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Our
last column focused on deja vu – what might
have been on the Gulf Coast in September 2005 if
“leaders” had followed strategies to create
sustainable settlement patterns in Louisiana
that were proposed over 30 years ago. (“Down
Memory Lane with Katrina,” 5 Sept 2005.)
Today “The Shape of the Future” focuses on
the dark prospect for the years ahead foretold
by the political posturing of candidates for
public office in the Commonwealth.
The
post-Labor Day “political” season is upon
us. That means the candidates for state-wide
office and general assembly seats in Virginia
are making silly, superficial pronouncements.
Mark Fisher asks in his 15 September WaPo
column, “Lackluster Debate Leaves Virginians
Wanting More,” following the opening debates
in Fairfax County: “This is the best talent
the great state of Virginia can come up with?”
It
is probable that the candidates for governor are
smarter than they seem. Their comments are not
so much a reflection of the candidates'
intelligence as an indication of office-seekers'
total disdain for the intelligence of voters.
Their statements are what their consultants have
told them they need to say and do if they want
to get elected in the “Business-As-Usual”
context.
To
paraphrase another WaPo columnist E. J.
Dionne, Jr: “It is not we who are lucky to
have great leaders, it is they who are lucky to
represent citizens who work long and hard to
make the economy, government and society work in
spite of floundering, faltering hyper-political
leadership.”
It
is more than just a question of the quality of
political leadership. It is not possible for a
democratic government to work with uninformed
voters and a governance structure that has not
evolved to reflect contemporary society.
This
axiom is illuminated by a quote from a
Pennsylvania congressman about his support for
the massive, pork-laden transportation bill
recently passed by Congress and signed by the
President. When asked about the need to place a
fair burden on the cost of motor fuel he
replied: “You can tell them that if you would
like, I want to get elected.” (Also see “Discordant
Trio,” 25 July 2005.)
Over
the past few months, “The Shape of the
Future” has included several columns on what
candidates need to address regarding four hot
button election issues:
As
pointed out in the columns on transport,
affordable and accessible housing and education,
Fundamental Change (aided by real tax reform) is
the only real solution to these critical
problems.
In
Bacon’s Rebellion Blog on Saturday, Jim
Bacon cites a Rasmussen Poll listing the key
issues that concern voters. The cultural
wedge issues that are often discussed in the
stump speeches and by partisan pundits are at
the bottom of the list. The economy and health
care are at the top. It is hard to tell to what
extent “the economy” is code for high gas
prices, rising housing costs and the overall
“cost of subsistence” in the urban regions
of the Commonwealth but transport, tax reform
and the shelter crisis are all critical,
interrelated issues. So is education which came
in third in the Rasmussen Poll.
Chris
Whittle of charter school fame in a WaPo
column on the quality of education suggests we
should be paying good teachers twice or three
times as much as the average teacher now
receives. That is a lot of money for education.
The oft-quoted VDOT long range plan (VTRANS
2025) suggests that the Commonwealth will be
$108 billion short over the next 20 years. No
one has even thought up a non-human settlement
pattern solution to cost out for solving the
shelter crisis.
Many
claim the only solution, especially for
transportation, is to toss more money at the
problem. That is exactly what the federal
government is doing to paper over decades of bad
governance on the Gulf Coast. Jim Bacon likes to
cite cost cutting, efficiency and innovation as
important strategies to off-set higher taxes.
More
money from higher taxes (or any other source,
e.g. economic expansion and “growth” or
public private partnerships is not the answer,
neither is cost cutting and efficiency. The only
course of action that will solve any of these
problems is Fundamental Change in human
settlement patterns as noted in the columns
cited above.
This
reality brings into focus the core tragedy of
the political funny season: Everyone is playing
along with the pandering politicians.
You
would expect that from the mass market media (aka,
“the Drive-by Media” –they only show up
where there are dead bodies). But the same is
true for all sources of information. The
Bacon’s Rebellion Blog is overrun with
posturing anonymous spinners sniping at tax-and-spend
liberals and ultra-right conservatives. The
failure to keep focused on the real issues gives
politicians the cover they need to keep doing
what they have been doing.
After
the 2004 General Assembly session we published
an “open letter” column to four individuals
who held conservation and business leadership
positions in the Commonwealth. See “Open
Letter,” 29 March 2004. From what we were
told, all four were aware of the letter but none
acted on the advice. These leaders relied on
doing more of what they had been doing in the
past and expected a different result–a working
definition of insanity.
Over
the last 18 months, the Chesapeake Bay has not
improved. The only real change is more polluting
runoff from ever more dysfunctional settlement
patterns and ever higher estimates for the cost
of cutting point source pollution.
Over
the last 18 months, thousands of acres of more
urban land uses have been scattered across the
Countryside. Ever bigger houses are being built
on ever bigger lots in ever more remote
locations creating ever more dysfunctional
settlement patterns, creating longer commutes
and higher costs per unit of service delivered.
Almost no one is even talking about the need for
a Clear Edge and the imperative of Balanced
Communities.
Over
the last 18 months, ever longer journeys to
work, services and secure the elements of a
quality life have rendered the urban regions of
the Commonwealth less competitive. The only
solutions on the table are higher taxes and more
dysfunctional allocation of governance
resources. Virginia’s prosperity would be in
the tank if not for wild spending spree by the
federal government on Iraq, homeland
non-security and now to paper over Katrina’s
destruction.
Given
the failure of enterprise and institutional
leadership, it is easy to see why Russ Potts (aka,
Tweedle Dim to use the new Bacon Lexicon)
suggests that the solution is to raise taxes and
spend more money while Tweedle Dum and Tweedle
Dee campaign to spend more money but “hope”
not to have to raise taxes.
The
only course of action that holds any promise is
basic citizen education via PROPERTY DYNAMICS.
Our next column will start a series on the
fallacy of growth and consumption as a
sustainable economic strategy. We will start
with energy consumption and the need for
Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns.
--
September 19, 2005
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