Or better yet -- what if we could just have all the services we need (and expect) suddenly appear, with no effort on our part, courtesy of "that guy?"

Yeah, that's it, that's the ticket - get "that guy" to take care of it.

Reality check, everyone.

"That guy" is us.

Like it or not, we all have to kick in some of the money for good roads, safe bridges, county and city facilities, wages and benefits for the people who manage all those resources -- we even have to toss something into the hat to support the process of voting on all of it.

Where else would the money come from, if not from us?

For four years in the recent past, I was president of the homeowners association of a condominium complex of 25 units.

Within the complex were six buildings of varying sizes, a swimming pool and pool house with a hot tub and two bathrooms, a soft-surface tennis court, a couple of acres of grounds with lawns and landscaping, streets, driveways and parking areas.

Condo owners pay a monthly fee for the upkeep of all the facilities within the complex. The idea is that everyone pays a small portion of the total cost of maintenance, spread out over the amount of time they live there, no matter how long (or short) a period of time that is. Cost-sharing is one of the upsides to condo living.

It's the job of the president, assisted by a board made up of owners elected to their positions by the rest of the owners, to manage the funds generated by the monthly fee.

In short, it's a lot like managing a city or a county. It's smaller, of course, but the issues and the problems are pretty much the same.

It's one of the wonders of the modern world that anyone would want to shoulder that responsibility, especially as a volunteer, because a more thankless job than this one would be hard to find -- maybe even impossible.

Absolutely none of the homeowners believe that increases in the association monthly fee are ever necessary. In fact, most of them believe the fees should be reduced. Some even believe the fees should be eliminated.

They do, however, expect that the swimming pool will always be sparkling clean, the leaves that drop from the multitudes of trees will be removed, the tennis court always in good repair and ready for play at a moment's notice, the bushes and trees trimmed, the grass mowed, the driveways free of potholes, the snow removed before 7 a.m. and the trash picked up on time.

They also expect the roofs on all the buildings will be maintained or replaced on a regular basis, the gutters will always be free of leaves and the buildings will be painted on a 5-year schedule.

A $10 increase in the monthly fee sends them screaming into the stratosphere; even an increase of $5 per month sets off a torrent of rage, followed by verbal abuse of the board members.

Everyone who lives in a condo is an expert, by the way. Fully half of them are experts on roofing, painting, pool cleaning and driveway maintenance. The other half are experts on tree-trimming, tennis court maintenance and snow removal. A lucky few are experts on all of these issues and in financial matters, to boot. They know everything there is to know about these items and will be happy to share their expertise with the board.

Very few of them, however, want to share this "expertise" by volunteering to be on the board. They're too busy with other important things in their lives to get involved.

And the annual meeting -- the one where the budget is presented and new board members are elected?

Our "experts" are nowhere to be found. They're too busy to attend. Fewer than half of the residents will show up for meetings of any kind.

But none of them are too busy to complain about the new budget and the new board -- which they will do, endlessly and exhaustingly, until the next year's meeting and vote, when they will again be too busy to become involved.

A familiar pattern, isn't it?

Because that's the way it is with human nature.

We want someone else -- the guy behind the tree -- to pay the taxes, to fix the problems, and to take the punishment when things do not go the way we want them to.

But it's not up to the guy behind the tree.

It's up to us, the taxpayers, to take the responsibility for our government, no matter how small or large it is.

It's all up to us.

We have the right and the duty to help decide how we're taxed, by whom we're taxed and for what purpose the taxes will be used.

We have the right and the duty to participate actively in local, state and national government.

We have the right and the duty to vote.

On Tuesday, April 8, we have another opportunity to exercise those rights and those duties.

Instead of complaining about government and taxes, we can do something about it -- we can vote.

If you don't want to vote, that's fine with me.

But if you don't vote, don't complain to me about taxes and government, because I will have done my job by voting and I don't want to hear from you.

If you want to discuss it with somebody, though, I've got a suggestion.

Go talk to the guy behind the tree.