In yesterday’s Roanoke Times, reporter Kevin Miller described the overcrowding and underfunding at Virginia Tech this year. I’ve witnessed in all of my classes that we must arrive early to avoid having to sit on the floor, that we’re to expect to take five years to graduate, not four, because the classes simply aren’t available. Miller writes about the problem, ascribing it to a shocking $72M budget cut — that’s a 25% reduction — in state funding. The money, of course, just isn’t there within the university’s budget, and it doesn’t exist in the state’s coffers, thanks to former Governor Jim “No Car Tax” Gilmore and the millions of suckers in this state that voted for him, thinking that we could all just pay less taxes and just get the same services.
Even with our educational facilities fast becoming pathetic — and countless other statewide ailments — the vast majority of our state representatives continue to deny the possibility of raising taxes to the level that’s required to fund our commitments. It’s only the rare Del. Mitch Van Yahres or Sen. Creigh Deeds that understands the need to please, for the love of god, raise taxes. Car tax, cigarette tax, whatever — just raise something. But for every Mitch, there’s a dozen Rob Bells, Steve Landeses, Bob Marshalls and Emmett Hangers who balk at the suggestion of raising taxes. The worst part is that I know that they are able to perform simple math, and they are perfectly aware that taxes must be raised. But they’re all so focused on reelection that they don’t want to be the guy that supported raising taxes. Which is worse still — it means that the majority of the voting population of Virginia still believes the campaign promises of more services and less taxes.
What a sad state we’re in.