Pointless Already: The VA Transportation Bill

It seems like it was just yesterday I was saying that I intended to do a better job of paying attention to the (Democratic) Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s proposed transportation bill this time around. Wait, it was. And yet already the usual flat earth Republicans (who control the Virginia House) have declared that they intend to – once again – just stick their fingers in their ears and yell “nyah nyah nyah, can’t hear you!”, making any serious examination of the issue near pointless.

Short of Charleton Heston bringing a burning bush into the VA GOP caucus that instructs them to actually *do* something (and even then . . . ), it looks like Virginia’s Republicans are planning to simply sit and watch NoVA’s traffic strangle itself. There’s a lesson about a goose and a golden egg here, but these Republicans aren’t exactly the forward looking sort. (For real insight into the Virginia Republican mind on this, see Waldo’s helpful translation of Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s take on the bill.)

This is one of the reasons I’m not entirely kidding when I say that Northern Virginia would be better off on its own. As a result of Virginia’s Constitution, the localities in Northern Virginia can’t do anything without the permission of the rest of the state. Despite the fact that the most economically robust region in Virginia can afford to fix its own problems, it instead exists in virtual gridlock. The Republican politicians in the House reject any transportation solution involving taxes, thus burnishing their No New Taxes Ever credentials for the voters back home (places where “traffic” involves two cars approaching a one-lane bridge, it seems). These Republicans trade addressing a fundamental public need of the citizens of Northern Virginia for their own personal political advantage. And there’s nothing Northern Virginia can do about it.

There’s no Republican plan to do anything about transportation, and there won’t be, as long as they’ve got the power to block progress. So maybe it’s not the best idea to spend too much time picking through the details of a bill that, as necessary as it is, looks to be going nowhere.

Photo: Elephants holding up traffic (admittedly not in Virginia)