Bacon's Rebellion

House Speaker William J. Howell is undertaking an interesting political gambit with his high-profile defense yesterday of tax credits for conservation easements (see details in the Charlottesville Daily Progress): He’s aligning House Republicans with the environmental/conservation community, a community that is heavily (though not exclusively) Democratic in its sympathies. I interpret this maneuver as a bid to resurrect the conservationist/taxpayer alliance that defeated the regional taxes-for-transportation proposals in 2002.

Conservationists and their Smart Growth allies are one group of Democrats who have not been lobbying for higher transportation taxes. They oppose Business As Usual road-building programs that accelerate scattered development that ruins country vistas and degrades the environment. This constituency could prove a useful ally for House Republicans as Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ratchets up the political pressure in support of his taxes-for-transportation plan.

I’m not suggesting that Howell’s position on the conservation tax credits is disingenuous. Howell strengthened the conservation credits back in 2002, regarding them as an effective, market-based tool for preserving farmland, woodland and open space from encroaching development. “Sprawl is a real concern to me, conservation organizations and to most Virginians,” Howell said in a press release yesterday.

What’s interesting is that Howell chose to go public on the issue in such a high-profile way, holding a press conference, issuing press releases in conjunction with the Piedmont Environmental Council, and targeting the state Senate for criticism. Senate legislation to cap the level of individual tax credits, on the grounds of fiscal responsibility, would deter many landowners from protecting their lands, Howell charged, making it more difficult to meet Virginia’s commitment to conserve over 400,000 acres in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as stipulated in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 2000. “We pledge to fight Senate actions encouraging sprawl.”

As much as Howell genuinely believes in conservation, my guess is that he has his eye on a larger prize: the upcoming budget negotiations over transportation funding. He’s going to bat for the conservationists on an issue that’s important to them, in marked contrast to the way in which Gov. Timothy M. Kaine abandoned his commitment to push for zoning-and-transportation reforms. I have no insider knowledge here; I am simply observing the logic of the situation. I think Howell is trying to resurrect the conservationist/taxpayer alliance that beat back regional sales taxes-for-transportation referenda in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads in 2002. It will be interesting to see if that alliance will come back to life in 2006.

KSI, a Vienna-based developer of mixed-use projects, has announced its intention to build eight transit-friendly projects in the Washington metropolitan area, including six in Virginia. The projects will offer proximity to Metro and bus transit, and make Flexcar rentals available to homeowners. As I read KSI’s announcement between the lines, the developer is embarking upon a new business model: selling real estate by creating an environment where buyers can shed the nearly $7,000-per-year cost of owning a car. For details, see the full post on the Road to Ruin.

If this idea proves itself in the marketplace, the implications are momentous for Virginia’s transportation debate. Stay tuned.

Well, folks, I’ve returned from a pleasant, week-long vacation to find that the General Assembly has not come to any agreement on the transportation budget. It looks like we’re facing a special session of the General Assembly.

As I’ve written before, the Axis of Taxes strategy will be to portray the tax-averse GOP in the House of Delegates as obstructionist and uncompromising. I would argue that that pro-tax forces are the unbending ones, utterly committing to a strategy of tax-and-build and totally uninterested in exploring alternative strategies to addressing traffic congestion. (Weak nods to land use “reform” will not bring about meaningful change.)

The House could strengthen its hand in the upcoming public-relations battle if it showed itself willing to entertain alternative approaches to coping with traffic congestion — approaches that the Axis of Taxes will dismiss out of hand. Over the past year, Bacon’s Rebellion and the Road to Ruin project have systematically explored these alternative strategies.

In yesterday’s edition of the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine, I touched upon the potential to reignite mass transit ridership by giving the private sector a greater role. Municipal transit monopolies and taxicab franchises dampen the ability of the private sector to adapt to changing settlement patterns, implement new technologies and introduce innovations into the marketplace. By re-thinking the way we approach shared ridership, we could reinvigorate this alternative to One-Man-One-Car. (See “Liberate Mass Transit.”)

In a similar vein, we’ve written about NuRide, an Internet-based service that allows commuters to identify other carpoolers traveling the same route at the same time — a technology that offers the potential to revive the declining practice of carpooling. (See “Carpool Comeback.”)

