Despite my better judgment, JR and I wandered into a forum sponsored by the business community in Virginia Beach that would discuss transportation in a non-partisan, non-political way. They would not discuss legislation, but the goal was a “more informed citizenry.”
The Library doesn’t usually allow popcorn, which is usually my snack of choice while enjoying fiction, so I simply thought I’d enjoy the presentations of big Democratic contributors who were panelists.
It took a whole 12 minutes before the tax advocacy started. We were told how little we pay in taxes. (Oddly, taxes can’t be raised without legislation, so that first little promise about the forum was as flimsy as I thought it was.)
We were told we needed 30 billion dollars of transportation projects. We were told over and over about how the gas tax isn’t high enough, and we could all afford to pay more. And we were told that VDOT is efficient. Really!
Here’s the jewel! We were told that somehow businesses would leave the area because of traffic.
If that had an ounce of truth behind it, Northern Virginia should be a ghost town.
JR and I wondered where the “more informed citizenry” part would come in. The only thing the audience got more informed about was how some wealthy business leaders wanted everyone to pay more taxes. The fact that 69% of Virginia voters oppose raising gas taxes seemed irrelevant to them.
TunnelVision seemed to think that all it takes is elected “leaders” to stand up and do exactly what voters tell them not to do.
I’m amazed that these panelists continue to expect this to happen.
They blame the years of inaction on legislators who actually would rather listen to their voters rather than panelists who give money to their opponents.
Look, I’ve lived this issue for a decade. The longer transportation advocates continue an “education” tour telling taxpayers they need to be paying more taxes, the longer we’ll be wasting a whole lot of time at “educational” forums telling people who are overtaxed already and have less and less money for their own families that they need to give up more to pay for tunnels they’ll hardly ever use.
I’m happy to help organizations find a more effective strategy than handing a microphone to people who write giant checks to Democrats and having them talk about bipartisanship.
Or we can continue to see polls oppose these initiatives by the same overwhelming margins they opposed the 2002 referendum questions.
Strategic gridlock defeats more proposals than political gridlock ever has.
