In Virginia we now have a case where a law which did not accomplish its stated goals is now being opposed by the legislature and Virginia’s governor, Tim Kaine. One wishes that this law was facing repeal because it had not accomplished its goals, but sadly, that’s not the case.

Not so long ago, despite the evidence that the aggressive anti-speeding and anti-reckless driving law had not reduced highway deaths or accidents and had not brought much money into the state’s coffers, Governor Kaine was still pushing to keep it on the books.

Now, however, Kaine has flip-flopped and is urging legislators, most of whom didn’t need any urging, to repeal the law.

Clearly this is not because the law didn’t work, because he knew it didn’t work before. The reason for the flip-flop is that the citizens of Virginia have made their extreme displeasure with the law known to their representatives and those representatives have exerted enough pressure on Kaine to force him to agree with them—and with the voters—and with the FACTS. It would have been too much to hope that Governor Kaine might have sided with the citizens because of facts and logic rather than voter pressure. Clearly, he's not that kind of guy. He would rather keep the heavy boot of government on the necks of the citizens if he could. Sometimes, though, the voters do rise up. Now, soon, in Virginia, a bad law will bite the dust.

I have often spoken of the benefits of a sunset provision for all laws other than tax regulations. If it cannot be demonstrated statistically that a law has accomplished its erstwhile goals, then it automatically would be repealed at the end of a reasonable time. Tax laws should, in an ideal world, be subject to the same processes, but I would exempt them simply because businesses and citizens need to have some semblance of stability in tax law so they can reasonably plan for the future.

Now Governor Kaine, having been spanked re the abusive driver law, is pushing more abrogation of the Second Amendment. In Virginia, a rather staunch Second Amendment state, I suspect he will be spanked again in the near future.

“When will they ever learn?

When will they evvvvverrr learn?”

--Peter, Paul, and Mary