We’ve explored the potential for telecommuting (working from home) and telework (working outside the main office and staying connected through cell phones, BlackBerries and laptops). (See “Rush Hour Will Never Be the Same.”)

We’ve shown how local governments can work with developers to create real estate projects with a smaller “traffic footprint” through better urban design and creative use of shared ridership. (See “Traffic Buster.”)

We’ve shown how new zoning codes and new templates for urban design can reduce the length and number of car trips and reduce traffic on congested thoroughfares. (See “Albemarle Place,” and “Street Cars and Zoning Codes.”)

We’ve shown how it’s possible, with modest investments, to significantly increase the capacity of existing thoroughfares without expensive widening projects. (See “Seeing the (Traffic) Light” and “Aroused about Roundabouts.”)

We’ve argued in favor of congestion-pricing tolls as a way of rationing scarce peak-highway capacity and encouraging commuters to change their driving behavior, whether carpooling more, riding buses, or resorting to telecommuting and telework. (See “Congestion Pricing” and “Roads and Reason.”)

There is no “silver bullet” for addressing Virginia’s congestion woes. But there are many narrow-bore policies, each of which can address a piece of the problem and all of which together can make a huge difference. Sadly, we have seen another session of the General Assembly come and go with none of these ideas being discussed seriously. The House has not embraced any of the ideas I’ve been pushing but, unlike the Senate, it has at least been willing to think outside the box, aggressively exploring ideas such as privatization.

In the PR battle to come, the House suffers a big disadvantage. The Governor has the power of the bully pulpit, the working journalists have defined the transportation debate as a tax-and-spend issue, and editorial writers across the state are salivating at the prospect of another big tax increase. But it will be difficult to portray House Republicans as the obstructionists if they are the ones embracing new ideas and their pro-tax foes are the ones nixing everything but big spending plans and tax increases.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Down three posts on this Blog, (“Transportation Snow Job in March”) fellow columnist James Atticus Bowden takes on those daemons (aka, evil doers) who are hell bent on raising taxes to pay for transportation “improvements.”

Almost no one likes to pay taxes but almost all say they want to improved access and mobility.

Some who commented on Mr. Bowden’s post are not sure he has all the facts and relationships straight but everyone would agree that he is stirring up a lot of bile and spilling a lot of ink and bites on the issue of taxes and transport.

There is a way to get beyond this conflict, aggravation and waste of time / resources. To do this citizens must look beyond the “tax issue” and get to the root cause of the mobility and access problem. Instead of fighting over the contentious issue of “taxes for transportation” about which there are many strongly held opinions, Mr. Bowden might focus his efforts on getting across a more focused and generic message. It might go something like the following:

No amount of money, regardless of how it is raised or distributed will alleviate community-scale, subregional-scale or New Urban Region-scale mobility and access dysfunction unless there is Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns so that a balance between vehicular travel demand and transport system capacity can be achieved.

No transportation professional can argue with this position. Even those who have hallucinations about the access and mobility “solution” being to scatter urban land uses across the Countryside cannot argue with the need to achieve a balance between transport system capacity and the travel demand generated by the human settlement pattern.

A sharp point can be put on this issue by checking out Mr. Bowden’s current column at db4.dev.baconsrebellion.com . In “The Truth Shall Set You Free” Mr. Bowden argues that the cause of declining family disposable income is that “government” is collecting too many taxes.

Again his focus on “the tax issue” has pushed him a few clicks off target.

The core issue is that citizens and their governments have evolved a settlement pattern that is very expensive to support. For this reason, “government” is spending huge sums to subsidize imported energy and in an attempt to secure foreign sources of petroleum.

Even more important is that the costs of all location-variable goods and services continues to rise at an increasing rate. Beyond direct mobility and access costs, these expenditures include “public / utility” services such as energy, communications, water supply, waste disposal, education and health care. Citizens demand these services. “Government” has no choice to raise taxes to pay for them. Enterprises and institutions also most raise rates, fees and prices to pay for dysfunctional settlement patterns.

