Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502030001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The taxation process in America is nothing more than extortion. Pay us or else (fines, arrest, prosecution, etc.)! Elected officials are put into office to do the people's bidding, not to suddenly determine that they know what's best for the citizens.
If what state and local governments are saying is that you must pay for the privilege of providing jobs and revenues to Virginia, then why don't they simply come out and explain that clearly? This would give business people the choice to locate in states much more hospitable to their needs.
If you are taxed $200,000 when your business loses money, then it requires nothing but common sense (completely lacking in any governmental body) to recognize that Virginia doesn't want businesses here. What Virginia wants is revenues that can be utilized to perpetuate its socialistic elitism. Redistribution of wealth didn't fare too well in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to imagine its fate here!
STEVEN WESTENBERG
LYNCHBURG
Allen's cuts are not deep enough
EVERYONE has an interpretation of the meaning of the 1994 state and federal elections. Whatever conclusions you draw, one thing is certain: When so many people from one party get booted out of office, it certainly isn't a mandate to keep on doing the same old thing.
Our new governor wasn't bashful in calling for a smaller, more efficient state government. Depending on one's priorities, I'm sure we could all make changes to the proposed budget. But I fully endorse his efforts to shrink government in Virginia.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman warns us that we're now more than 50 percent socialist. Federal, state and local taxes and user fees now exceed 50 percent for the average voter. Talk to just about anyone, and they'll tell you they're for private or ``free'' enterprise, and are opposed to the kind of socialism that proved to be a failure in the former Soviet Union. Even so, when our distinguished governor, George Allen, proposes modest changes, you hear a lot of squawking in the newspaper and on the tube. What a lot of folks really want isn't free enterprise but a ``free'' handout from their fellow citizens for services most of us don't want.
Professional bureaucrats at all levels keep piling more government fat on the backs of the suddenly discovered middle class whose average incomes have decreased about 12 percent in the past 15 years. Seems to me Allen understands that what our citizens need isn't more government but a chance to keep a bit more of the money they earn.
Would I pay $46 more for the proposed cuts? I wouldn't pay 46 cents for the cuts I've seen so far. Truth is, I'd cut a lot deeper than our perceptive new governor.
A. ROBERT FERGUSON
ROANOKE
Gridlock may be the best hope
MY COMPLIMENTS on and thanks for your Jan. 18 editorial on the swelling tide of proposed constitutional amendments (``Trivializing the Constitution"). Your incisive analysis of the four proposals laid bare a troubling issue.
Proposed amendments have become a growth industry in Washington because the political class is becoming ever more childish, impatient and self-serving. Like children, when they don't like the way the game is going, they want to change the rules by which it's played. Your newspaper should be commended for exposing this behavior and putting it in its proper light: It's a potentially perilous means of subverting the Constitution - the enduring, iron framework of our nation - for transient and often partisan or ideological political purposes. Let us hope cooler and more patient heads prevail in these matters, or at the very least that the much-criticized "gridlock" system (which used to be called "checks and balances") does its useful work of scuttling bad ideas that have no place in the very foundation of our government.
MITCHELL L. MENDELSON
ROANOKE
Most crashes are not `accidents'
THE RASH of fatalities on Franklin County roads last year (Jan. 16 news story, ``Inattentive motorists spell doom'') may not be attributable to an obvious smoking gun, but poor preparation of drivers is an underlying cause of almost every crash, everywhere, every time. Steve Goodwin, safety-division manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation, has well-founded disdain for the word ``accident.'' Crashes aren't blameless, random occurrences, but happen for a reason. And that reason most often is the driver's lack of comprehension of the most basic laws of physics that govern a vehicle in motion.
It's currently fashionable to pour enormous sums of money into developing so-called ``smart'' highway systems. There's nothing wrong with the concept or the technology, but the popular mind-set that a road can be ``intelligent'' and thus make up for driver deficiencies is, quite frankly, dangerous. The best defense against a crash is a properly trained driver who can make well-informed, rational decisions behind the wheel - and then execute those decisions.
The recent social and political uproar regarding ``impaired'' drivers has neglected the most widespread impairment of all: a massive lack of training and information regarding the capabilities and limitations of a motor vehicle. If a driver doesn't have the tools to avoid an accident or to maintain control of his or her car, that driver is as impaired and as dangerous as any drunk or druggie.
As drivers, we are responsible for our fates behind the wheel. Until we acknowledge this, sad headlines will continue to pile up.
KENLEY SMITH
President, Car Guys, Inc.
ROANOKE
Funding for Explore is not a priority
THERE was a commentary (Jan. 16, ``Don't cut back support in park's infancy'') in this newspaper by M. Rupert Cutler, executive director of Virginia's Explore Park, who doesn't want the state to cut funds for the park.
I don't want my tax money used to support this park. If it needs funds, which it does, I don't see why federal or state money should be used. There are lots of things that need money - Meals on Wheels, Head Start, public education, to mention a few - that are more important than Explore.
Cutler mentioned Colonial Williamsburg and visitors who go there each year. I remember Williamsburg as a country town. It was done over with private money.
Do those in the Roanoke area need 1 million or more visitors a year? I go to Salem to see friends, and on weekends the traffic is almost bumper to bumper. In time, Interstate 81 will need another lane.
Cutler says his salary doesn't come from public funds. I suspect his salary is enough to take care of him and several of his assistants. It seems to me the state is trying to cut back, and this so-called park is one place to cut. Our tax money can and must be used wisely. The state cannot continue to fund projects like Explore. Those we send to Richmond must bite the bullet and cut out or cut down on projects where our tax money goes.
GORDON R. WADE
BROWNSBURG
Injecting race into charter-school issue
I'M 100 percent disturbed by Jeff Artis' Jan. 16 letter to the editor ``Why charter schools are needed.'' His assertion that ``some misguided politicians would have us believe the creation of charter schools will lead to resegregation'' troubles me less than his own assertion that ``many of us, especially those in the African-American community, are upset with what's being passed off as 'quality' public education [and] [w]e wish to educate our children ourselves ... '' If anyone has ``inject[ed] the issue of race into a valid education reform,'' it's most certainly Artis.
As a citizen of Virginia who chose teaching as my profession and career, I witness daily the invaluable service that our public-school system provides. I also see its limitations. I've come to realize that providing a sound education for children isn't just the job for our public schools, but our entire community. Artis and others to whom he refers could be a valuable asset to our schools if they choose to join hands with us. I'm uncertain if the ``time has come [for charter schools]'' as he maintains, but I'm positive the time has come for everyone in the community to focus time, money, energy and commitment on revitalizing our schools. And I'm against anything that would dilute that focus.
CHERYL HARRIS
ROANOKE
by CNB