McDonnell Budget: Furloughs, Job Cuts, Reduced Services for the Sick and Children, No New Taxes
McDonnell Releases Budget Cut Proposals
McDonnell’s Cuts Hit Health Care, Public Schools, State Workers
McDonnell’s Budget Sends Shockwaves
McDonnell’s Cuts: Answer to Crisis or Framework for Future
Cuccinelli Says EPA Climate Change Data Flawed
Cuccinelli Calls UN Global Warming Report Unreliable, Unverifiable and Doctored
Athey Bill to Assist in Credit Transfers
Health Study Ranks Fairfax High Richmond Low
Democrats Say Cantor Cantor Blasts Yet Seeks Stimulus Funds
Boucher Hopes to Quell Anger Among Voters
Scott Discusses Haiti and Global Poverty Efforts at Hampton
Virginia Grants Recognition for Patawomeck Tribe
TriCities Shed More than 10,000 Jobs in Final Few Months of 2009
Petersburg Schools Must Lose 46 Positions
Nelson County Makes Deeper Cuts to School Budgets
Study Ranks Albemarle 4th Healthiest in State
Superintendents React to Proposed Cuts
State Approves Rail Routes to Hampton Roads
Groups File Suit Over Rejected Norfolk State Voter Applications
Norfolk’s Light Rail Cost Overruns Put It in Rare Company
LU Prefers Leaving Poll at Heritage Over Alternate Site
As befits someone with a conservative background, Governor McDonnell’s budgetary plans raise a permanent American question: To what extent are we responsible for taking care of ourselves, and to what extent is Government responsible for us, especially the old, the sick, the poor, and vulnerable.
I agree with Candadai Tirumalai on the philosophical question at hand. Gov. McDonnell clearly represents the “we are responsible for taking care of ourselves” school of thought while President Obama clearly represents the “government is responsible for us” school of thought. It is somewhat amazing that the two men were elected only a year apart (albiet to much different offices).
However, I think there is another story that is playing out. Dr. Holsworth calls it the capitals vs the locals. I call it the “we can do this better ourselves” philosophy. Under either name, I believe that the current crisis in Virginia will force a devolution of power out of Richmond and into the localities. In simple terms, there are localities in Virginia which clearly believe in the ” Government responsible for us, especially the old, the sick, the poor, and vulnerable” philosophy. Arlington County comes to mind. There are also localities which believe in the ” are we responsible for taking care of ourselves” philosophy. Henrico County comes to mind.
It is becoming increasing clear to me that the General Assembly will prove unable to bridge this deep philosophical gap across all of Virginia’s localities. Instead, the GA will come to the almost inevitable decision that the localities need to make more of their own decisions and figure out how to pay for those decisions with taxes collected in the locality.
The futility of Virginia’s “one size fits all mentality to governance” has never been more clear.
I guess the good news is that many states already allow this. Ten states allow extensive locality autonomy. They are Alaska, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah. After that, the level of local autonomy varies from relatively autonomous (Tennessee) to relatively centralized (Virginia).
Contrary to “sound byte analysis” there is no standard measure for determining if a state is “Dillon’s Rule” or “Home Rule”. To some extent, all states are a bit of both. However, an examination of the state constitution yield a spectrum of Dillon’s Rule vs. Home Rule. Virginia is almost always on the Dillon’s Rule side of the spectrum.
If the General Assembly cannot govern Virginia as a whole, shouldn’t we decentralize some of the governance and try to govern Virginia in its regions?
Groveton:
It appears as if you got your list of ten states from my publication http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2003/01metropolitanpolicy_richardson.aspx But you mischaracterized it. There is no connection between Dillon’s Rule/no Dillon’s Rule and local government autonomy. There is no connection between Home Rule/no Home Rule and local government autonomy. Studies of local government autonomy consistently place Virginia near the top as having very autonomous local governments.
Groveton, for clarification on Dillon’s Rule please see Is Home Rule The Answer? by Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. et al http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2003/01metropolitanpolicy_richardson.aspx