The courts in Oregon, we have seen, offer no protection against political and fiscal mistakes. That is as it should be. Politics should be in the hands of voters, not judges.

The legislature wrote ballot titles intended to get voters to pass the tax increases it approved last spring in case they were referred, which they were.

The ballot language was basically accurate but one-sided. The Oregon Supreme Court made a couple of very minor changes but otherwise let the titles and explanations stand.

Now a trial judge in Marion County has rejected the request for an injunction sought by opponents of the tax hikes, which will be on the ballot in an election that ends Jan. 26.

The legislature passed these tax increases — on most businesses and people making big incomes — because the majority Democrats could not think of another way to balance the budget and refused to consider the Republicans’ alternative.

That is the way the political process works. Democrats are in charge in Salem because that’s what the voters of Oregon decided. There is nothing underhanded or crooked about it.

The tax measures are unwise from our perspective, but that is what the representatives of the majority of voters want.

We will see whether voters change their mind about all this in January. If they don’t, if the majority agrees with this approach to taxation, that’s what the people want and what they should get.

And if the consequences of this proposed higher taxation are as expected — more businesses closing, more jobs being lost and fewer jobs being created in the next few years — you will know whom to blame: Not the courts, not even the legislators who put the package together, but the electorate of this state as a whole. (hh)