Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Tremble, Mortals, the Rebellion Is Unleashed

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

The June 2, 2008, edition of the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine is now available for viewing. You can read it in all of its original splendiferous glory here, and you can sign up for a free subscription here. Or, you can simply read the current sampling of column here:

Personalities and Prosperity
Ever wonder why New York is full of neurotics and L.A. full of surfer dudes? In his latest book, Richard Florida suggests that regions, like people, have personalities — with big implications for prosperity.
by James A. Bacon

Riding the Tiger
Many citizens, abetted by the MainStream Media, are clinging to oil and autonomobile dependency to the bitter end. A dismal reality of ever-climbing energy awaits them.
by EM Risse

Time for Systemic Reform
Crafted for the industrial, post-World War II era, Virginia’s government institutions are failing. More money won’t work. Tinkering won’t work. We need systemic reform.
by Chris Braunlich

Give Charters a Chance
The Richmond school board has just approved the state’s fourth charter school — a rare victory over political forces that sacrifice children’s welfare at the altar of left-wing ideology.
by Norman Leahy

VCU and the Evil Weed
VCU President Eugene Trani blew Richmond ’s reputation by going along with a noxious Philip Morris research contract.
by Peter Galuszka

Nice & Curious Question
Big Government in Virginia: Does Size Really Matter?
by Edwin S. Clay III and Patricia Bangs

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  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    James Howard Kunstler’s “Grand Delusion: Wake Up, American. We’re Driving Toward Disaster.”

    He also says our grand megalopolises are doomed. We need to re-establsih ourselves in more small cities and towns.

    RH

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    RH:

    Where did you read that Dr. Risse agrees with everything J H Kunstler writes? You have not read “The Shape of the Future” with much care if you think he does.

    If Kunstler (or you) read Dr. Risse’s work with care he (and you) would know that there is little chance to reverse the 13,000 year long trend to create larger and more complex urban agglomerations and at the same time maintain a civilization anything like that which has evolved since 1345 or 1543.

    Kunstler (and you) would also know that the Mobility and Access benefits of “traditional towns, villages and small” urban agglomerations can be achieved by creating appropriate levels of Balance in each of the organic components of human settlement pattern (especially at the Alpha Village and Alpha Community scale) without sacrificing most of the other benefits of larger agglomerations that make contemporary civilization possible.

    Alpha Zeus

  3. Waldo Avatar
    Waldo

    FWIW, half of the state’s charter schools are right here in the People’s Republic of Charlottesville. So the empirical evidence is against the paucity of charter schools being a result of liberalism.

  4. Norman Leahy Avatar
    Norman Leahy

    I appreciate your evidence, such as it is, Waldo. But I think the biggest foes of educational reform are those who are, as in so many things, most deeply vested in the status quo…regardless of their political leanings.

  5. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Waldo, The implication of your comment is that liberals, too, can be comfortable with charter schools. If so, then I applaud the liberals of Charlottesville. Even though I consider myself a conservative, I think it would be a good thing for liberals to be able to charter schools that reflect their values and pedagogical methods. It’s the laboratory-of-democracy thing. Let’s see what works. You don’t know until you try it. The one thing that we know doesn’t work, after having tried it for decades, is stultifying bureaucracy.

  6. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    What “works” in my mind is any money collected from my pocket in the name of a ‘public’ education requires standardized testing to assure that the kid actually gets a basic education beyond the religious and anti-science tripe that some folks thinks passes for knowledge.

    Voucher for the rich disguised as vouchers for the poor – without standards ain’t going to fly.

    Any education facility public or private that is funded from tax dollars is going to be accountable and responsible for achieving the stated goals of a public education or we are gonna have ourselves an old fashioned dust-up.

    With standards, I am fine with the concept. Let competition work but
    let’s be vigilant against those who whose agendas are personal education with public funds.

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Where did you read that Dr. Risse agrees with everything J H Kunstler writes?

    Where did you read that I ever said such a thing?

    You have not read my posts with much care, if you think I have.

    What benefits of larer agglomerations? Higher prices, higher taxes, less safety and worse schools, congestion, filth and decay?

    RH

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Say Waldo. What ever happened with your solar project?

    Ray Hyde

  9. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Excellent column by Chris Braunlich
    in this edition. He and I may disagree on certain points but the need for broad reformation of government seems more and more obvious.

  10. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Hopefully, nobody believes everything JH Kunstler writes.