The place to focus on the issue of functional settlement patterns and a fair allocation of location-variable cost is in ones own community and in ones own New Urban Region. Mr. Bowden has chosen to live in a village-scale urban agglomeration called the City of Poquoson. From afar and based on Mr. Bowden’s own descriptions, it appears that Poquoson has the potential to become an Alpha Village. A fair allocation of location-dependent goods and services would greatly benefit Mr. Bowden and his fellow Poquosonians. By shifting to user-fee based charges instead of advalorem, sales or income “taxes” he and his village-mates could take advantage of Poquoson’s more efficient and functional human settlement patterns.

Attacking either party in the current the political duopoly that caused the current governance dysfunction is not likely to change the underlying problems. Attacking these issues at the nation-state, state and municipal levels with a shotgun is not likely to get much attention.

Unless citizens understand the root cause of issues that impact them every day like Regional Rigor Mortis and the Shelter Crisis they will continue to support more taxes to “solve the problem. Until they understand the causes of traffic congestion, the lack of affordable and accessible housing and other indicators of dysfunctional human settlement patterns, they will just pressure governance practitioners to provide services and the costs (aka, taxes) will continue to go up.

PROPERTY DYNAMICS is coming soon to an Alpha Neighborhood near you. It could come to a potential Alpha Village like Poquoson.

EMR

The March 20, 2006, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion has been published. Columns include:

Liberate Mass Transit
As an alternative to funding mega-sized construction projects, Virginia should give entrepreneurs more freedom to devise creative shared-ridership solutions.
by James A. Bacon

What Hath God Wrought?
From the telegraph to BlackBerry, advances in technology define the challenges to Virginia far better than does the squabbling in the General Assembly.
by Doug Koelemay

Promises Made, Promises Broken
Gov. Kaine and his allies are willing to do anything to push tax increases through the General Assembly — even if it means eroding the integrity of the governing process.
by Patrick McSweeney

A Sound Opinion
General Bob McDonnell was right: Tim Kaine did exceed his authority when conferring protected status upon sexual orientation throughout state government.
by Patrick McSweeney

Words Matter
There’s no hope of making progress on Virginia’s most intractable problems when our words only cloud understanding. Our goal in 2006 is to introduce a more robust Vocabulary.
by EM Risse

Culture Wars in the Valley
Perturbed by pornography, abortion, out-of-wedlock births and other signs of moral decay, the Blue Dog has begun attending the Family Forum’s Capstone program.
by Steven Sisson

Porn in Libraries? Whatever.
Under the guise of defending free speech, Virginia’s Senate sided with smut peddlers and sexual predators to block applying common- sense filters to computers in public libraries.
by Steven Sisson

Unanswered Questions
GOP factions are grappling over how much more money to spend on transportation. But they’re not addressing critical questions regarding spending priorities and the role of the private sector.
by Michael Thompson

Bottomless Pit
The Washington Metro is losing money and needs more than $1 billion in repairs. Why should anyone believe the Rail-to-Dulles project will perform any better?
by Philip Rodokanakis

The Truth Shall Set You Free
Ever wonder why life seems so hard? The problem isn’t outsourcing, or even automation. It’s government taking an ever-bigger share of Americans’ paychecks.
by Jim Bowden

Fix VDOT First
Tim Kaine wants to raise taxes by $600 per Virginia family to fund transportation — even though the Virginia Department of Transportation is broken and leaderless.
by Paul C. Harris

Poverty Wages
The presidents of Virginia’s major universities are doing little to ensure that all their employees are paid a living wage.
by Steve Fisher

Nice & Curious Questions:
Finding One’s Way: Signs of Virginia
by Edwin S. Clay III and Patricia Bangs

When I went to post I got asked many times to produce the ‘key letters’ for security. I apologize for screwing up and posting this thing a zillion times. I don’t know how to delete the extras.

I am technically-dangerous and apologize again.

Some of Virginia’s biggest snows come in March. Here is a snow job on Transportation. I got a copy of this ‘Dear Friends’ constituent letter from Sen. Marty Williams (R-NN) from fellow constituents. Marty didn’t send me a copy even though he is my State Senator and I’m an elected Republican Party in his district (1-SD). I edited his letter to help him out anyway and, lo and behold, his letter shows up in the Daily Press as an op ed. The Daily Press doesn’t mention that it’s a constituent letter.

