Virginia Libertarian

As as current Virginia state senator of the democratic party, I find Sen. Houck’s comments on the current financial situation interesting, especially regarding Creigh Deeds Washington Post article:

Due to the current economic downturn, Governor Tim Kaine initiated his fourth cut since summer 2008 to the Commonwealth’s biennial budget ending June 30, 2010.?? In all, he has cut $7 billion dollars.?? Just like individuals and families, Virginia has made difficult, but necessary, decisions to balance its budget.

Fortunately, Governor Kaine’s proposals contain no tax increases.?? With salaries remaining stagnant or worse individuals losing their jobs, a tax increase is unneeded.? Virginia continues to rank 40^th in state and local taxes as a percentage of personal income.

Emphasis is mine.

After reading Creigh Deeds Transportation Plan, it would appear that Democrats are staying with the “business as usual” plan.? Even in these tough economic times, he appears to still want more taxes:

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In doing my research for Virginia’s gubernatorial race in November, I ran across the Democratic parties current strategy: A 20 year old Masters Thesis.? In reading part of the thesis, my thoughts were “god, we don’t want this guy in office”, but then I thought about it a little more (I know, that’s expecting a lot from the average voter.? Feel free to send flames about that to IDontGiv@damn.com).? My thoughts were “Gee, how much has my thinking changed over the past 20 years?”? I started out as a devout Democrat, moved to a staunch Republican, and I’m now of the libertarian (small “l”) mindset.? I’m of the opinion that pretty much all politicians are crooks and liars, so it doesn’t really matter what party they run under.? But before you throw a 20 year old thesis in someone’s face, think to yourself “how much have my views changed over the past two decades”)

I caught sight of the title of this article: Localities recoup incarceration costs and I thought, sweet, it’s about time we stop paying the criminals way in the world. Then I read the article. Needless to say I was not pleased, I had thought we were recouping the cost from the criminals in some way, turns out we’re just passing the buck on to the federal government, so it’s coming out of everyone in the whole countries wallet, not just ours in Virginia. NOT the direction I wanted this to be heading in. I’m all for recouping the cost, if someone is found guilty of a crime they need to not only “do their time” but they need to pay for it monetarily as well. I know that’s not exactly what this article was about, it’s talking specifically those incarcerated but not convicted. In order to address that cost we’ll just need to be careful who we incarcerate.

During this congressional session, the General Assembly will decide whether to accept the Federal Real ID Act, or to pass legislation against it. This Act introduces significant privacy concerns including some present on the license itself and an online database that shares information with every other state! So if a hacker can’t break into one state’s system, they would just have to try a different state’s computer system. On top of that (not that I’m for federal funding for anything, but if they’re going to mandate it, they need to pay for it), they don’t provide for funding. So make a difference, do something about it.