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A
red oak tree planted by Gov. Jim Gilmore to honor
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died less than two years
after it was planted. Not surprisingly, in the
bi-partisan, risk-free tradition of imitating
one’s predecessor in matters more symbolic than
substantive, Gov. Mark R. Warner promised to replace
the tree when “the conditions better support its
survival” – presumably when the drought ends.
Maybe
it’s my unwavering belief in the human spirit,
coupled with a healthy skepticism of government (not
to be confused with cynicism), but I see in the
death of the red oak and Gov. Warner’s decision to
wait for more favorable meteorological conditions a
metaphor for a larger truth: Government, as much as
it may try to solve society’s problems, cannot
repeal the laws of human nature any more than it can
alter the laws of biology.
Government
promises more than it can deliver, and then, when
the results don’t match the rhetoric, it raises
the ante and asks for more money. Often, the cost of
grandiose ideas and lofty programs becomes
prohibitive. In Virginia, that seems to be the case today. The state
desperately needs $8 billion to address pressing
transportation needs in
Northern Virginia
and Hampton Roads. Voters will decide in regional
transportation referenda this fall whether these
projects are worthy of support.
A
basic question, which no one appears to be asking,
is why the state cannot fund such projects, which
even referenda opponents described as critical to
the state’s long-term economic prosperity, without
resorting to tax increases. The answer is clear:
During the good economic times, politicians of both
parties were unable to resist the urge to spend more
money to create new programs and fund pet projects.
The
implications for the future are obvious: When the
economy improves (as it will) and revenues go up (as
they will), politicians will exhale a sigh of relief
and start spending again.
Perhaps,
we could avoid short-changing critical needs in the
future by injecting the immutable laws of supply and
demand into the legislative equation. The key to
good government, like business, is to harness the
good that comes from self-interest. As Michael
Douglas’s character in the movie “Wall Street”
waxed before a gathering of stockholders, “Greed
is good.”
What
if government programs and accompanying
bureaucracies were funded by those persons or
interests for whose benefit they were enacted? If a
program were ineffective, legislators wouldn’t
have to look cold hearted by cutting a budget, and
long-suffering taxpayers wouldn’t have to wait for
politicians to eliminate the ineffective program.
The intended beneficiaries would immediately spike
the program themselves.
A
great test of this approach would have been the
Virginia Department of World Trade, which was set up
during the Baliles administration with the aim of
stimulating the export of Virginia goods and
services overseas. If this initiative, since folded
into the Virginia Economic Development Partnership,
delivered real value, businesses should be willing
to support it through voluntary contributions --
just as they do with other industry or commodity
marketing efforts. If the agency didn’t
effectively advance the interests of
Virginia
businesses, customers would, without hesitation, cut
funding and redirect their resources elsewhere.
No
such rapid redeployment of funds or resources takes
place today in government programs because there is
no vendor-customer relationship between state
agencies and their beneficiaries. Decisions are
mediated by the General Assembly, which is far more
sensitive to political considerations than profit
and loss.
Perhaps
the same test could be applied to other agencies in
this administration, such as the Department of
Minority Business Enterprise. Even if this
department were shown to be completely ineffective,
as some argue it is today, no politician with any
wish to continue in public service would dare
suggest eliminating it. But, if minority businesses
were directly subsidizing the department, they would
have a vested interest in making it work or shutting
it down -- much as they do with the Virginia
Regional Minority Supplier Development Council, a
popular and effective private group of minority
businesses. In either event, the minority
entrepreneurs’ God-given, American-honed
entrepreneurial spirit would not let them waste
money.
Asking
the beneficiaries to pay for government programs
would introduce a self-correcting mechanism into the
appropriations process. Until we utilize these
self-correcting tools, Virginia will continue to
face calls to raise taxes because resources will
always appear to be scarce.
When government and legislators ignore
universal truths such as supply and demand, it is
our money they waste.
--
August 26, 2002
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