(Sen. Williams) March 10, 2006

Dear Friends: I wanted to let you know more about the transportation situation in the Commonwealth and specifically how it affects the residences of Newport News, Hampton, York County and Poquoson. I would also like to take this opportunity to describe why I feel this is a watershed year for transportation in Hampton Roads. December 2006 is a make or break time in Hampton Roads. Before year-end, the Hampton Roads Planning District must submit an updated long-range regional transportation plan. Unless this package includes actual and realistic ways of financing the third crossing, improving U.S. 460 and constructing a second midtown tunnel, the region will lose the federal funding currently in place for these projects. We will also lose $14.6 million dollars in environmental impact studies that will expire and $63 million in current federal earmarks.

(JAB) · What has prevented the HRPD from submitting a plan to date? If the HRPD can’t figure out priorities and come up with a funding plan, then they should all resign. In your Yes! Campaign analysis from 02 (the Great Transportation Tax Scam), it was clear that tolls would pay for most of the Third Crossing. What have you and the HRPD been doing in the past 4 years, besides raising our taxes and trying to raise them more?
· What are the priorities for Tidewater – number them one to n? What is the minimum funding stream each one needs for the next 20 years to keep from losing the sunk costs?
· $14.6m + $63m = $77.6m is a whole lot less than the $2.5 billion plus you want to stick to the Virginia taxpayers. Better to lose the millions than bleed the billions – if the HRPD is so incompetent to force that.

(Sen. Williams) Additionally, without congestion relief, the region will fail to meet federal air quality standards. This means that in addition to the standard yearly safety inspection: 1. All vehicles will be required to have a separate inspection for emissions. The charge for the inspection is $28.00. The failure rate is over 50%, and that rate increases with the age of the car. The average repair bill to bring your automobile into compliance is between $450.00 and $850.00. 2. These inspections will also require that you take additional days off from work or Saturday afternoons away from your family. 3. When we fail to meet federal air quality standards, the penalty is forfeiture of all federal highway dollars to the region. 4. We will then be asking our constituents to pay federal gas taxes and shipping that money off to other regions.

(JAB) · Get serious. Your Yes! Campaign used this same scare tactic in 02. It didn’t work then. What makes you think it will work now?
· Nothing in yours/HRPDs plan reduces congestion. The 02 plan ended up with more congested miles in 20 years than we have now. Building roads doesn’t decrease the miles driven.
· Nothing in your plan actually reduces the miles driven or cars on the road – to reduce pollution. · What per cent of the pollution problem comes from vehicles?

(Sen Williams) These grave conditions are irrefutable. We have letters from the Federal Highway Administration detailing its position on this issue very clearly.

(JAB) · Put the letters on the web.

(Sen Williams) There are very real, very negative consequences for the region. Surely neither you nor I want these things to happen. The solutions that I am supporting have the potential to cost less for the average citizen than the cost you may bare [(JAB) bear] if we do nothing. The actual cost is easy to calculate, but sitting in traffic, consuming fuel and time is somewhat harder to identify. But we know it when we see it. Only an increased dedicated funding source will prevent this from happening. That is why I have offered solutions to our dilemma and I am perfectly willing to compromise with others if they offer real solutions – not temporary band-aids.

(JAB)· Raising taxes isn’t a real solution. Raising taxes kills jobs. The plan you support (http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/main/main.php Click on ‘to see a powerpoint summary of each of the proposed tax and transportation plans’) shows on slide 12 – your plan adds 8405 government jobs in year one and KILLS 5805 private sector jobs in year one. Then, magically in this analysis, it gets better in 4 years. Taxes are called killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

(Sen Williams) I have received encouragement from some of my constituents to support the House plan. I should not do that when I know, for a fact that the House plan does not move Hampton Roads 1 step toward avoiding these grave consequences. The House plan issues over $8oo million in new debt to free up money for Transportation. If we endorse borrowing money when times are this good, what in the world will we do when we arrive at an inevitable recession?