    From his biography in Wikipedia …

    ‘Kunstler, who has no formal training in the fields in which he prognosticates, made similar predictions for Y2K as he makes for peak oil. Kunstler responds to this criticism by saying that a Y2K catastrophe was averted by the hundreds of billions of dollars that were spent fixing the problem, a lot of it in secret, he claims.

    In June 2005 and again in early 2006, Kunstler predicted that the Dow would crash to 4,000 by the end of the year. The Dow in fact reached a new peak of approximately 12,500 by the end of 2006. In his predictions for 2007, Kunstler admitted his mistake, ascribing the Dow’s climb to “inertia combined with sheer luck”.’.

  11. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “What benefits of larer agglomerations? Higher prices, higher taxes, less safety and worse schools, congestion, filth and decay?

    RH”

    It is where the smart folks are going. From your comments it is obvious why you would have no idea what attracts them.

    Read R. Florida.

  12. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Sex attracts them, for one thing. Young single people go to the urban areas to meet and mate and mostly move away to raise their children.

    There are no doubt many other attractions as well. I’ve lived in urban areas and I am aware of them. Also of the other negative items I listed.

    Not everyone has the same utility function as you do. So different poeple do things for different reasons. Some people even pay more to live in trendy neighborhoods.

    What you don’t understand is that overgeneralizing (“It is where the smart people are going.”) is a well known and obvious logical fallacy. When people resort to such nefarious devices to sell an idea, my experience is that they can’t be trusted.

    So I take everything else they say with a very large grain of salt.

    RH

  13. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    …..”but the need for broad reformation of government seems more and more obvious.”

    thinking in a broader context – many posts in BR of late about the stupidity and corruptness – general lack of accoutability of government and government processes.. sparking ideas that if only Government did things “right”, we’d not have to have tax increases…that we already have more than enough money,, we just spent it in enormously unwise ways….

    I would humbly submit – that the phrase Government Reform is the mother of all oxymoron’s with Transportation itself being the mother of all govt boondoggles.

    for instance, if anyone things the current method of highway funding where you collect taxes and send them to an unelected and unaccountable group of folks to make spending decisions can be “reformed”… good luck.

    There is no way to “reform” the process of having folks in charge of spending money that does not come out of their own wallets nor out of the wallets of those they get the money from.

    I have not abandoned the basic concept of JLARC-type functions to ride herd on government but the use of the word “reform” as the stock answer to how to improve the process lacks substance without specifics that at the least offer some hope of different approaches.

    Thus.. from my point of view, if a type of settlement pattern is promoted as one that has a smaller/better/sexier transportation footprint – my blowback is …”prove it”…

    we already have enough marketing hype to go around… from both private and government cheerleaders…

    the only kind of “reform” that works is.. actual performance metrics to verify performance claims… as a condition of continued operation..

    so, if a mixed-use proposal..like Tysons ..claims a better transportation footprint.. I say let them make those claims but require them to meet performance specs ..just exactly like you would place on ANY concession ..like a toll road level of service agreement as a “must do” part of the concession agreement.

    If you don’t meet the performance targets – there are penalty clauses.

    When VDOT puts out a new construction contract for bid – there are specific penalties if the project does not get built on time and on budget in addition to a certain quality and depth of asphalt and other parameters that are tested for compliance to the specs.

  14. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    “On similar ground it may be proved that no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation. They may manage it then, and wht proceedes from it, as they please,during their usefruct. They are masters too of their own persons, and consequently may govern them as they please. But persons and property make the sum of the objects of government. The constitution and the laws of the predecessors extinguished them, in their natural course, with those who will give them being. This could preserve that being till it ceased to be itself and no longer. Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right”.

    Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison, Sept. 6, 1789.

    It seems that Mr. Jefferson had more interest in government reform than Larry.

  15. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    “..that all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people, that magistrates (elected politicians) are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation, or community; of all various forms and modes of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety….; and, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community has an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conductive to the public weal.”

    George Mason, Article One of Virginia’s original constitution

  16. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

    Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James MAdison, January 30, 1787

  17. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    “I know, also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions changce with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.”.

    Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Samuel Kircheval, July 12, 1816

  18. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    So …. where do we get our political philosophy? From Larry Gross or Thomas Jefferson?

  19. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Government Reform is the mother of all oxymoron’s with Transportation itself being the mother of all govt boondoggles.”

