What is Washington Monument syndrome?
You won’t get the real answer on Wikipedia. Try this:
The “Washington Monument Syndrome” refers to the tactic used by politicians and bureucrats to extort tax increases from the public. Whenever they are threatened with a tiny slowdown in the growth rate of government spending, borrowing, or taxation, the first thing they do is threaten to cancel whatever will inconvenience the public the most — school buses, ambulance services, garbage collection, police, etc.
In Seattle recently (actually, Oregon but reported by CBS Seattle) a woman who was about to be raped (or worse) called 911 and was told by the dispatcher that the cops were not available to help her because of “budget cuts.” Dial 911 and die. As Ron Paul once said, you are safe in your home not because the cops are driving around in circles in your town, but because of the Second Amendment.
From Lewrockwell.com, here.