Thursday, October 22, 2009
McDonnell's transportation plan is a fairy tale
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James F. Marchman III
Marchman is a professor emeritus of Aerospace & Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech.
One of the joys (?) of living in Virginia is that we never seem to escape from the silliness of political campaigns as we are inundated by the lies and fantasies of federal candidates one year and those of state campaigners the next. Democrats would have us believe that they can double the services provided by government at all levels with no increase in taxes, while Republicans tell us they will eliminate all taxes and still be able to pay the government's bills. We know they are all lying, but we smile, applaud their claims and beg for more fairy tales.
This fall brings politics as usual and the fantasies continue, especially on ways to solve the commonwealth's transportation problems. All the politicians tell us that they can patch all the potholes and add lanes to all the interstates at absolutely no cost to anyone, and we apparently want desperately to believe them. While none of the claims is immune to thoughtful questioning, those of the Republican candidate for governor, Bob McDonnell, are so absurd as to be laughable.
McDonnell claims that he will be able to pay for all future transportation projects in the state by selling all the liquor stores, selling currently nonexistent offshore drilling rights, and, most absurd of all, setting up toll booths at the North Carolina state line to charge a tax (what else is a road toll?) to all who would dare drive into Virginia. Just how stupid does he think the voters of Virginia are?
Just think about McDonnell's toll booth fantasy. First of all, federal law probably wouldn't allow such a blatant abuse of interstate commerce.
Second, where would he put them? Obviously he wants everyone to think of the three interstate highways -- 95, 85 and 77 -- that go from North Carolina into Virginia. But then to completely close our borders to all those immigrants from North Carolina, he would also need to put up road blocks on U.S. 1, 13, 15, 17, 21, 29, 30, 52, 220, 221 and 501, and perhaps a few others I didn't spot on the map. Otherwise he might fail to tax a trespasser. And, oh yes, there are also scores of state and county roads that cross the border, but perhaps we can just hang baskets and hope only honest folks use those routes.
Third, he doesn't bother to mention that all we loyal citizens of Virginia would get taxed every time we came back from Myrtle Beach, the Charlotte race track, the Greensboro airport or even a visit to grandma's house. McDonnell apparently thinks we are all too stupid to realize the absurdity of it all.
I would offer the Republicans, who seem so afraid of having the actual in-state and out-of-state users of our roads pay for their maintenance through real user taxes (gas taxes) another alternative.
Why not pay for it by issuing new Confederate money? That makes as much sense as McDonnell's so-called plans.