    Translation: we can never improve and we’ll never get anywhere.

    “There is no way to “reform” the process of having folks in charge of spending money that does not come out of their own wallets nor out of the wallets of those they get the money from.”

    Translation: sharing is bad: there is no such thing as the common good.

    “if a mixed-use proposal..like Tysons ..claims a better transportation footprint.. I say let them make those claims but require them to meet performance specs ..just exactly like you would place on ANY concession”

    Isn’t a concession something you own and lease out? Who owns Tyson’s anyway?

    I think I prefer Jefferson and mason, especially the part about
    government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit.

    RH

  20. Not Ed Risse Avatar
    Not Ed Risse

    300 miles to the gallon!

    http://www.aptera.com/details.php

    Autonomobility is here to stay.

    Deal with it.

  21. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    “Not Ed Risse”

    Nice try the aptera — and many other similar vehicles are no more Large, Private Vehicle than the Cushmans we helped citizens use in Peachtree City GA in 1972.

    There are 9,000 plus Cushmans in Peachtree City today and if all Aplha Community settlement patterns had some of the elements of the Peachtree City PNC design, it would be a major step in the right direction.

    How so ever, this is not Autonomobility.

    Why do you bother trying to spin the unspinable?

    Did not Brother McClellan learn you nothing?

    EMR

  22. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I don’t think we ever should give up on reform, transparency, accountability but as long as you have someone spending money that does not belong to them..”reform” is a very relative term.

    There are government roles that are necessary .. but they still involve having spend money that is not their own – and ideally – you want to limit that exposure to only what is necessary and for which would not be provided if not by Government.

    For instance, a bunch of folks with guns is not as effective as a tax-supported national defense.

    Roads though are a socialistic idea… an inherently “do-gooder” approach to mobility .. where we pretend “user pays” because if it were, in fact, a true “user pays” system..there would never be a need for raising taxes for more of it.

    You’d just provide more per the demand – i.e. people willing to pay more for it.

    It’s more than a little ironic that this country which holds it’s capitalistic nose high in the air … is getting skunked by those countries thought to be more socialistic.. toll roads companies…

    by the way.. if you do a little search for folks like Jefferson and other forefathers.. and look for words like “personal responsibility”, taxes, power, etc.. you’ll get lots and lots of quotes as to why Government should be limited and small…

  23. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Government should be limited and small. The state of Virginia should sell ALL the roads to private enterprise. They should take one half the proceeds and mail checks to the taxpayers. They should take the other half and create a permanent endowment for K-12 education.

    But none of you supporters of congestion tolls want to sell the roads in your area (TMT possibly excluded). This is not about small government. It is about expanding a transportation subsidy by putting putting congestion tolls on NoVA roads and only NoVA roads.

    TMT told the truth. He said he’s support the tolls because that would slow development in NoVA.

    Now it’s your turn, Larry. Time for some truthin’ as Nancy Sinatra would say.

    Repeat after me ….

    “I want NoVA to pay for my roads”.

    “I don’t support user pays.”.

    “I want NoVA to pay for my roads.”.

    Jim Bacon might try the same chant.

  24. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Two key questions:

    1. Is Bob right? In other words, does NoVA pay more in various taxes and fees for transportation than it gets in transportation related spending? I’ve seen some numbers from Bob that make me think this is true.

    2. Who will be paying congestion tolls over the next two years? As far as I can see, it’s NoVA and NoVA alone.

    So, if you really believe in “user pays” what should you believe with regard to the NoVA congestion toll plan?

    You should reject it.

    It is a step away from “user pays”.

    The “users” in NoVA are already paying for all their transportation costs and then some (according to Bob’s numbers). Therefore, either somebody else is paying less than their costs or we are running a transportation surplus.

    Who is paying less than their costs? I don’t know. I just know it isn’t NoVA.

    Therefore, a real “user pays” advocate would want to see congestion tolls in places other than NoVA since NoVA is already over-paying.

  25. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    HOT lanes and Express Lanes are proposed for HR/TW also.

    I’m not in favor of NoVa being a net road donor..

    I AM in favor of scrupulously updating the composite index annually…

    and I have ya’ll a solution…

    Let the State Pension Funds invest in toll roads in Virginia.

    The State wins on all counts and here’s one for Groveton.. Have NoVa set up a rebate program for HOT lane tolls … so as to reduce the penalty on NoVa folks who live and work local.