(JAB) · You supported the billions in huge bond issues on the ballot for education and the environment. What is different that made that debt good and this debt bad?
· When revenues decrease in the inevitable recession you cut spending. See, the government gets its money from the People. When they suffer during a recession the Government gets less money. There is only one economy to take money from.
· If you think the current level of spending is untenable in the future, then cut back now.

(Sen Williams) The issue of slowing traffic to collect a toll is also a real concern for many of you. Let me assure you that I would never support erecting barriers to traffic in our major thoroughfares. Tolling today is not a traditional toll both. Technology is in place today that identifies by electronic signal and photographs all vehicles using the facilities. And Yes! we have the ability to bill all users including out of state travelers for the toll fee. There will also be a system in place to recognize commuters and bill them at a much lower rate. These concepts are real and being used all over the world right now.

(JAB) · Tolls make sense. Agreed.
· There are other things like private-partnerships, tax exemptions for telecommuting, mass transit, etc. not including in the Senate ‘plan’. · Fix VDOT. Read the House plan to see how to do it. How much was the overrun for the interchange on I-64 you sponsored? How long was the overrun? What was the cost in wasted time, accidents for that interchange to profit the Hampton City ‘Power Plant’ boondoggle?

(Sen Williams) My job as a legislator is to try and offer solutions. So far the best and only true solution to this problem is the plan put forward by the Senate of Virginia. Again I stand ready to compromise with anyone offering a real solution for my constituents. The Senate plan does not raid funds from sources traditionally spent on education, law enforcement and health care and shift them to road building. This reduces the chance that transportation funding will be forced to compete with other core services—a situation where transportation always loses.

(JAB) · This is just false. The House budget (with no tax increase) has a $2.4b in additional spending for education. The House spending for the environment is the same as the Senate’s. The House budget increases spending on Public Safety $446m. Quit crying “Wolf!” about phony spending cuts. Democrats do that.
· Again, the money for all reasons comes from the same source – the taxpayers. All money competes with all money for the budget – unless legislators are incapable of setting priorities – like every family and business in the Commonwealth do when – especially when you raise our taxes.
· Why did you vote for those budgets that raided the Transportation Trust Fund? You moved the money meant for transportation to other purposes. Take responsibility for your actions.

(Sen Williams) This is a prudent, responsible pay-as-you-go approach. The plan does not rely on debt. This keeps transportation from further driving the Commonwealth’s spending for debt service (one of the fastest growing parts of the budget) and avoids Washington D.C. type deficit spending that the House plan embraces.

(JAB) · This is a tax-as-you-go. You were elected in 95. Republicans won the majority in the GA in 97. What have you been doing other than trying to raise our taxes (02), raising our taxes (04), and planning to raise our taxes (06)? This is Washington tax and spend – Virginia can’t do deficit spending – read our Constitution.
· You and other Republicans raided the Transportation Trust Fund.
· You and other Republicans have failed to offer anything in 9 years.
· Didn’t you just pull back your own bill to have tolls across the James River to pay for most of the Third Crossing?
· Where is the plan for that crossing? Why hasn’t the HRPD made a decision for so many years?

(Sen. Williams) I know this debate will continue over the next few weeks and compromise positions may appear that will more fully embrace your particular position on this issue. I also am not naive enough to think my solution is the only one. If someone can show me a plan that solves this enormous problem without revenue enhancements you can bet I will be more than supportive. So far no plans that even begin to move Hampton Roads forward without new revenue have been disclosed. I am ready to negotiate those compromises. It is my job to work diligently to find solutions for the real problems that confront my constituents. If you have any thoughts on this subject please contact me at (757) 599-8683.

(JAB) · It is wrong to raise our taxes because you failed for 9 years to establish priorities, fund them properly and come up with plans that actually work to reduce congestion and pollution.

Sincerely, Senator Marty Williams

And very sincerely, James Atticus Bowden

Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns and Fundamental Change in governance structure will benefit all citizens. In fact these two Fundamental Changes are the sine qua nons for future prosperity, stability and sustainability.

Fundamental Change in the short term will end some subsidies for those who now profit – or hope to profit in the future – from Business-As-Usual. Those who believe they are threatened by Fundamental Change try to deflect and obstruct rational discussion by every means they can think of.

