I strongly endorse what Del. Marcus Simon says below. I also recommend We caused the Metro shutdown when we decided to let our cities decay in today’s Washington Post. As State Sen. Scott Surovell writes: “This article was exactly my thought. Problems with Metro are part of America’s, Virginia’s, NOVA’s local government’s refusal to invest in our infrastructure. We’re continuing to live on borrowed time.” Now, here’s Del. Simon:
The current state of Metro is the entirely predictable result of the Conservative movement’s “Starve the Beast” approach to government. Having worked in or around government for 25 years I’ve always found it remarkable how well much maligned bureaucrats are able to find ways to keep getting their jobs done and achieving their core responsibilities with fewer resources. All the while, they warn policymakers, “We can make it work, but this isn’t sustainable – we’re cutting corners, we can keep the trains running for now, but this isn’t the right way to run a railroad.”
Usually they are speaking metaphorically. In the meantime, things seem to be going OK, we cut their budgets and the sky doesn’t fall. On the surface it looks like we were right, and they were wrong. They can do more with less. In fact, it’s being done with smoke and mirrors, and really important stuff is neglected. Stuff that won’t impair the immediate day-to-day mission, but stuff that is critical to the mission none the less.
It’s time to stop pretending we can get something for nothing. That “No New Taxes” is a promise that can or should be kept. We need to invest in our cities, or infrastructure and ourselves. The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be in the long run.
Bottom line: the entire right-wing approach to government, and governance more broadly, is fatally flawed, utterly discredited, and needs to be completely scrapped.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