    I’m not sure why you keep hurling tolling challenges towards me Groveton.

    I pretty much support tolling wherever is is practical – as a way to keep money from going to Richmond or Washington that will then emerge to be spent in ways that you’d not approve.. or for that matter .. Bob.. who rants about how gas tax money is “diverted”…

    yes.. it is.. and if you think “reforming” the process is a solution to this..dream on…

    I’ve heard the “Reform VDOT” phrase for two decades.. now..

    If you don’t want money taken out of NoVa and sent somewhere else – then don’t advocate higher gas taxes because that will be the net result of higher gas taxes – the money will leave NoVa….

    At least with HOT lanes the money stays in NoVa…and NoVa folks have some chance of putting pressure on local elected rather than some tenured employee on the 8th floor in a Richmond office building…

  26. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Here we go again …

    1. The HOT lane money will stay in NoVA. No, it will go to Australia where it will be distributed as dividends to the shareholders of Transurban.

    2. The HOT lane money will stay in NoVA. Then, what was the debate about using the money for VRE rather than buses to the Pentagon. You know, the debate the mayor of Alexandria correctly called a “bait and switch”.

    3. And the Dulles Toll Road. How’s that toll elimination program going?

    Larry – this is the problem – you’re too theoretical. In theory, if there were a constitutional amendment creating a congestion corridor and if the politicians were honest and if the government were transparent – maybe you’d be right. Maybe. But none of those things are true. The only thing that is true is that people of all economic classes started getting charged up to $1 / mile in NoVA so that a funding subsidy from NoVA to elsewhere can be increased.

  27. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    “Consistent with the attached Board of Trade policy, we enthusiastically support the construction of HOT lanes on the I-95 / 395 Corridor with a portion of revenues generated allocated for corridor transit improvements. We urge the Commonwealth Transportation Board and VDOT to insure that excess revenues raised in the HOV / HOT system are spent on transportation improvements within the corridor and not diverted to other parts of the Commonwealth.

    The Virginia Department of Transportation should move forward to implement a HOV / HOT system along the I-95 / 395 corridor as proposed by the two teams. A HOV / HOT system will have several benefits for travelers in the corridor:

    * Toll revenue will finance construction of additional lane capacity.
    * The new lanes and enhanced enforcement will provide additional capacity that can be used to accommodate greater HOV and transit use.
    * The additional capacity can also be sold to non-HOV-3 vehicles to help reduce congestion in the general purpose lanes.
    * Variable tolls in the HOV / HOT lanes will manage the flow of traffic and insure a free-flow experience for HOV-3, buses and HOT lane users.”

    http://www.bot.org/shaping/archives/testimonies/detail.asp?id=380

    is the above …”theory” ?

  28. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Were those Cushmans gas or electric?

    If gas, what pollution controls did they have? If none, they probably pollute more than a medium private veicle.

    RH

  29. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “if it were, in fact, a true “user pays” system..there would never be a need for raising taxes for more of it.”

    And you would not be diverting the funds to other modes, because then the user would be paying his AND someone elses costs.

    This isn’t a user pays toll, it is a tax to subsidize those who use mass transit. We are in effect paying people to take mass transit, and yet larry hates my idea of just paying people to from car pools.

    RH

  30. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    * Toll revenue will finance construction of additional lane capacity.

    They are constructing new capacity by removing the breakdown lanes.

    * The new lanes and enhanced enforcement will provide additional capacity that can be used to accommodate greater HOV and transit use.

    The predictions ae that it will reduce HOV use.

    * The additional capacity can also be sold to non-HOV-3 vehicles to help reduce congestion in the general purpose lanes.

    The non HOV vehicles will be partly from people who formerly carpooled.

    The additional capacity is not sufficient to make much of a dent in the general purpose lanes.

    The slight reduction that occurs will be filled as people adjust their schedules and more peopl euse the route.

    * Variable tolls in the HOV / HOT lanes will manage the flow of traffic and insure a free-flow experience for HOV-3, buses and HOT lane users.”

    The tolls will be varied to maximize revenue, not to provide the optimum throughput.

    It’s not a theory, it’s a scam.

    RH

  31. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Therefore, a real “user pays” advocate would want to see congestion tolls in places other than NoVA since NoVA is already over-paying.”

    I think this is EMR’s position, too.

    RH

  32. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Larry:

    Who wrote that letter, Larry?

