Getting it Wrong on Transportation

The Virginia General Assembly has passed a transportation bill which does not raise gas taxes, but instead takes the money from the General Fund. While it did put secondary road responsibility with localities, which is appropriate, it is mostly the product of bad budgetary policy.

Transportation and Mass Transit should be paid for with fees, tolls, gas taxes and local property taxes in a separate fund with local control of all projects.

The income tax should fund education, which is redistributional, as well as other social programs, such as TANF, foodstamps, Medicaid (for non-seniors, senior Medicaid should be federally funded), as well as corrections and mental hygene.

I write quite extensively on these issues on my Iowa Center for Fiscal Equity home page. I also talk about a long term solution to transportation which replaces the personal consumption of fossil fuels with a buried and computer controlled electric car system. Check them both out if you want real solutions - and call me.

Hell is Freezing Over

The sound you are hearing outdoors today is not just the weather, but the sound of Hell freezing over. The Associated Press reports that the Virginia General Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery. Oddly enough, the Washington Post is covering this as "other news" from Richmond. I find that amazing.

Virginia is the proper venue for this action. While slavery experts can point too federal culpability in slavery and establishing the slave society, and the later tragedy of Jim Crow, the federal expiation for the sin of slavery came about through the shedding of blood in the Civil War.

Reparations advocates should savor this moment, even though it is tempting to ask for more.

For more on this topic, see my DC home page.

The Post Doesn't Get It

The Post reports that a distant cousin of mine, a Mr. Tilton, did not like Senator Clinton's response to his statement on repudiating her vote to the war in Iraq.

Quite a few of us favored the war when it started, and all but the Greens are glad to see Saddam Hussein and his Islamic Socialism go.

Mrs. Clinton has been sharply critical of the President's conduct of the war. She gets it. What is important is not how we got into the war, its how to get out. If the Post were to cover the story of who can get us out of the war, it would help focus the debate on where it needs to be for this election cycle.