ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 1, 1996 TAG: 9601020140
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: HOLIDAY
IN A DEMOCRATIC society, how we think and act as individuals influences the fate of our communities. In a democratic society that happens also to be the world's only economic, military and cultural superpower, how we think and act as a nation influences the fate of the world.
Even for just this corner of Virginia, then, any agenda for 1996 appropriately addresses both smart roads and the safety of Social Security, both greenways and the search for international peace.
Our awareness of linkages also should encourage us to extend partnerships in cooperative efforts, to improve our impact on future generations, and to understand that a community can't thrive for long while leaving a sizable portion of its population behind.
With these observations as guideposts, here's a rough outline for a new year's agenda:
Lay the groundwork for avoiding future Bosnias.
Ensuring the success of the U.S.-led NATO mission in Bosnia, and so building the fragile peace there, is the immediate challenge. Without a realistic understanding of what's necessary to accomplish the goals, the will to achieve them and the wisdom to limit them, the next Bosnia could be the old Bosnia rekindled.
But there are lots of candidates for eruptions of tribal conflicts and of chaos that is good for practically no one, especially capitalists and democrats. For realpolitik as well as humanitarian reasons, America can't afford to disengage from the rest of the world.
How much better, though, to help build the kind of world that discourages warfare in the first place than to undertake the problematic task of direct and unilateral interventions. In 1996, America should lead development of an international collective-action and peace-keeping capacity, informed by lessons gleaned in Bosnia and focused on the prevention of violence.
Also along preventive lines, efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear weaponry and materials, and ill-advised transfers of conventional arms, should be renewed.
Education and empowerment of girls and women - the key to family planning, respect for human rights and sustainable economic development - should be the focus of foreign aid.
And because economic distress feeds conflict, while democracy is the antidote to tribalism, America should maintain momentum for free trade and continue promoting worldwide democratization. Democracy, it should be emphasized, means minority rights as well as majority rule.
Make U.S. budget policies more future-oriented.
With the year-old GOP takeover of Congress has come renewed attention to one big future-oriented task, whittling the national debt by bringing the federal budget into balance. Republicans have been forthright, too, in insisting on Medicare reforms to control costs and preserve the program for future beneficiaries. Neither party, however, has found the resolve to take on the question of ensuring Social Security's survivability when the baby boomers reach retirement age.
Meantime, as important for the future as the size of debt and deficits is how the money is spent. Investments for the future - education, research, training, infrastructure - should get priority over current consumption. That means middle-class Americans will have to come to terms with some curtailment of their favorite entitlements, be it means-testing for Medicare and Social Security benefits or capping the income-tax deduction for home-mortgage interest.
For this to happen, though, Americans must perceive that sacrifices enacted in Washington are distributed fairly and that a commitment to the common weal remains - a far cry from the current and accurate perception of government playing favorites while the gap between haves and have-nots widens. And, oh, by the way, the White House and Congress will need to agree on a budget.
Rebuilding families and neighborhoods and easing racial tensions are also excellent agenda items for '96. One step toward addressing these goals would be greater recognition by Americans of all ideological stripes that government's ability to influence them pales beside the power of personal attitude and community commitment.
In Virginia, work to prevent problems before they occur.
Devolution of control to the states over such matters as Medicaid, welfare reform and environmental regulation brings with it a devolution of responsibility. Fortunately, most state governments today - including Virginia's - are better-equipped for the task than in the old days of malapportioned state legislatures in the grip of a rural gentry. Still, there must be more working together, signs of which may be already apparent, and less partisan silliness if Richmond is to manage its new responsibilities seriously.
More traditional state responsibilities - public schools, higher education, criminal justice, economic development - remain. With both, investing now - to educate the populace, prevent crime, protect the environment, improve opportunities for the poor and provide an atmosphere conducive to sustainable growth - is far preferable to paying for the consequences of not doing so.
That requires money, but funding should be conditioned on restructuring and reform. In 1996, Virginia should proceed with workfare, but increase investments in helping people move from dependency to employment. It should enact juvenile-justice reform, but segregate the chronically violent from other offenders while emphasizing early, more intense intervention with at-risk youth. It should increase education funding, building on Gov. Allen's welcome turnaround since the November election, but insist on accelerated reform in schools to improve learning and increase accountability.
Locally, accelerate progress toward regional planning.
Last year saw a thousand citizens complete their brainstorming exercise as part of the New Century Council's attempt to craft a vision for the region's future. Many good ideas emerged from the effort, not least the notion of planning for a region that includes both Roanoke and New River valleys. This year, for implementation to start, a show of leadership will be needed, including from Virginia Tech.
Other regional projects will need attention, too - projects that emphasize public-private partnership, broad communities of interest, infrastructure-building, sustainable development and protection of the region's superb assets. Among them:
Creating a higher-ed center in an old Norfolk Southern office building in Roanoke; getting started on greenways in the Roanoke Valley, beginning with a link from the City Market to the Blue Ridge Parkway; revising flood-abatement strategy to favor green corridors over channelization; establishing a transportation district funded by a regional gas tax that could be used for trails and greenways as well as mass transit; packaging more coherently the region's tourist attractions, including Explore Park; establishing a land trust and other means of preserving strategic open space; securing suitable sites for future office parks; moving to put in place the "smart road" that promises research opportunities and a closer link between the valleys.
Ultimately, investing in things, however grand or glittering, is no substitute for investing in people. Improving the schools, reducing teen pregnancy and fighting poverty are still, at home as well as abroad, the most important collective resolutions for a new year and beyond.
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines KEYWORDS: YEAR 1996by CNB