My way or the highway.

That sums up Gov. Deval Patrick's view of compromise with the state Legislature over his whopping $1.9 billion tax-increase proposal, a proposal that has been cut down to $500 million.

Either he gets everything he wants, he says, or he is going to veto whatever his fellow Democrats in the Legislature send him. That is Patrick's version of compromise.

And if he doesn't get want he wants, the governor said, people are going to suffer.

Bridges are going to fall down, overpasses are going to collapse, huge unattended potholes are going to swallow up trucks and cars, and people riding the MBTA are not only are going to be forced to pay more but are going to fall out of open doors.

Transportation spending is suddenly a Patrick emergency even though he has been governor for seven years. Why didn't he fix the roads and bridges before? Perhaps he was too busy making money by writing books, or traveling the country making speeches, or looking for a job.

Patrick, in his doomsday scenario, should have mentioned the possibility that there may not even be enough money around to build fallout shelters in preparation for the rockets North Korean head case Kim Jong Un is promising to rain down on us. So panic will ensue.

People may get so depressed over this and Patrick's end-time predictions that they will be tempted to hurl themselves off the Tobin Memorial Bridge. This may prove difficult, however, because of the scores of workers who might get in the way. They are repainting the 60-year-old bridge in an ongoing $35 million maintenance contract that apparently slipped by the governor.

Basically at issue is this: Patrick, a Democrat, wants to hike taxes, including the income tax, to raise $1.9 billion to pay for expansion of mass transportation and the MBTA , as well as for "investments" in education.

The Legislature, controlled by Democrats, has reduced this tax package down to $500 million. The Legislature's plan, put forward by House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray, both Democrats, would leave the income tax untouched, but raise taxes on gasoline, tobacco and business.

Rather than countering with a compromise, which past governors would have done in a give and take with the Legislature, Patrick called the DeLeo-Murray plan "a shell game" and promised to veto it, which would mean that he would end up with nothing.

This may appeal to Patrick, who is more comfortable talking about solutions to problems than he is in solving them, much more at home in doing a talk show than in talking with legislators.

"He thinks we work for him," one legislative leader who has attended tax meetings with the governor, scoffed. "Well we don't, and he is finding that out."

Time after time, issue after issue, Patrick, like President Obama (they share the same political advisers), has attempted to bypass the Legislature, believing he could take his case to the people and get them to pressure their individual lawmakers. This tactic usually serves only to alienate legislators.

Patrick tried it again Friday, just before Monday's House action on the watered down tax bill, when he sent an email letter out from his political action committee to supporters asking them to weigh in on the issue, calling the DeLeo-Murray plan a "pretend" solution.

Had Patrick spent more time negotiating with legislators, which a governor is supposed to do, rather than making a political campaign out of everything, he might fare better at the Statehouse.

But this is not Patrick's style and never has been.

Add to this the fact that Patrick, for some unknown reason, announced early on that he would not seek re-election in 2014, thereby making himself a lame-duck governor whose political power diminishes daily. In addition, his former potential heir apparent, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, is also a lame duck who announced he too is following Patrick out the door and will not run for governor.

When asking legislators to vote for the biggest tax increase in history, it is a good idea to let them know that you will be around for a while watching their backs. 

That will not be happening, and they know it.

Patrick made this issue his way or the highway. Wave goodbye to the governor.
