Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Turn
and face the strange: An African-American from
Illinois and a woman from Alaska have infected
millions of Americans with a thirst for change.
Will Virginia heed the call?
The
nation has been mesmerized by the latest arrival
on the national political scene – Gov. Sarah
Palin of Alaska, Sen. John McCain’s choice for vice president.
The
implications of this controversial choice are
still reverberating through the Fourth estate, but
one thing is very clear: The choice is shaking up
the national political calculus. Less obviously,
it will reshape Virginia's statewide elections
next year as well.
Sarah
Palin cut taxes in Alaska and reshaped city and
state government. The
energy-based economy of
Alaska
is booming, but rather than crank up spending and
build patronage, Palin vetoed a quarter of a
billion dollars in unneeded state capital projects
and sent each taxpayer a $1,200 check as a rebate.
Her popularity reached 80 percent -- a
number rarely achieved by any politician...
anywhere.
How
do politics on the far side of the country impact
Virginia? By energizing voters. The Obama campaign
generated tremendous enthusiasm among Democrats
and now, it appears, Palin's candidacy is sparking
comparable excitement among Republicans.
Many
experts think that this fall’s voter turnout
could be the largest since the razor-thin
presidential race of 1960 when Jack Kennedy
defeated Richard Nixon by less that one vote per
precinct. Virginia could be the state that decides this election.
More
people are excited about politics this year than
in a long, long time.
Folks are looking for fresh faces and fresh
ideas. And
they will be looking for the same next year.
So, both political parties should be on
notice that the old, worn-out ideas of the past
could well fall flat next year.
With
that in mind, let me outline some ideas that
candidates of either party could champion next
year that would grab the emotional attention of
all those who have been energized by the “change
agents” of Barack Obama and John McCain.
First,
limiting the growth of state government will force
it to prioritize spending, find efficiencies
within its current operating budget, and get rid
of programs that are no longer necessary or are
not doing very well.
Second,
the state faces a budget shortfall of somewhere
between $1 billion and $1½ billion dollars and it
may grow larger before the General Assembly opens
its doors in January.
So, what should be done?
There are 7,600 job openings in state
government. If these positions were eliminated,
the budget savings would reach almost a half
billion dollars. That one measure could close one
third to one half of the anticipated budget gap.
Third,
the poor quality of education received by too many
minority children is a calamity. We must demand
the implementation of proven reading programs and
insist that kids in failing schools be given the
option to move to more successful schools.
Anything short of free choice is an abuse
of government and oppression of the poor.
Opportunity
scholarships, phonics-based reading, the removal
of poor teachers and the cutting administrative
overhead in our public schools should be policy,
not rhetoric.
Fourth,
more money is needed to improve transportation
but taxation is a last resort. Privatizing road
maintenance can save scores of millions of
dollars each year. Public-private partnerships
can build new roads and expand existing ones. A
performance audit of VDOT might well find millions
of dollars in potential savings and
congestion-relieving construction. Prioritizing
transportation spending can channel dollars to
where they do the most good. Virginia needs to put
into place a long-range transportation plan that favors
congestion relief over "economic
development" and other forms of extraneous
spending.
Finally,
Virginia needs to play its part to make America
less dependent on foreign energy supplies.
We need to drill for oil and natural gas in
the ocean waters off our coast and earmark
royalties from this effort -- potentially $700
million per year -- to traffic congestion relief.
We need to speed the regulatory approval of
nuclear power plants. We need to use tax
incentives and research grants to bring clean coal
energy production to reality.
We need to encourage new technologies to move our
economy away from today’s reliance on
carbon-based energy.
This
year’s presidential race is exciting. Change is
in the air. That excitement
generated by the nominations of both political
parties will last beyond Election Day.
Candidates
of both parties offering exciting ideas
like the ones described above could rally the
voters seeking real change here in Virginia.
--
September 8, 2008
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