THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501120012
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
It amuses me that Governor Allen has targeted colleges, museums, the zoo and the arts for his budget cuts.
My Republican friends remind me that less government is better and that it has no place in establishing cultural institutions.
I am amused because what we get in exchange is more prisons. Talk about cultural institutions. Prisons are graduate schools for criminals.
In any case, I am relieved that we will not be wasting our hard-earned lottery dollars on things like the Virginia zoo. Instead we will be wasting them on prisons. The last thing we want is for some inner-city kid to learn something about animals and the natural environment. The next thing you know, he will grow up and join the Nature Conservancy or some other liberal subversive group like that. Best we nip that in the bud and send him directly to prison. That way we avoid all the expensive, intermediate stuff like education.
Our delegates dislike Allen's plan but don't know how to defeat it. If they vote against a tax cut, they will face a tough re-election campaign. Can we just take the tax cut, restore the budget cuts and take the prisoners to the zoo? Either they will learn something useful or we will make them part of the new tiger exhibit.
JAMES E. GEHMAN
Norfolk, Dec. 30, 1994 by CNB