When all else fails, they filibuster and toss out ancient Red Herrings. They suggest those who favor Fundamental Change have no respect for individual rights, they accuse them of trying to take away private property and / or of advocating central planning that deprives citizens of their rights.

EMR, S/PI, The Shape of the Future, PROPERTY DYNAMICS and Friends of Virginia’s Future advocate a free market as the best way to allocate resources and democracy as best way to guide governance.

One will look in vain for any suggestion to the contrary in The Shape of the Future, in the 73 columns at Bacon’s Rebellion, in Handbook, in the program for PROPERTY DYNAMICS or in the documents created by and for the 150 +/- participants of Friends of Virginia’s Future over the past 15 years.

You will find no evidence that we are against self-interest or private rights. In fact, thwarting the evolution of rational community interests erodes everyone’s private rights and interests. We advocate a balance of private rights and community responsibilities.

We pointed out in out last post (BREAKTHROUGH!) that a society that relies on a market economy to allocate resources and democratic process to guide governance is the sum of its citizens individual actions. We also note that at this point citizens of the Commonwealth are sliding toward total entropy with governance practitioners going along for the ride. Look no farther that the 2006 General Assembly session for proof positive.

It is particularly ironic when the Thomas Jefferson’s name is invoked by Red Herring hurlers in pseudo-academic fashion to discount the need for Fundamental Change. Jefferson is misquoted or quoted out of context to support the contention that private rights trump the interests of society as a whole and that private interests have carte blanc to thwart the common good. That is not the relationship Jefferson advocated for individuals and a well-functioning government. Without functional governance there is chaos and thus no private rights.

Jefferson is also quoted as being as being opposed to any further change in government structure once the Constitution was ratified. The quote that is tossed out to support this claim is from the early republic. Jefferson cautioned against making will-nilly changes before the new system had time to work. After 200 years, the context for governance is fundamentally different.

The most important change since 1800 is that the United States has evolved from a society with 95% agrarian oriented citizens and 5% urban oriented citizens to one where over 95% are urban oriented and less than 5% are nonurban. Nonurban households realize the majority of their livelihood from extensive uses of land – forestry, agriculture, etc.

This profound shift requires fundamentally different settlement patterns and requires a Fundamental Change in governance structure to accommodate the needs of urban citizens.

In this context, citizens must have reliable information so they can make better decisions in the marketplace and better decisions in voting booth. Not “better” from some abstract or ideal perspective or “better” for some shadow interest group but “better” in terms of the enlightened self-interest of the citizens making the decisions in the market and at the polls.

We argue that both a free market and democracy require logical structures and informed citizens to function. Level the playing field, remove the subsidies, work to achieve equity and balance. The first step is an easy one – fairly allocate location-variable costs of goods and services.

Obstructionists need to get over the filibustering and Red Herring tossing and get to work helping achieve Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns so that patterns and densities of land use reflect contemporary economic, social and physical reality.

Citizens need to work towards Fundamental Change in governance structure so that there is a democratic structure that reflects the organic reality of contemporary society.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. PROPERTY DYNAMICS is coming soon to a Alpha Neighborhood near you.

Last week we were was puzzling over why the General Assembly would spend so much time on issues that are of limited importance: Like guns in private cars on commercial parking lots and defending citizens from the horrors of cameras that identify those who break the law by running red lights.

They were spending all this time and energy when there was a two-year budget to pass. Even more important, citizens of the Commonwealth are facing Regional Rigor Mortis and a growing Shelter Crisis. These are two issues for which the state government now has primary responsibility and these dysfunctions are growing worse each day.

Why is this happening in “the worlds leading democracy?”

Legislators know that no matter what they do in Richmond, traffic congestion in the New Urban Regionsthat are the economic engines of the Commonwealth will get worse. Regional Rigor Mortis ( https://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues05/06-06/Risse.htm ) will continue to diminish and eventually wipe out the prospect of prosperity, security and sustainability – individually and collectively.

Legislators know that no matter what they do about the bills before them, there will be less and less affordable and accessible housing and the Shelter Crisis ( https://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues05/07-25/Risse.php ) will continue to become worse for the vast majority of the citizens in the Commonwealth.

Not one legislator will yet admit these realities.