    Michael Anzilotti

    And here’s Michael Anzilotti’s “It’s Time” web site (at least he is the co-chair):

    http://www.itstimevirginia.org/who/index_who_anzilotti.aspx?bhcp=1

    Guess what? The site advocates raising the gas tax too. And they say they helped fund the sales tax referendum.

    These guys seem to have never met a tax they didn’t like.

    This sounds like the classic NoVA developers trying to convince NoVA’s citizens that they just aren’t paying enough. Not enough in taxes, not enough in tolls.

    But we know that’s not true – don’t we Larry. Bob proved the point. NoVA residents are paying plenty for transportation. And the “descendants of Pocohontas” are swilling the money to other things. And the developers are shouting, “You’re not paying enough”.

    And you claim the HOT lane plans are good even while posting, “…with a portion of revenues generated allocated for corridor transit improvements…”.

    A portion?

    Does this seem like a good idea to you?

    This is why the voters in Texas banned the sale of public roads to private enterprise for two years. To avoid these half-assed schemes. To get the facts. To define what “a portion” means”. To decide who will get shares of the revenue.

    This is a freak show. Even by GA standards.

  33. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    yeah I know who posted it.. I provided the link so you could see who it was..

    The point is that they strongly advocate that NoVa keep HOT Lane dollars – and, in general that NoVa retain transportation revenues and not lose them to Richmond.

    A view in line with your own – and mine.

    A “portion” of the HOT lane revenues would be defined as the revenues that accrue on HOT lanes that are physically inside the boundaries of the MWCOG NoVa.

    The MPO south – FAMPO – would be looking for the HOT lane revenues for the lanes inside of it’s boundaries.

    I don’t see this an unfair or “bait & switch” .. why would NoVa expect to get ALL of the revenue?

    At any rate. they’ll get the vast majority of it anyhow, so what is the beef?

    on the issue of there being plenty of transportation money but it’s not spent on transportation

    I think Virginia is only one of four states that has it’s State level DOT maintain county roads.

    In Va, all cities plus two counties do maintain their own roads and my understanding is that they get their gas tax money back and they get to decide the priorities.

    Any Va county can decide to take over their roads of which any and all of NoVa is free to do so – so so why do you then blame the GA and Dillon instead of your own local Govt for choosing to NOT do this?

    Bob has not proven squat other than the dialog equivalent of shouting at a stadium during a game…batter batter..no stick ..no stick.. are you as ugly as your mother??….raaaazzzz

    Anyone can go through any Agency budget and scan down the list of items and start making claims that those line items “prove” that the money is either wasted or spent on things other than they should be.

    Any agency budget is going to have such items in it and I’m not going to say there is not waste or misdirection.. but it happens all the time everywhere and is not the fundamental reason why road funding works any differently than other agency funding.

    In other words.. all the crooks are not drawn to the DOT agency and away from the other agencies.

    The DOTs are equal opportunity and have their share of waste and mis-appropriations.. it’s fundamental to what happens when someone spends money that is not their’s – not a road funding issue.

    Fairfax collects vehicle property taxes and spends it on on-road things like virtually every other county in Va.

    How does this relate to VDOT’s budget?

    How would this be changed such that NoVa would have more money for more road projects?

    Does this “prove” that we have lots of transportation money in NoVa that is “wasted” or ‘diverted” to other non-worthy expenditures?

    Do we think the money being collected is instead spent on an in-house staff of strippers or cruise trips for every employee?

    Suppose this is even true (yuck yuck).. who are you (or Bob) blaming for this travesty?

    VDOT? the GA? the Australians, Dillon?

    What exactly should Mr. Kaine do at his level with regard to his transportation budget proposal?

    especially for NoVa?

    Should NoVa raise the sales tax 1% to pay for the things that Kaine wants to fund (on the NVTA website)?

    or.. would you and Bob proposed that instead of raising the 1% sales tax in the region that all NoVa localities re-direct the taxes collected for autos towards building the NVTA wish list?

    get on the table with ideas boys and cut back a tad on the whining and yammering…

    I hear you complaints.. give me some solutions.

    I choose tolls.. a simple solution

    but I’m not opposed to other ones either.. in fact.. I’d much prefer them to more yammering..

    I think we should ask Bob for more ideas and less yammering as a start and then for you to be more precise in how you think some of these issues resolved.

    do we kill VDOT and put NoVo counties and the MWCOG and NVTA in charge and if so .. where do we get the money?

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