I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but Maryland faced “doomsday” earlier this week with the close of the legislative session. Our elected officials were still debating a couple key proposals to raise income taxes when the deadline came, and so we were forced to pass a budget that did not include the tax increases that Governor O’Malley so desperately craved.  And that’s apparently what doomsday means now.

Contrary to popular opinion, doomsday is not a catastrophic moment in history characterized by fire and brimstone. It’s not the day a government subjugates its people. It’s not a date which will live in infamy. Instead, it is a day that most people won’t notice and almost no one (besides, perhaps, those working in the legislature at the time) will even remember.

If that doesn’t sound like the doomsday scenarios that you know and love, take heart! You are not alone. I’m sure there are lots of people – limited government and free enterprise advocates like ourselves – that rejoice at even a slight victory such as this against an ever-growing monstrosity of a state government. After all, it’s not “the people” that crowned that $35 billion budget (which includes about $500 million in cuts) as the “Doomsday Budget.” That was all them.

Where did the term come from? It was a name given to a budget that did not feature any of the tax increases proposed by Governor O’Malley to plug the holes that he created by raiding special funds. It was supposed to be a straw man. After all: how could we implement a doomsday budget? Of course the public would recognize that we needed to raise taxes and we would start phoning our elected officials, begging them to take more of our money.

The problem is, the Maryland public isn’t as stupid as our government thinks we are. We didn’t beg for higher taxes. We looked at the so-called doomsday budget and decided that we could deal with it in the same way that we’ve been dealing with this recession. It may not be optimal, but it’s life – and it’s within our means. Sometimes, that’s just the way things are.

Of course, we’re not out of the woods yet. Just like when your doctor tells you that your cancer is in remission, there’s still a long and painful road ahead. And the possibility that it will rear its ugly head once again, worse than before.

Governor O’Malley may call a Special Session later this year to take a second crack at the budget, at expanding gambling in the state, and at a few other pet projects of his (like off-shore wind and increasing the gas tax). He has that power, and it certainly seems like he has the desire to do it already.

So what is our role in all this? To stay informed. To stay on top of the issues. And to make sure that we pay attention when and if a Special Session is called so that these issues don’t fly under the radar the second time around. We need to stand our ground so that our elected officials don’t forget to stand theirs.