Not one of them has yet stated they know why these trends exist, but they know in their hearts – right hearts and left hearts – that this is happening. They know in spite of campaign promises and oaths of office it will continue to happen.

So legislators believe they might as well spend their time on something they can talk about “winning,” or at least “fighting for,” when they get home and especially when they next run for office.

The reason that they can get away with this behavior is that their actions in the legislature mirror the behavior of citizens in a fat, self-satisfied society unwilling to face the need for Fundamental Change.

It is not easy being green, but it is easy being a Commuter Consumer. As long as you have good credit and do not ask too many questions, everyone loves a Commuter Consumer who votes her party ticket.

The vast majority of the Commuter Consumers (especially the RHTCs – aka, Running as Hard as They Cans) get up and go to work almost every week day. They come home, pop dinner in the microwave and settle in to be “entertained” for from four to six hours. Then they go to bed.

Over the Internet, by phone, on weekends, at lunch hour and on the way home from work, Commuter Consumers buy those items they saw in the advertisements that paid for the “entertainment.”

Commuter Consumers are sure they need these things because the ads make it clear that these products and services insure long, fast lives with lots of good sex.

Of course, if Commuter Consumers start to ask questions, things get very murky very fast:

Why is traffic getting worse and worse?

Why can the school’s best teacher not afford a house in the best school district? Those who do all the other things – mowing the grass, hauling goods, making pizza, stocking shelves, cleaning offices, cleaning homes and staffing day care centers have even fewer choices for shelter.

Why is the cost of location-dependent goods and services – schools, fire and safety, water and sewer, fuel and energy, repair services, mail and delivery, safe food and other necessities of life going up faster than incomes?

Why is the quality of public services going down? Why are children not doing better in school as compared to other First World students?

Why do citizens not feel as safe as when they were was growing up?

Why are health care cost rising so much faster and the indicators of individual health so much lower than in other First World nation-states?

Why are the bottom 95% of the economic food chain losing ground every year in the face of unprecedented per capita consumption and “standards of living”?

Why are our elected and appointed governance practitioners not doing a better job?

Those who turn off the TV, shut down the video game, stop searching e-bay for bargains and get off their cell phones to raise questions about the “big issues” find no easy answers.

If they dig deep, citizens find that the cumulative impact of acquiring those things that the advertisements claim will make them happy individual consumers turn out to make society very sick.

The things that ads implore Commuter Consumers to consume result in fat, stress, traffic fatalities, poor SAT scores, low saving rates, pollution and other indicators of disorder – but it sure was entertaining.

Not wanting to address the need for Fundamental Change, Commuter Consumers focus on something they can get their hands on:

The neighbors dog, cars speeding on the cul de sac, the developer who wants to build houses in the “openspace” behind their new McMansion, who the soccer coach is in bed with, the school board’s policy on Hanukkah, Ramadan or Christmas.

Something that the ads say solves most problems is to buy a bigger house that is far from the things that bother you. This dream house turns out to be even farther from the important contributors to a good life but the ads never mentioned that.

Location is not a problem because the next best thing to a big new house is a new car that can go 140 miles per hour while picking up hotties and / or navigate the Pan American highway from Alaska to Argentina while picking up jungle dwellers to play hypnotic tunes from the back seat.

If you do not qualify for a new mortgage or do not need a new car, the most satisfying activity of all seems to be to attack a well defined subset of those who are threatening ones personal “rights.”

Never mind community responsibilities – much less dooryard-, cluster-, neighborhood- or village responsibilities.

So why should we expect the legislators to not to commit themselves in guns, god, gays and private rights wedge issues or for Congress not to attack “Arab” investments?

After 60 days those hard work, the legislators will go home for a rest before the Special Session. Even if they talk to someone from outside their party they will not be told “get busy or find a new way to spend your time.” Why should they change? The citizens who elect them show no signs of awakening.

A society that relies on a market economy to allocate resources and democratic process to guide governance is the sum of its citizens individual actions. Right now citizens of the Commonwealth are sliding toward total entropy with the governance practitioners going along for the ride.

An Antidote? PROPERTY DYNAMICS is coming soon to a Alpha Neighborhood near you.

EMR

The General Assembly is scheduled to wind up this week. Whether it does or not, as budget negotiations go down to the wire, is beyond my ability to foretell. Sadly, I won’t be around for the grand finale. I’ll be cruising through the tropics with the family.

Odds are, the Disney cruise ship will have wireless Internet access, in which case, I may find myself checking in from time to time. But if things are little slow on the Bacon’s Rebellion blog, it’s because I’m snorkling or drinking Margaritas. Here’s a toast to life beyond politics!

A March 6 poll of 1,900 voters by Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Conn., ranks two Virginia politicians among the Top 10 most popular political leaders in the country. Former Gov. Mark R. Warner ranked 7th, with a rating of 50.7 on a 1-to-100 scale. Sen. George Allen ranked 10th, with a 48.6 rating. Both ranked ahead of President George Bush and Veep Dick Cheney.

Warner should be encouraged that he edged out New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, with a 50.4 rating. That makes him the most popular figure among likely Democratic contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination.

Allen has a lot stiffer competition should he seek the GOP nomination. Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ranked 14 points higher, and Sen. John McCain 12 points higher.

(See more commentary at the Virginia Belle blog.)

The Wall Street Journal has published side-by-side letters from state Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Northumberland, and Peter Ferrara, president of the Virginia Free Enterprise Fund and occasional Bacon’s Rebellion columnist.

Addressing the tax debate in Virginia, both make points to a national audience that they’ve made already to state audiences. I can’t link to the letters oneline, so I’ve typed them into the comments section of this post.

What’s noteworthy here is the level of national attention the tax debate is generating.

Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, has introduced a bill commending his colleague Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Northampton, as a “visionary leader of tremendous integrity … admired for his gift of diplomacy; his adroitness, even in times of adversity, at unifying the numerous voices and forces of the legislative body.”

Describing Chichester as having “great respect … for the diverse political convictions of his fellow General Assembly members,” Stolle goes on: “Committed to excellence in state government, John Chichester exemplifies, in his words and in his deeds, the ideals of honesty, responsibility, and a steadfast belief in the value of democracy and the political system.”

The resolution commends Chichester on his 2005 Excellence in State leadership Award by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the State Leadership Foundation.

Read the resolution and pick out your favorite phrases! Here’s mine: “Unifying the numerous voices and forces of the legislative body.”

Update: Turns out there’s more to the story. Jeff Schapiro wrote a piece in today’s Times-Dispatch noting that House Republicans “are now refusing to vote on a tribute to the guy who whupped ’em in the 2004 tax fight.” I don’t know who submitted the resolution in the House, but I’ll bet he (or she) is snickering at the sniping intramural feuding they’re feeding in the Republican Party.

One can hardly blame the House GOP for not wanting to affirm the sycophantic praise in the resolution, including an allusion to Chichester’s role in cramming the 2004 tax increase down their throats. On the other hand, publicly dissing Chichester will only feed the “petty, intransigent House GOP” storyline that seems to be developing. There ought to be a creative solution to the dilemma.

I’m all for slapping tolls on every major bridge in Hampton Roads to pay the bulk of the cost of the Third Crossing.

I hope they don’t screw up the actual crossing plans with something stupid. They should do a rail and truck bridge to 460 on the Southside and new tubes for cars across the Hampton-Norfolk crossing.

I don’t understand why a 22 person commission had to be appointed instead of VDOT collecting the tolls.

Pay attention to see if this commission hires staff and rents offices. Look to see who, and how many, they hire and how much they pay. Might be a good news story for a newspaper.

Road to Ruin reporter Bob Burke has been digging into Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s apparent abandonment of the land use legislation he championed during the fall gubernatorial campaign. He confirms the account provided by Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, and columnist Patrick McSweeney.

Bob did get a response from Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. Hall’s response: Kaine still backs the measure but regards it as “part of a more comprehensive transportation package. … We are probably more in a posture of [trying to] fight the battles we have a reasonable chance of winning.”

In other words, Kaine is putting all his muscle behind the $1 billion-a-year tax increase — a tax increase he never mentioned during the campaign.

Still unresolved: Whether the Governor caved into pressure from the home builder/real estate interests.

Read Bob’s story here.